The final Ph.D. defense involves an external appraisal of the thesis and an oral examination by the School of Graduate Studies. A small part of the income of most graduate students comes from assisting in the teaching of physics program. Students may apply for positions as laboratory demonstrators, tutors or markers. Teaching Assistants are appointed early in September by the Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies. On arrival, all students are encouraged to talk with as many professors and graduate students as possible, so that they can make an informed choice of research topic and supervisor.
Many groups hold weekly seminars concerned with recent developments in their area of research.
There is also a Departmental Colloquium every Thursday afternoon during the regular academic year, at which leading physicists from around the world provide an expert view of advances in the most interesting fields of Physics. Graduate students participate in most activities of the Department and are represented on many of its committees. The Graduate Liaison Committee, chaired by the Associate Chair, consists entirely of graduate students representing the different areas of research. It advises the Department on a wide variety of issues of interest to graduate students, performs annual graduate course evaluations, initates many new proposals, and serves as a sounding board for departmental and university matters. The Physics Department of the University of Toronto welcomes applications from good physics students for admission to the graduate program.