PhD Qualifying Process (effective from the Summer 2014 semester)

Each PhD student in the ECpE department must complete a Qualifying Process by following the steps below:

  • Step 1: Complete the Course Work Requirement
    - Two academic area courses and two general skills courses must be completed prior to the semester when the qualifying exam is held. Click here for a list of the required courses in each academic area.
    - The overall GPA of the required courses must be 3.5 or higher.
    - Each individual grade of the required courses must be B+ or better.
    - At most one general skills course may be substituted by another course(s) (taken at either ISU or another university). The student must provide course description and materials and an unofficial transcript to the academic area chair for approval. The grade of the substitute course must be A- or better.
    - Academic area courses cannot be substituted.
  • Step 2: Request an Oral Exam
    - The qualifying process must be completed by the fourth (4) semester for post BS students or the third (3) semester for post MS students.
    - To request an oral exam, the student must submit a PhD Qualifying Exam - Request Form to ECpE Student Services (1212 Coover).
    - The student will be notified of the department decision within one week of submittal if the request is to be denied.
  • Step 3: Schedule the Oral Exam (after one week of submittal of the request)
    - Contact the academic area chair to form an exam committee (which must consist of at least 3 members), and decide the exam time and location. Room shall be formally reserved at the front desk of ECpE Student Services.
  • Step 4: One Week Prior to the Oral Exam
    - Submit a PhD Qualifying Exam - Oral Presentation and Exam Results form to ECpE Student Services.
    - Submit the written report (hard copy or pdf file) to each exam committee member.
  • Step 5: Complete the Oral Exam
    - Prior to the oral exam, ECpE Student Services prepares the student folder that includes both forms, and sends it to the exam committee chair.
    - After the exam, the exam committee chair reports the exam results on the PhD Qualifying Exam - Oral Presentation and Exam Results form and returns all the files to ECpE Student Services.

You may download a pdf file of the above PhD Qualifying Process Guideline from here.

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