Admission to candidacy for the doctoral degree is granted by the Graduate School upon the recommendation of the MATH Graduate Committee. A student must be admitted to candidacy within five years after admission to the doctoral program and at least six months before the date on which the doctoral degree will be conferred. Before a student applies for admission to candidacy he or she must have:
- passed two written qualifying exams at the Ph.D. level and completed the four required courses with a grade of B or higher;
- maintained a 3.00 or better GPA in all formal course work;
- passed the Oral Candidacy Examination.
Please contact the Office of Graduate Studies to request information on preliminary exams, candidacy forms and the application for candidacy (j and ).
Forms
Please submit all forms to the graduate office.
Preliminary (Candidacy) Oral Announcement Form
Preliminary (Candidacy) Oral Announcement Form: Due 2 weeks before exam. Send an email to let us know it has been completed.
Application for Admission to Candidacy
Application for Admission to Candidacy: Bring this form to your exam and submit to the Graduate Office immediately after you present.
Submit Preliminary Oral Examination
Submit Preliminary Oral Examination: Bring this form to your exam and submit to the Graduate Office immediately after you present.
Checklist and Timeline
Prepare A Prospectus
A prospectus for the examination must be filed with the Graduate Office before the examination is scheduled and publicly announced. (For additional information on how to prepare a prospectus, please read the attached MATH and STAT Candidacy Requirements). There is also the Prospectus Repository on UMD Box for examples.
Preliminary (Candidacy) Oral Announcement Form
After scheduling the oral exam, complete this announcement form at least two weeks prior to the examination date. (Don’t forget to inform Jemma that you have completed the G Form--announcement form.)
Submit Preliminary Oral Examination Report
After scheduling the oral exam, complete this announcement form at least two weeks prior to the examination date. (Don’t forget to inform Jemma that you have completed the G Form--announcement form.)
Application for Candidacy
Here is the link: Application for Admission to Candidacy
After Completion of Preliminary Oral Exam
Obtain Advisor’s signature and return application for admission to candidacy form to the Math Graduate Office (). Return as a completed PDF with your advisor’s signature (I will obtain the Grad Program Director's signature and forward your form to the Registrar). Label your PDF as such: Last Name_First Name_ Appl Cand.
Candidacy
MATH and STAT Candidacy Requirements
It is the responsibility of the student to submit an application for admission to candidacy to Trystan Denhard at when all the requirements for candidacy have been fulfilled. All work at other institutions offered in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the doctoral degree must be submitted with the application for admission to candidacy. Official transcripts of the work must be on file in the Graduate School. The student must complete their program for the degree, dissertation, and final examination (defense), during the four year period after admission to candidacy.
The Oral Candidacy Examination
The candidacy examination is an oral examination which serves as a test of the detailed preparation of a student in the area of specialization, and seeks to discover if they has a deep enough understanding to read the relevant research literature in the field and the skills to carry out the research for the dissertation. The examination is usually taken before a student embarks on serious dissertation research. The examination assumes further advanced coursework beyond that required for the qualifying exams. It shall follow the guidelines listed below.
Planning the Exam
To plan the examination, the student, with the help and approval of the prospective dissertation advisor, must prepare a prospectus for the examination.This prospectus defines the primary and related areas to be covered in the examination. These areas should be identified by course citations, literature citations, tables of contents, or other appropriate means. The prospectus should be filed with the Graduate Office before the examination is scheduled, and should also record the proposed format for the examination. Typical formats for the examination are either a seminar-type presentation by the student (or possibly two such talks) on one or more recent research papers, followed by questions from the committee on the presentation and related background material, or else a more traditional oral examination on subjects or courses listed in the prospectus.
Examination Committee
The examination committee is appointed by the Graduate Director (or if the Graduate Director is unavailable for an extended period, his or her designated representative) upon recommendation of the student's prospective dissertation advisor. The Graduate Director may, if necessary, consult with one or more field committee chairs in the area of specialization. The examination committee must consist of at least three members, at least one (usually the prospective dissertation advisor) representing the area in which the student plans to specialize. Usually all three of these will be faculty members from the Mathematics Department, but when there is a good academic reason, the student can petition the Graduate Committee to allow one to be from a related department (such as physics or computer science) or an outside institution (such as another university, NASA, NIH, NIST, NCHS, etc.). Disputes regarding the makeup of the examination committee will be referred to the Graduate Committee. Each committee member must agree to abide by the prospectus for the examination.
Possible Outcomes
The examination committee is appointed by the Graduate Director (or if the Graduate Director is unavailable for an extended period, his or her designated representative) upon recommendation of the student's prospective dissertation advisor. The Graduate Director may, if necessary, consult with one or more field committee chairs in the area of specialization. The examination committee must consist of at least three members, at least one (usually the prospective dissertation advisor) representing the area in which the student plans to specialize. Usually all three of these will be faculty members from the Mathematics Department, but when there is a good academic reason, the student can petition the Graduate Committee to allow one to be from a related department (such as physics or computer science) or an outside institution (such as another university, NASA, NIH, NIST, NCHS, etc.). Disputes regarding the makeup of the examination committee will be referred to the Graduate Committee. Each committee member must agree to abide by the prospectus for the examination.