Qualifying
The qualifying examination is composed
of both general knowledge and research components, which are
administered on different days. Each student takes a written
examination to test his or her knowledge of broad areas of
neuroscience, submits a paper focused on his or her early research
project, and makes an oral defense of his or her research paper.
Research Component: Written and Oral Defense
The written component of the research consists of a write-up of the
early research project in a form suitable for publication. The student
is free to pick the journal format (e.g., Journal of Neuroscience,
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, or Journal of Neurochemistry) that
he or she will follow. The style, however--including the title page,
abstract, citations, reference list, figures, and other components of
the manuscript--must adhere strictly to the format of the journal
chosen.
Since this paper is used to evaluate the student's
ability to prepare a scholarly work before being advanced to candidacy
for the Ph.D. degree, it should represent primarily the work of the
student. The conduct of experiments, analysis of the research data, and
their interpretation can and should be discussed with the adviser. On
the other hand, the manuscript itself must reflect primarily the
organizational thinking and writing ability of the student and contain minimum input from the adviser.
The committee recognizes,
however, that even some of the best manuscripts require revision before
they can be published in a journal. Thus, the committee will accept
certain manuscripts even if they need some revision and resubmission.
Candidates must submit six copies of the manuscript to the committee
chair no later than 5 p.m. on the first Friday in
September of their third year in the program.
If the committee
accepts the manuscript, the chair will schedule an oral
examination and early defense of the manuscript. Typically, these oral
examinations occur during the second or third week of September. The
examination opens with an oral presentation of 15 to 20 minutes by the
student outlining the early research project. This is followed by
questions from the committee, which may range from technical,
methodological, and conceptual aspects of the research and manuscript
to literature that relates to the project.
Manuscripts deemed
unacceptable by the committee are returned to the student for revision,
and the oral portion of the examination may be postponed. At this time,
the student may solicit the adviser's advice in preparing a revised
version. While the adviser may offer specific help on the organization,
structure, style, and content of the manuscript, the actual writing is
to be the student's. Again, the student submits six copies of the
revised manuscript to the committee.
To pass the qualifying
examination, the student needs affirmative votes from four of the six
committee members. Since the purpose of the qualifying examination is
to identify weaknesses or deficiencies that a student must rectify
before graduation, the school encourages faculty advisers to attend
their students' presentations and subsequent examinations as silent
observers.
General Knowledge Component
The
general knowledge component of the qualifying examination consists of
essay-type questions. Each year, the qualifying examination committee
solicits questions from each of the lecturers in Foundations of
Neuroscience and the core course, Molecular and Cellular Biology, who
taught the student in the first year in the program. From these
questions, the committee selects 14 on the subjects of molecular,
cellular, systems, behavioral, and cognitive neuroscience to pose to
the student.
The exam is held in three-hour periods over two
nonconsecutive days, usually in the second or third week of September.
Each of the two exams consists of seven questions, with the candidate
required to pick any four to answer. Candidates have three hours to
write their answers by computer and save those answers to a file. Each
answer is graded by the author of the question, the committee
chair, and at least one other appropriate faculty member selected
by the chair. Grading is blind, with the answers identified only
by student number. The code is not broken until the chair
receives all grades from all the answers in the exam. To pass, a
candidate must supply acceptable answers to at least three of the four
questions posed on each day. To pass the qualifying examination, a
candidate must garner at least a four-to-two affirmative vote from the
qualifying examination committee.
Because one purpose of the
qualifying examination is to identify weaknesses or deficiencies in the
candidate that must be corrected, the school encourages faculty
advisers to attend their students' presentations as silent observers.
No more than three weeks after completing the examination, the program
notifies each candidate in writing of his or her results. This letter,
which becomes part of the candidate's permanent record, also will
detail strengths and weaknesses that were identified by the examination
and suggest steps to remedy deficiencies.
Policies Governing Reexamination
The student must pass both the research and the general knowledge
portions of the qualifying examination to be admitted to candidacy. If
the student fails either or both portions of the examination, he or she
will be permitted to retake the failed portions one time only. Thus,
the reexamination may involve the oral presentation, manuscript
defense, one or both sections of the general knowledge examination, or
any combination of these. Working with the student's adviser, the
qualifying examination committee sets the time for the reexamination.
In no case should that date be later than December 20 of the year in
which the initial examination was taken.
