To make satisfactory progress towards a Ph.D. PhD the student should complete the Preliminary Oral Examination after 24-36 months in residence. One of the big mistakes students make is to wait too long to complete the Preliminary Oral Exam. The right time to do it is as soon as you have sufficient results that you can see light at the end of the tunnel (e.g. you know what you need to do to finish your dissertation). Note that it is common in many other graduate programs at UT Austin to do this much later; don’t follow the advice of students in other graduate programs.
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Along with the proposal, the student must submit to the committee 1) a Preliminary Oral Exam form, 2) a Doctoral Program of Work 3) and Learning Outcomes form (one copy to be completed by supervisor), all two of which can be found here. The Program of Work includes is a document (MS Word or other format) of the courses you have taken, additional courses that you plan to take, and your prospective dissertation title. There is a minimum requirement of 30 coursework hours for the Ph.D. PhD degree, which includes Dissertation hours. The form lists all graduate coursework the student has taken or plans to take at UT Austin. The student should consult with the supervising professor about the details of the written proposal, the oral presentation, and any proposed coursework (other than dissertation).
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The Dissertation Committee determines whether the research topic is appropriate and if the plan of action is adequate. In effect, they are agreeing that if the student executes this program successfully, it should lead to an acceptable dissertation. In addition, the committee is there to advise the student about any difficulties they can foresee with the research plan and to recommend any suggestions that would help the student achieve maximum success in the research. For this reason, it is essential that the student is completely honest and forthcoming about his/her proposed research. At the Preliminary Oral, the Dissertation Committee will reach an agreement with the student regarding the coursework that will be suitable for their Ph.D. PhD At the end of the exam, the committee signs the Preliminary Oral Exam form, which is then returned to the graduate coordinator with all of the committee members’ printed names and signatures. The student will also submit the Program of Work and the Learning Outcomes Form to the graduate coordinator.