After successfully passing the screening procedures, each student establishes a guidance committee which then supervises preparation for the qualifying examination. Qualifying Examination Students seeking the Ph.D. will select four area-fields, one of which will be outside the Department of History, for examination. Competence in these area-fields is determined by comprehensive examinations, and not in terms of particular courses previously taken. In preparing for the qualifying examination, a student is permitted to repeat a seminar in the field of the dissertation upon the approval of the guidance committee. Qualifying examinations are normally offered in October and April.
Examinations are graded honors, pass, low-pass or fail.
The guidance committee determines whether the candidate may retake any exams graded low-pass or fail. At the end of the oral examination, students cannot be advanced to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree with more than one dissenting vote, which must not be in the dissertation field. The guidance committee determines whether students with more than one dissenting vote will be allowed to retake the failed examinations or be dropped from the program. A student must wait at least six, but not more than nine, months to retake examinations. An examination in any given field cannot be retaken more than once.