Time Limits

All PhD candidates must complete the PhD research and dissertation within five years after the semester in which the doctoral preliminary examination was passed. Degree candidate status may be terminated by the department at the end of the fifth year. To be reinstated to PhD candidacy:

1. A continuously registered student must retake the doctoral preliminary examination under departmental procedures that exist at the time of the retake.
2. A student not continuously registered must reapply for admission to the PhD program. If admitted, the student, in consultation with their major professor and the Director of Graduate Studies, appoints an advisory committee, a new plan of study is filed, and the doctoral preliminary examination is retaken and must be passed under the departmental procedures that exist at the time of the retake.