General Information

Admission to doctoral candidacy represents the evaluation by the GSC that a student is appropriately qualified to pursue original research in the form of the doctoral dissertation. Admission to candidacy includes all of the following requirements:

1. Pass the pre-candidacy qualifying examination process and be recommended for admission to candidacy by the qualifying exam committee, the student’s area/program, and the GSC. 
2. Complete program-specific pre-candidacy requirements, which are determined by the program Area Chair, and may vary slightly depending on the student’s proposed dissertation research. 

In order to apply for candidacy, students must also have selected a supervisor for the dissertation, selected a topic (sufficiently developed for a comprehensible dissertation summary to be submitted), and secured agreement from the proposed members of the dissertation committee that they will serve. 

Application for Doctoral Candidacy

The Application for Doctoral Candidacy is comprised of three parts: information about the student, including the committee membership; the dissertation summary; and the program of work. The departmental approval process for the Application for Doctoral Candidacy includes all members of the dissertation committee. Once approved at the departmental level, the student will apply online for Graduate School approval. Both processes can take considerable time, especially during the summer when many faculty are not available for approvals. Be sure to plan ahead!

Program of Work

Students are given access to their Program of Work in UTBox, and it is the student’s responsibility to keep it updated each semester. Do not keep multiple versions or copies of your program of work in the UT Box folder. Your Program of Work document will be used for advising, applying for candidacy, and for approval before the final oral exam. The Graduate School requires EDP GSC Chair approval of your Program of Work before your application for candidacy is finalized. Your Area Chair will verify degree completion via your Program of Work in the semester you are holding your final oral. The GSC Chair will use that verification as the basis of signing your Report of Dissertation Committee Form (aka "Gold form") after your final oral.  

Note:  Coursework older than 6 years at the time of the application for candidacy must go through a waiver process to be approved for use. If the coursework is approved, file a copy of the approved form in your UTBox Program of Work folder so the GSC Chair can approve your application for candidacy.  Be careful what date you use for your expected date of candidacy: if you take longer than the approved date, you must go through the process again. Taking a very long time to complete required coursework may be interpreted as not making satisfactory progress towards your degree, and non-candidate students with coursework 6 years or older will be reviewed by the GSC each year in September. The GSC members will decide what measures need to be taken, including coursework that must be repeated.  

Candidacy-Specific Course Registration

During the semester you will be applying for candidacy, you must be registered in EDP 394R: Research, with the proposed dissertation supervisor listed as the course supervisor. These hours will be converted into dissertation hours after the Graduate School approves your application for candidacy, as long as the process is completed early enough in the semester to meet Graduate School deadlines (see chart below). 

EDP doctoral students must remain registered for at least 9 hours until they have been approved for candidacy at the departmental level. You can be registered for less than 9 hours the semester in which you are completing the gathering of approvals from your committee members for your completed application for candidacy, if you are doing so during the first 12 days of the long semesters or the first 4 days of the summer semester.

Once admitted to candidacy, students must enroll each long semester for dissertation hours (EDP 399W, 699W, or 999W) until the final oral defense meeting is successfully completed and the dissertation is submitted to the Graduate School. Students do not need to enroll in the summer for dissertation unless they are actively working on their dissertation and using the time of their supervisor or committee members (this includes conducting the dissertation proposal meeting). Students must be registered for either Research or Dissertation hours in the semester in which the proposal meeting is held.

After students apply for candidacy in the Graduate School system and are registered for dissertation hours, they may apply for a study room in the PCL (Perry-Castañeda Library). Occasionally, students may need to share a study room with another graduate student.

Committee Membership

Membership of the dissertation committee is proposed by the student in consultation with the dissertation faculty supervisor. The dissertation committee advises on the research and writing of the dissertation. The supervisor ordinarily acts as the direct supervisor of the student’s work. Other members should be consulted when appropriate to their interest and expertise.

Committees must have at least four members. Three of those members, including the supervisor, must be GSC members (tenure-track faculty) in Educational Psychology. EDP requires at least one of your dissertation committee members be a Full or Associate Professor in Educational Psychology. The Department strongly recommends that at least two of your committee members be from your area of specialization, and that at least one committee member have expertise in your research methodology. Check with your proposed dissertation supervisor regarding any area of specialization requirements for dissertation committee membership. Important Note: Only one committee member (who is not a supervisor or co-supervisor) may be absent from the defense (see section on Final Oral for more information).

One committee member must be from outside the Department of Educational Psychology. If a student elects to have a non-UT scholar, or a UT non-GSC member (non-tenured or non-tenure-track faculty) serve on the committee, the student may be required to submit that member’s CV to the Graduate School before being approved for candidacy. A committee member with no UT-Austin affiliation  must be appropriately credentialed to serve on a dissertation committee (i.e., have a Ph.D., J.D., or M.D. degree). If the non-UT member is the only out-of-department committee member, a short statement regarding the members’ appropriateness, as well as the member’s CV, must be submitted to the Graduate Adviser for approval. If the only out-of-department member is a graduate of the Educational Psychology department, that member must have graduated at least 5 years prior to becoming a member of the committee.

Occasionally, a student will want a member who is affiliated with the Educational Psychology Department but who is not a GSC member. This type of member can serve as a fifth committee member, as they can neither serve as an EDP GSC member nor as an out-of-department committee member.

Students may elect to have dissertation co-supervisors. One reason to have co-supervisors is if a student is collaborating on research and data collection with a faculty member outside of the department. In that case, the out-of-department co-supervisor serves as the primary research supervisor, and the department co-supervisor serves as a secondary research supervisor.

If a committee member enters phased retirement or retirement, leaves the university, or is unable to continue serving on the committee, the student is responsible for replacing the committee member. The student must fill out, obtain signatures on, and submit the Request for Change in Dissertation Committee Form immediately on notification that a committee member will need to be changed, and no later than 30 days prior to the Final Oral date, or the Final Oral may have to be rescheduled. Note: if your committee chair is entering phased retirement, they can continue to serve as a co-chair.

TIP: Students have found that a key factor in building a successful committee is early identification of faculty members.  Faculty members are often unavailable to discuss possible committee membership during the summer, or may already be serving on multiple dissertation committees. A more extensive search than originally planned may be required. In addition, faculty who are not teaching during the summer are not obligated to be involved in academic activities.

Dissertation Summary

The dissertation summary should be concise (no more than 4500 characters, including spaces; straight text only—this will be input to the Graduate School system and no enhanced formatting will survive), and written in language understandable to the average educated layperson. The first paragraph should provide background, problem statement, relevant theory, and purpose of the proposed research. The second paragraph should address methodology, including the number of subjects and data analysis strategy. Students may add a final paragraph or sentences regarding expected results and/or importance of the research. Citations are not necessary.  

Specialized Competency

The departmental application for candidacy includes a section where you will input information about how you fulfilled the required specialized competency. Check with your faculty or dissertation adviser regarding the information for this section.  

Checklist for applying for candidacy

1. Write summary and obtain approval from supervisor(s) and any committee members who want to approve before committing to membership.
2. Update your Program of Work in your UTBox. 
3. Complete the departmental form for Application for Candidacy.  
4. Email completed Application to your committee members (be sure to copy the EDP Graduate Coordinator) and obtain approval from all committee members by return email (Graduate Coordinator does not need to be copied after initial email).
5. After all members have approved, file online for candidacy with the Graduate School.
   • If you have co-supervisors, input your primary EDP co-supervisor first in the online system. Your primary EDP co-supervisor will be input as Supervisor and the secondary co-supervisor as Co-supervisor.
   • You will search for your committee members' names by inputting the last names only and then selecting the correct faculty persons. Non-EDP GSC members and non-UT members will be added in a separate section.
   • The Graduate School system does not make paragraph breaks so, if it is very important to you that everyone know where a new paragraph begins in your summary, put <> at the end or beginning of each paragraph. Don't worry about the formatting: everyone involved is used to the system. This system accommodates only 4500 characters, including spaces, and does not allow for anything other than plain text.

Note: After you've submitted your online application, you'll be sent a link in order to keep up with the progress of your application as it makes it through the approval process. Feel free to prompt anyone who seems to be causing a delay. After the Graduate School approves your application for candidacy, the EDP Graduate Coordinator will turn your research hours into dissertation hours if you complete the online application early enough in the semester.

Once you are finished applying for candidacy, you can schedule your dissertation proposal meeting. (You do not have to wait for approval of your application for candidacy from the Graduate School to hold your proposal meeting.) Typically, this meeting takes two hours, so schedule additional time before and after so you can set up and give yourself some flexibility at the end.

Deadlines to file online in order to be in dissertation hours:

Fall Semester:              7th week after classes begin    

Spring Semester:         5th week after classes begin

Summer Session:        4th week after classes begin

You can check exact Graduate School deadlines for each semester.

Candidacy Process Flowchart