Students have two opportunities to pass each examination, the first in June, after completion of the spring quarter, and the second in September, before the start of the fall quarter. After completing the core courses and passing preliminary exams, the student begins satisfying requirements for field and elective courses in years two and three. During this time the student is expected develop research ideas and projects, in addition to completing course work satisfactorily. At that point a thesis committee is formed, reviews the work so far, and if all is satisfactory, advances the student to candidacy. At advancement a very brief proposal is needed describing dissertation research beyond the third-year paper.
Most attention is directed to the third-year project.
In completing the third-year paper, the student is thinking of the dissertation as three research papers. Although in the end the papers often form a cohesive unit, such cohesion is not required. What is required is that each paper represents a potentially publishable research project. The student may be summoned to answer the committee's questions, or the student can request the meeting. Similarly, public defense of the completed dissertation is often waived but may be required by the dissertation committee or requested by the candidate.