Advancing to Doctoral Candidacy

When you have tentative agreement from your proposed committee members, email your Track PhD Coordinator and request that your committee be announced to the ECE GSC, Graduate Studies Committee.  Provide your full name, your EID, your academic track, a working title of your dissertation (this is not necessarily the final title), the full names of your committee members with labels identifying their roles (supervisor; co-supervisor, if you have one; member; external member), and a Word or pdf copy of the external member's CV (Curriculum Vitae, or academic resume).
You must wait two weeks after the announcement is made before proceeding to the next steps.

Each candidacy evaluation should have the following suggested format:

Student provides a summary of proposed research directions, including a review of the student's research proposal and coursework.

A Q&A that covers how prepared the student is for candidacy, including suitability and feasibility of their proposed project.

Each member of your committee will formally sign off on your readiness, the proposed research and whether they agree to serve on your committee via the ECE Candidacy Form HERE.

Committee members will indicate any significant concerns they may have about your ability to communicate, your preparation, readiness, or the proposed research, and they may request follow-up meetings to address such concerns.  It is your responsibility to setup any such follow-up meetings if requested.

You must wait for approval and for email instructions from the Graduate Advising Team before applying online for admission to doctoral candidacy. 
If you receive notification that your ECE Candidacy Form has been signed and completed, but you do not receive instructions within a week, please email the Graduate Advising Team.  Request instructions for applying online for admission to doctoral candidacy, and attach a copy of the completed and signed ECE Candidacy Form you received.

Once you receive the instructions from the Graduate Advising Team, apply as instructed within two weeks of receiving the instructions. 

Your application will be reviewed and approved electronically by your supervisor(s), the ECE Graduate Advisor, the chair of the ECE GSC (Graduate Studies Committee), a Doctoral Degree Evaluator in the Graduate School, and a Dean in the Graduate School. This process can take time, so be prepared to be patient.  Once the Dean approves your application, you are an official doctoral candidate. 

If you get admitted to candidacy after the 12^th class day in fall or spring (or 4^th day in summer), but it is still within the first half of the semester, you may be able to get added to a Dissertation even though the 12^th class day (4^th day in summer) has passed.  You need to already be registered for Research Problems for 3, 6 or 9 hours before the 12^th class day (4^th day in summer) in order to do this late drop/add.  Please check with the graduate advising staff to see if you qualify for the late drop/add.