Comprehensive Exam

Successful defense of the dissertation proposal is also counted as successful completion/passing of the comprehensive exam for the program. A student must complete all coursework (including electives) and defend their dissertation proposal (and pass comprehensive exam in this process) to advance to candidacy. Once the student has advanced to candidacy, the student must also complete a minimum of 12 hours of doctoral dissertation credit. To graduate, the student must also complete and defend the Ph.D. dissertation.