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Choosing a Thesis Advisor and Qualifying Exams
Students entering the Graduate Program in Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology identify their Thesis Advisor during the laboratory rotations in the first year. A fourth lab rotation at the end of the first year is available for students who have not previously found advisors. Financial aid is terminated after the fourth rotation if an Thesis Advisor cannot be found. Full time research on the student's thesis project under the advisor’s supervision should begin after the first Qualifying Exam at the end of the first year. The Qualifying Examination has two parts with Part I offered at the end of the Molecular Biosciences Core Curriculum. It is a written examination based on a critical evaluation of a selected set of journal articles provided to the students two weeks before the exam. The aim is to test basic knowledge, comprehension of the papers, and experimental design. The questions can be specific as well as wide-ranging. Part II of the exam is taken at the end of the second year. It is a written proposal and oral exam based on the student’s planned thesis work. When the student is ready, he/she will provide the Program director with an abstract and an examination committee will be created from three faculty members of the Program, excluding the advisor. In certain circumstances, ad hoc members will be brought in. The student and the committee will be notified and together they will select an examination date within the following six weeks. The written proposal for the exam shall be in the form of a research grant (Specific Aims, Background, Preliminary Data, Experimental Design) suitable for submission as an Individual Predoctoral National Research Service Award, and shall be presented orally to the committee. While preliminary results are welcome they will neither be essential nor the focal point of the exam. The committee and the student’s advisor must receive the proposal at least a week before the exam. At the exam, the student will present the proposal in an oral format. The committee will ask questions related directly or indirectly to the subject matter of the proposal. Students can expect questions on the logical reasoning behind the proposal, the scientific techniques employed, as well as general questions about the practices and principles of biological and pharmacological science. The student’s performance
will be evaluated on a pass/fail basis. A conditional pass may also be
awarded. A pass on the exam admits the student to candidacy for the Ph.D.
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