3rd Years & Beyond
Due August 1st of each year. The IDP is intended to help you i) design, monitor, and measure progress in training, ii) articulate short- and long-term goals, and iii) identify relevant developmental activities. Your advisor, or your advisory committee, is an invaluable resource in this process, providing feedback and helping you to generate an action plan.
- IDP for 3rd Years and above
- IDP for 4th Year CD Students (3rd year in PhD)
BGS requires all of its predoctoral students to be trained in i) Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR), and ii) Scientific Rigor and Reproducibility (SRR).
Training in RCR is achieved through lecture, web-based programs, small group workshops, and RCR-focused lab meetings. Training places an emphasis on the involvement of faculty and satisfies requirements set by the NIH for individual fellowships and training grants.
Training in SRR is achieved through lecture and SRR-focused lab meetings. Training similarly places an emphasis on the involvement of faculty and satisfies requirements set by the NIH for individual fellowships and training grants.
- Prior to scheduling your candidacy exam, students should assemble their dissertation committee.
- The committee must have at least three members, not including the dissertation advisor but including the committee chair. At least 50% of the committee must be comprised of GGEB members. At least one member must be external (non-GGEB).
- The role of the Chair is to run committee meetings and to oversee the candidacy examination and final defense, and to ensure the timely and proper deposit of the dissertation. The Chair is also charged with resolving disputes between committee members and the student. The Chair must be aware of these responsibilities and agree to them before joining the committee.
- Epidemiology Only: One member of your committee should be a faculty member in the Division of Biostatistics or Informatics.
- When your committee is formed, please have your committee members sign the GGEB Committee Approval Form and send to the graduate group chair, program chair, and graduate group administrator for approval.
The purpose of the candidacy examination is to evaluate whether the student is qualified to proceed to dissertation research.
- Must be taken no more than 18 months after passing the Qualifying Exam (January of student's 3rd year).
- The examination is structured around the dissertation proposal, but may require additional material as determined by the committee.
- A written dissertation proposal should be submitted to the committee at least two weeks prior to the scheduled examination date.
- The exam is expected to last two hours and has three parts:
- A formal presentation of the proposal
- Committee questions
- Committee discussion and decision, including recommendations for further research and study
- Chair notifies graduate group administrator of the outcome
- Pass
- Conditional Pass, which may require a revised proposal
- Fail with the possibility of retaking the exam within six months
- Fail without the possibility of retaking. Students who receive this result will be asked to leave the program.
- Students must be formally granted permission to write their dissertation
- After permission has been granted, student must submit their dissertation within six months
- Once the committee approves the dissertation, the student will make defense arrangements
- One month prior to the defense, student will submit their final dissertation to their committee to allow them to prepare questions
- All committee members must attend the defense in-person. If a committee needs to attend virtually, approval from the program and graduate group chairs must be given.
- The defense takes place over two hours
- The open session should not exceed one hour, with forty-five minutes devoted to the presentation and the remaining fifteen to questions
- During the closed session, the defended will field questions from the committee. The committee will then meet privately to discuss the outcome.
- A written dissertation proposal should be submitted to the committee at least two weeks prior to the scheduled examination date.
- The exam is expected to last two hours and has three parts:
- A formal presentation of the proposal
- Committee questions
- Committee discussion and decision, including recommendations for further research and study
- Chair notifies graduate group administrator of the outcome
- Pass
- Conditional Pass, which may require a revised dissertation. The student is not required to defend a second time.
- Fail. The student must defend again.
There is a lot to do before students who have successfully defended their dissertations are able to graduate:
- Students must apply to graduate, and can do so here: https://srfs.upenn.edu/student-records/GradApp
- Deadlines vary from year-to-year, but students are typically able to apply from the first month of the semester to the second-to-last (ie September - late November or January - late April).
- Students who do not sign up by the semester's deadline will not be able to graduate that semester.
- The application can be found here: https://srfs.upenn.edu/student-records/GradApp
- All students must electronically deposit their thesis:
- Theses must follow a specific format. The formatting guidelines and templates can be found here: https://provost.upenn.edu/dissertation-templates
- Students can make appointments here: https://provost.upenn.edu/dissertation-deposit
Resources