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Department of Statistics, University of Connecticut
Ph.D. General Examination: New Format and Procedure

 
Effective Fall 2008, Department of Statistics, will follow the new format and procedures for the General Exam (GE):

1. Three Components:

The General Examination (GE) will cover three components: two topic components and a research component. The two topic components will be chosen from: applied statistics (Stat 320-321) (Stat 5505-5605), inference (Stat 330-331) (Stat 6315-6515), linear models (Stat 332-430) (Stat 5725-6694), and probability (Stat 333-450) (Stat 6325-6894). Questioning on the research component will be aimed at a dissertation proposal (see below)a.

2. Examining Committee:

The Examining Committee ("Committee") will consist of a student's major advisor, who will serve as the Chair, and three other examining members, each of whom will have a major role for examining one of the three componentsb.

3. Dissertation Proposal and Research Component:

No later than three weeks before taking the GE, a student will, with advice and permission from his/her major advisor, provide a dissertation proposal to three examining members of the committee. Prior to GE, any member of the Committee may ask a student to prepare additional material under research component for questioning during GEc. These may cover (but may not be limited to) (i) background of the research area including motivation, literature search, and necessary tools, (ii) proposed plan of research including methods, possible hurdles, and ideas to handle them, (iii) applications, if any, and (iv) indications of future and related research.

4. Grade:

A grade of "pass" or "fail" will be assigned for an entire GE. There will be no "partial pass" of any kind. A student may have a maximum of two opportunities to clear the GE.

5. Time Line:

The students should give at least three months notice to the Committee to schedule the GE.

aSelection of the two topic components will be made jointly by a student and his/her major advisor. Knowledge in a topic component will be expected to far exceed a level that may be typically required to earn a grade A or A+ in an associated course.

bExamining members will be invited to participate by the student and his/her major advisor (other faculty who wish to attend, possibly ask questions, but not participate formally on the Committee, are welcome as matter of course to any GE). Within the GE itself, any of the four members of the Committee may ask questions on any topic.

cThe dissertation proposal will normally be similar to that required by the Graduate School.