The purpose of the candidacy examination is to determine the student's qualifications to pursue a doctoral degree and to determine any course deficiencies that should be considered.
The candidacy examination should be taken early in the student's program. It shall be administered before 15 graduate credits have been completed beyond that of the M.S. degree or equivalent. In the case of students without an M.S. degree, the examination should be taken after 18 credits have been earned.
Master of Science (M.S.) as a Candidacy Exam
The completion of a MS degree in the appropriate biological topic area may be considered to fulfill the candidacy exam requirement. The MS advisory committee may request that this occur and provide the MS thesis and associated manuscripts to the candidacy committee for consultation. The three voting members shall render a yes or no decision.
The Candidacy Committee, consisting of two graduate faculty from AN SC and the chair of the Animal Science Graduate Program & Admissions Committee shall assess the student's English competency and administer the candidacy examination. The faculty advisor will be present as a non-voting member. The examinations may be administered at any time so long as this complies with the guidelines listed above. The candidacy examination shall consist of the following:
The student shall present a critique of an assigned published manuscript to the candidacy committee. This presentation will also serve as a means to evaluate English competency.
The decision as to whether the student has been successful in the entire candidacy examination shall be rendered by majority decision of the Candidacy Committee. The decision will be to pass, fail, or re-examine (only one re-examination shall be offered). At the conclusion of the candidacy examination, the chair of the Candidacy Committee will notify the student, the graduate officer, and the dean of the Graduate School whether the student has been accepted as a doctoral candidate. Reports on the Candidacy Examination are filed for the program as well as the Graduate School.
