During the summer of the first year, students choose their permanent advisor and form their Doctoral Supervisory Committee. Students may also elect to participate in a summer biotechnology externship course during their first summer. During the second year, students generally complete their supervised teaching experience and their elective course work. Autumn quarter of the third year, students take the General Examination. Formal course work is usually completed by this time, although students may take elective courses of interest.
Students continue to participate in various department seminar courses and journal clubs.
After completing their General Exam and course work, students work full-time on the dissertation research project. The final requirements for the Ph.D. degree include a written dissertation and an oral dissertation defense. MCB Program students participate in a monthly seminar program which involves student and faculty presentations. The purpose of these seminars is to acquaint students with the research carried on in many laboratories involved in the program and to give students practical experience in making presentations before their peers. In addition, MCB Program students are invited to seminar programs in the participating departments and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.