To advance to PhD candidacy, a student initiates the process through another panthersoft form as described below. It is, in principle, a certification process conducted mostly by the GPD by checking that a student has completed all program requirements to advance to candidacy. The GDP certifies that the student passed all of the core courses, the three elective courses, the Advanced Topics course, and that all three of the required seminar courses are credited. Also, the GDP checks that the student has passed both sections of the written part of the PhD qualifying exam and that the oral exam was passed. The oral exam is the examination part of a student’s proposal defense. The GPD is notified by the advisor as whether the defense was or was not successful. That is why in our program, this milestone is completed in conjunction with the proposal defense, AKA the D3 process. After the student advances to candidacy, he or she is automatically awarded a master’s en route degree.

• When (together with D3 below): As soon as the student has completed all coursework, has passed the written part of the qualifying exam, and has selected a project that will either evolve or be the dissertation research. The student should complete this and the D3 milestone below as soon as possible as the number of credits required to be considered a full-time student reduces to three.
• Step-by-step procedure: (UGS corresponding webpage )
  1. Student (panthersof): The student initiates this through panthersoft (my.fiu.edu) by selecting the “Program for Doctoral Degree and Application for Candidacy“. Before beginning this process, the student must have passed all courses and the written part of the PhD qualifying exam. Additional details can be found on the UGS website linked above. Any missing items will require a delay to this milestone.
  2. GPD (panthersoft): Checks that all coursework and exams have been completed and takes care of transfer credits if any. If everything checks out, hold off on approval until notified that the student passed the oral part of the PhD qualifying exam (D3) below. He then approves the student’s master’s degree certification.
• Program (GPD) Deadline: While there are no explicit PantherSoft-managed deadlines, this process needs to be approved by the GPD at least one week before the start of the student’s first as a PhD candidate. In our program, approval is offered only in conjunction with the proposal defense, the D3 process.