Qualifying Examinations
The Ph.D. Qualifying Exams are given in May approximately two weeks after the end of spring semester classes.
Listed below are the departmental rules regarding qualifying examinations:
- Students who plan to go directly into a Ph.D. program must take one Qualifying Exam by the end of their first year and pass one Qualifying Exam with a grade of B or better by the end of their second year.
- Students who do not take a Qualifying Examination in their first year will automatically go into a M.S. program. They then must complete the M.S. degree requirements before being considered for a Ph.D. program.
- The following rule applies to those students who plan to continue in the Department of Biological Sciences after receiving a M.S. degree.
"Upon completion of their M.S. degree at Purdue, admission to the Ph.D. program requires that a Qualifying Examination be passed no later than one and one-half calendar years after completion of the requirements of the M.S. degree."
The exams are based on the study guides, which are available sometime prior to the fall semester in the Graduate and Advanced Studies Office (Lilly 1-120). Each of the three Research Clusters listed below provides one Qualifying Examination. The nature and format of each exam is determined by each Cluster to set a rigorous standard to evaluate a student's knowledge of broad concepts in their discipline:
- Development and Disease
- Molecular Biosciences
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology