Doctoral oral exam scheduling

Scheduling

You must schedule your preliminary and final oral examination (final defense) as soon as the dates are set, but no later than one week prior to the examinations.

Please note that you are responsible for: 

  • following your program’s internal scheduling procedures. In certain health science fields, faculty require 30 days notice of the date of your oral examination.
  • scheduling and confirming the times and places of the examinations with all committee members. 

For the preliminary oral examination:
Once you are eligible to take the exam, you will receive an email from GSSP confirming your eligibility and containing the link to the Preliminary Oral Exam Report form. You will schedule your exam directly with your committee and program staff, following your program’s internal scheduling procedures.

GSSP verifies that all examination requirements have been completed before sending the email. If you have completed all of the eligibility requirements below and have not received this email, reach out to GSSP for assistance.

If you have misplaced the email containing the Preliminary Oral Exam Report form link (how the results of your exam are recorded), you can find a copy by going to your Communication Center in MyU. 

For the final oral examination:
Once you have met all of the requirements below except the Reviewers’ Report, your doctoral degree program will be reviewed for completion. You will receive an email from GSSP outlining any remaining coursework requirements and reminding you to initiate the Reviewers’ Report form. You may receive this email a long time before your planned final. If you have not received this email within one week after the final exam committee has been completely approved and processed, reach out to GSSP for assistance.

Once you are eligible to take the exam, you will receive an email from GSSP confirming your eligibility and containing the link to the Final Exam Form for Graduate Students. You will schedule your exam directly with your committee and program staff, following your program’s internal scheduling procedures.

GSSP verifies that all examination requirements have been completed before releasing the Final Exam Form for Graduate Students. If you have completed all of the eligibility requirements below and have not received this email, reach out to GSSP for assistance.

If you have misplaced the email containing the Final Exam Form for Graduate Students link (how the results of your exam are recorded), you can find a copy by going to your Communication Center in MyU.

For changes to your exam committees, view the examination committees page for more information. If you have questions or want to cancel or reschedule your exam, contact GSSP.

Requirements

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Preliminary oral exam requirements

The following requirements must be met with GSSP before the preliminary oral examination can be authorized:

  1. You must hold active status at the time of the examination.
  2. Your Graduate Degree Plan form or GPAS Planner must be approved and on file with GSSP.
    • Note: minors must be declared and approved prior to the preliminary oral examination
  3. You must have an approved preliminary oral examination committee on file with GSSP.
  4. The results of your preliminary written exam (reported by your program to GSSP) must be on file with GSSP.

Final oral exam requirements

The following requirements must be met with GSSP before the Final Oral Examination can be authorized:

  1. The student must hold active status.
  2. The Final Oral Examination must be taken within the eight-year time limit for doctoral students, or an approved Request for Extension to the Maximum Time Limit: Doctoral Degree form must be on file.
  3. If the Preliminary Oral Examination was passed with reservations, a letter notifying the student and GSSP that those reservations have been removed must be on file.
  4. The student must have an approved doctoral final examination committee on record.
  5. The student must have registered for 24 semester doctoral thesis credits (8888).
    1. Note: DMA students are required to have 4 dissertation credits and Twin Cities Ed.D. students must complete 12 dissertation credits.
  6. All coursework and programmatic requirements (ethics, languages, etc.) on the doctoral degree program must be complete.
  7. The Reviewers Report form must be on file with GSSP before the examination.

Letter of certification

Once you are cleared for graduation, you will automatically receive an email from the Office of the Registrar. If you also need to certify your doctoral preliminary oral candidacy or doctoral final oral completion, fill out the Letter of Certification Request. The letter will be sent upon verification that all requirements have been satisfied for the requested certification. Requests are not processed if there is a hold on your student record.