School of Engineering Graduate School Timelines Doctoral Degree Programs, Ph.D. & D.E.*

  1. Student is admitted meeting application and department / program requirements
  2. Student completes Qualifying Exam within 1st year (if required by department / program)
  3. Student forms graduate committee consisting of at least 3 graduate faculty in the department, and decides on thesis or non-thesis (project) option (This must be completed by the beginning of the second semester)
    1. Doctor of Philosophy & Doctor of Engineering Option:
    2. Student chooses an advisor and a doctoral committee and submits a Plan of Study (must be completed by the end of the 2nd semester of study)
    3. Student completes the coursework requirements for degree, which are approved on the Plan of Study. (Fulltime students typically complete coursework within three years)
    4. Student completes bulk of coursework and meets research skills, responsible scholarship, and residency requirements
    5. Student schedules Comprehensive Exam date with Program Assistant (at least 2-3 weeks prior to the comp exam date)
    6. Program Assistant requests an academic progress check from RGP (PtD pre-approval)
    7. Student completes and passes Comprehensive Oral Exam
    8. Student becomes a Doctoral Candidate Student must enroll in at least 6 credit hrs for fall and spring & 3 hrs for summer until 18 postcomp hours are complete (in any course) OR until all degree requirements met (5 months must pass between comp oral and final defense)
    9. Student submits draft of dissertation / project to advisor and doctoral committee
    10. All degree requirements are met and dissertation draft is accepted by doctoral committee
    11. Student files application for degree (AFD) through Enroll & Pay > Degree Progress / Graduation > KU Apply for Graduation by semester deadline (student’s must re-apply if unable to complete checklist by the posted graduation deadline)
    12. Student schedules final oral defense of their dissertation / project with Program Assistant (at least 2-3 weeks prior to defense date)
    13. Program Assistant requests degree check from RGP (PtD) at least 2 weeks prior to the Graduation Deadline and advertises defense (RGP sends checklist to student)
    14. Candidate passes final oral defense and prepares to make any necessary changes to dissertation / project as recommended by doctoral committee
    15. Student submits signed Title and Acceptance Pages to Dean’s Office or Program Assistant.
    16. Defense Notification sent to RGP electronically via PtD form by Program Assistant (honors/satisfactory)
    17. Student submits electronic thesis to ProQuest/UMI (order bound copies through UMI for prog/dept if required)
    18. Student verifies with RGP and Program Assistant that all degree requirements are complete prior to graduation deadline
    19. Candidate graduates
* The chart outlines general requirements for the School of Engineering. Students should verify specific departmental requirements with their graduate advisor.
  1. Qualifying Exam (Optional per University / Program Specific) – Tests knowledge & Research Skills (some departments/programs have coursework or area requirements) see list of departmental requirements below.
  2. The doctoral committee must consist of at least 5 members. At least 3 members must be tenure / tenure track faculty from within the department, including the advisor and include one person from outside the department at KU who will act as the outside member. Students may have co-chairs or members from outside KU, but all members must be approved as a regular or special member of the Graduate Faculty.
  3. Students should contact their department/program for more information on the responsible scholarship and research skills requirements, as they are specific to each program. Residency requirements are met when students are in residence as a full-time student for at least two semesters (enrolled in at least 6 . See graduate catalog)
  4. Comprehensive Oral Exam (Required by University / Program Specific) – Completed after major portion of coursework, research skills, responsible scholarship, and residency completed. Student must be in good academic standing with no incomplete grades and have a complete and approved Plan of Study on file.
  5. After passing the Comprehensive Oral Exam, the candidate must be continuously enrolled, including summer sessions, until all requirements for the degree are completed, and each enrollment must reflect as accurately as possible the candidate’s demands on faculty time and university facilities. During this time, until all requirements for the degree are completed (including filing of the dissertation) OR until 18 post-comprehensive hours have been completed (whichever comes first), the candidate must enroll for a minimum of 6 hours a semester and 3 hours a summer session. See graduate catalog.
  6. The graduation checklist is available and graduation deadlines are posted on the KU Graduate Studies webpage (see the annual Academic Calendar under Important Information).

Qualifying Exam Definitions (department / program specific):

AE- The qualifying examination tests breadth of knowledge and determines the student’s ability to formulate mathematical representations of real physical situations. The examination covers mathematics and 3 of these 5 areas:

  • Aerodynamics
  • Astronautics
  • Structures and materials
  • Dynamics and controls
  • Propulsion

BioE- Each doctoral student must pass the doctoral qualifying examination, normally taken at the end of the first year of graduate study. The written and oral examination measures the student’s ability to comprehend and communicate technical literature in the chosen track of study. The qualifying examination may be retaken once. A more detailed description of the examination is available on the program's website.

CPE- Students with a completed M.S. degree take the graduate core courses and/or corresponding qualifying examinations based on their previous course work and training, as specified by the graduate standards committee. Each qualifying examination normally is written and graded by the instructor who last taught the course and is of equivalent difficulty to the final examination for that course. A qualifying examination is waived for a student who completes the graduate core course in that subject at KU with an overall grade of A or with a grade of B and a B+ on the final examination.

CEAE- An aspirant for the Ph.D. degree must pass a qualifying examination. The department normally gives this examination upon completion of the aspirant’s M.S. work or at a comparable level for non-M.S. students.

EECS- Each doctoral student must pass a doctoral qualifying examination, which also meets the research skills requirement. This is a written examination taken within a single day that measures the student’s ability to comprehend and interpret technical literature in an unfamiliar topical area in the discipline. The examination is offered once a year, in the spring semester, and the student must take it at the first opportunity after completing the M.S. or after initial enrollment in the doctoral program.

ME- Students should plan to complete the qualifying examination in the first semester of participation in the doctoral program on regular status. The doctoral qualifying examination covers basic material from major areas in mechanical engineering and advanced materials from the student’s specialty. On successful completion of the qualifying examination, the student selects a major professor to serve as the chair of their doctoral committee and direct their research.

Comprehensive Oral Exam Definitions (department / program specific):

AE- When the aspirant has completed most of the course work and satisfied the research skills (AE 691), responsible scholarship (AE 692) and residency requirements, he or she must take the comprehensive examination. The comprehensive examination is made up of two parts. The first part must consist of a written research proposal outlining in some detail the work to be done for the dissertation. The second part is an oral examination in which she or he must defend the research plans and demonstrate competence in her or his particular and related areas. Upon passing the comprehensive examination, the aspirant becomes a doctoral candidate.

BioE- Doctoral students must take the comprehensive examination after passing the qualifying examination, completing the research skills requirement (BioE 800), residency requirement, responsible scholarship requirement (BioE 801), and at least ¾ of the course work required in the Plan of Study. The examining committee for the comprehensive examination is generally the student’s doctoral advisory committee. Before the examination, the student must submit in writing to the committee a detailed NIH or NSF-style research proposal for a possible Ph.D. dissertation project. Any modifications to the format should be approved by the student’s doctoral advisory committee. The comprehensive examination evaluates the student’s ability to write an original research proposal, design experiments, and interpret results in a sound and critical manner. A more detailed description of the examination is available on the program's website. Passing the examination advances the student to doctoral candidacy.

CPE- The aspirant takes the comprehensive examination after completion of a majority of the course work for the Ph.D. and student has met residency, research skills and responsible scholarship requirements (C&PE 825). The examination consists of 2 parts: a written proposal for research and an oral examination based on, but not limited to, the research proposal. For the research proposal, the student is assigned a topic of current interest to the chemical and/or petroleum engineering profession by an examining committee. The aspirant identifies a research problem in the assigned topic area and prepares a written proposal for research on this problem. Normally, the written proposal must be prepared over a specified time period of 30 consecutive days and must be distinctly different from the dissertation problem.

The examining committee evaluates the research proposal upon completion. If the committee judges it satisfactory, the oral examination part of the comprehensive examination is held. The oral examination is based on the research proposal but may also cover areas peripheral to the proposal. To prepare the aspirant for the comprehensive examination, the advisory committee may require enrollment in C&PE 902 Preparation for the Ph.D. Comprehensive Examination during the first year of the Ph.D. program.

CEAE- Before being admitted to the comprehensive examination, the aspirant must satisfy residency and the department’s basic research skills and responsible scholarship requirements. The research skill requirement provides the aspirant with a research skill distinct from, but strongly supportive of, the dissertation research. Research skills are often met when students complete a research-related course, listed on the approved Plan of Study. The responsible scholarship requirement serves to ensure that students are trained in responsible research and this requirement is met when students complete the Responsible Scholarship Training Seminar (8 – one hour sessions). All doctoral students must successfully complete the training seminar in their first fall semester of enrollment.

EECS- The student must take the doctoral comprehensive examination after passing the qualifying examination, completing the research skills requirement, and completing at least ¾ of the course work requirement beyond the M.S. The student must complete the comprehensive examination before detailed work on the Ph.D. dissertation begins. Before the examination, the student must submit in writing to the committee a detailed proposal for a possible Ph.D. dissertation. In the comprehensive examination, the student is examined upon the proposal and on knowledge and insight in the specialization, and a dissertation committee is formed.

ME- The comprehensive examination has a written and oral component. The written component contains a detailed literature review of existing research in the proposed area as well as a description of the work or research plan to be completed for the dissertation. For the oral component, the aspirant must defend the proposed work or research plan and demonstrate proficiency in the specialization.