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| − | === Admission Requirements === | + | === === |
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| − | {| align="right"
| + | === '''Ph.D. Qualifying Examination''' === |
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| − | | __TOC__
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| − | Admission to the Qualifying Examination is limited to Electrical Engineering graduate students who, when admitted, were not notified that they are ineligible to take the examination. Applications are accepted in October, and admission decisions are typically made within one week.
| + | The Department allows students two attempts to pass the qualifying examination. There is no GPA requirement for PhD students applying to take the qualifying exam in their first academic year of graduate study at Stanford. Students in their second or later years require a GPA in technical courses of 3.5 or greater for admission to the qualifying exam. Students in the PhD program must take the qualifying examination at the first opportunity, normally winter quarter of the first year after matriculation. |
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| − | The Department allows students two attempts to pass the qualifying examination. There is no GPA requirement for students in their first academic year of graduate study at Stanford. Students in their second or later years require a GPA in technical courses of 3.5 or greater for admission to the quals. Post-MS students must take the Qualifying Examination at the first opportunity, normally winter quarter of the first year after matriculation.
| + | PhD applicants who do not meet the GPA requirement for the qualifying exam will be considered only if a statement from their faculty advisor provides acceptable supporting evidence of academic achievement. It is the applicant’s responsibility to bring the most favorable aspects of their records to the attention of the Department.<br> |
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| − | Applicants who do not meet the GPA requirement will be considered only if the application is accompanied by a statement giving acceptable supporting evidence of academic achievement based on the latest 45 units of course work. It is the responsibility of applicants in their statement to bring the most favorable aspects of their records to the attention of the Department.
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| − | Students who have received notification of ineligibility for the qualifying examination may petition to become eligible after the the end of the winter quarter of their first year of graduate study at Stanford. Such petitions will be considered only when accompanied by a written statement of support from a regular EE faculty member.
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| | === Examination Format === | | === Examination Format === |
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| | The examination consists of ten separate 10-minute oral exams given individually in one day by the professors on the student's examination committee. The exams take place in faculty offices and are scheduled with at least 12 minutes between each exam. | | The examination consists of ten separate 10-minute oral exams given individually in one day by the professors on the student's examination committee. The exams take place in faculty offices and are scheduled with at least 12 minutes between each exam. |
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| − | The ten professors who make up each student's examination committee are selected by a scheduling program that is designed to ensure fairness based on students' individual ranking of potential examiners. Students list their desired faculty examiners on a preference form. Each student must rank 20 professors in four groups of five. Professors are grouped according to question areas (listed below). No more than six professors from any one question may be listed. The scheduling program constructs committees, chosing more examiners from the higher ranked groups than from the lower ranked groups. Typically, all committees consist of four examiners from the first group and respectively three, two and one from each of the three remaining groups. The scheduling program also guarantees breadth of committees since no more than four examiners can be in any one question area. | + | The professors who make up each student's examination committee are selected by a scheduling program that is designed to ensure fairness based on the students' individual ranking of potential examiners. Students list their desired faculty examiners on a preference form. Each student must rank 20 professors in four groups of five. Professors are grouped according to question areas (listed below). No more than six professors from any one question area may be listed. The scheduling program constructs committees, choosing more examiners from the higher ranked groups than from the lower ranked groups. Typically, committees consist of four examiners from the first group and respectively three, two and one from each of the three remaining groups. The scheduling program also guarantees breadth of committees since no more than four examiners can be in any one question area. |
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| − | <br>The question areas for the Qualifying Examinations correspond to Electrical Engineering undergraduate specialty areas. For 2008-2009 these areas are: | + | <br>More information about the question areas, including relevant courses, texts, and associated faculty, can be found in the qualifying exam Web page [[ee.stanford.edu/phd/quals]]. Questions from previous years can be found on CCNET at [http://ccnet.stanford.edu/quals]. Please note the department does not release the immediate previous year's quals questions.<br> |
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| − | * Computer Architecture and Logic Design,
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| − | * Computer Systems Software,
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| − | * Electromagnetics,
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| − | * Electronic Circuits,
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| − | * Electronic Devices,
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| − | * Engineering Physics,
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| − | * Signals,
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| − | * and Systems.
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| − | More information about these question areas, including relevant courses, texts, and associated faculty, can be found in the quals Web page [{{SERVER}}/phd/quals ee.stanford.edu/phd/quals]. Questions from previous years can be purchased at the FedEx Kinko's in Tressider Union. | + | |
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| | === Application Deadlines === | | === Application Deadlines === |
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| − | The Qualifying Examinations will take place the second week of Winter Quarter, January 12-16, 2009. The deadline for return of applications for the 2008-2009 Qualifying Examinations is ''''Sunday, October 31'''''', 2008''. Applicants who are accepted to the qualifying examinations must submit a [{{SERVER}}/phd/quals/prefs.php examiner preference form] by Friday, December 19, 2008. | + | The Qualifying Examinations will take place the second week of Winter Quarter, January 14-18, 2013. The deadline for submitting the quals application form is Friday November 2, 2012. |
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| − | The EE quals Web page [{{SERVER}}/phd/quals ee.stanford.edu/phd/quals] contains a link to the online application form and information about the technical areas that each of the examiners will cover. | + | <br> |
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| | + | The EE quals Web page [http://ee.stanford.edu/phd/quals/ ee.stanford.edu/phd/quals/] contains a link to the online application form and information about the technical areas that each of the examiners will cover.<br> |
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| | === Scoring and Results === | | === Scoring and Results === |
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| | Examiners score each session on a scale of 0 to 10. The scores are normalized to account for faculty scoring variations, and the normalized scores are summed to arrive at the candidates' final scores. | | Examiners score each session on a scale of 0 to 10. The scores are normalized to account for faculty scoring variations, and the normalized scores are summed to arrive at the candidates' final scores. |
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| − | The results of the Qualifying Examination are determined at a meeting of the Electrical Engineering Department faculty held the week after the examination. The lowest passing score will be determined by a vote of the faculty. The number of students passed depends on an estimate of the number of students the faculty are able to supervise in research. Students will also be notified of the examination results by letter and by email. A printout including individual scores and other information may be picked up from the Department Office during the week following the examination decisions.
| + | <br> |
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| | + | The results of the Qualifying Examination are determined at a meeting of the Electrical Engineering Department faculty held the week after the examination. The lowest passing score will be determined by faculty vote. The number of students passed depends on an estimate of the number of students the faculty are able to supervise in research. Students will also be notified of the examination results by email. <br> |
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| − | Students who are unsuccessful in their second attempt in the quals will ordinarily not be retained in the Ph.D. program unless they petition the Department for special consideration. This petition must be submitted by Friday, February 13
| + | <br> |
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| | + | Students who are unsuccessful in their second attempt in the quals will be dismissed from the Ph.D. program unless they petition the Department for special consideration. The Department Qualifying Examination Appeals Committee will then either : |
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| − | , 2009. The Department Qualifying Examination Review Committee, chaired by the Vice Chair of the Department, will then either :
| + | <br>(1) uphold the examination results, in which case the student will then be dismissed from the Ph.D. program;<br>(2) or reverse the decision;<br>(3) or recommend that the student be allowed to take the examination again the following year, possibly subject to specific performance standards being met. <br> |
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| − | '''(1)''' confirm the examination results, in which case the student will then no longer be considered to be in the Ph.D. program;
| + | <br> |
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| − | '''(2)''' or reverse the decision;
| + | Petitions for reconsideration of the Ph.D. qualifying examination decision must be submitted immediately after the decision is announced. Decisions of past years cannot be appealed. |
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| − | '''(3)''' or recommend that the student be allowed to take the examination again the following year, possibly subject to specific performance standards being met. More information about appeals procedures can be found in the next section of this handbook.
| + | <br> If students wish to formally enter the Engineer degree, they must discontinue the PhD at the same time they add the Engineer degree via the Graduate Program Authorization Petition in Axess; or else they will be formally dismissed from the PhD program by vote of the Faculty Executive Committee. |
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| | === Warnings === | | === Warnings === |
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| | Students should rely on published information about faculty question areas; they should not approach potential examiners with specific questions aimed at determining details of what the examiners intend to ask. Faculty should not reply to individual inquiries about question areas. | | Students should rely on published information about faculty question areas; they should not approach potential examiners with specific questions aimed at determining details of what the examiners intend to ask. Faculty should not reply to individual inquiries about question areas. |
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| − | Students should not ask faculty examiners for an evaluation of performance, nor should students argue their scores with examiners, either immediately after the exam or at a later time. Except for clerical errors, no scores may be changed once the examiners have submitted them to the Department. | + | |
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| | + | Students should not ask faculty examiners for an evaluation of performance, nor should students argue their scores with examiners, either immediately after the exam or at a later time. Except for clerical errors, no scores may be changed once the examiners have submitted them to the Department.<br> |
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| | === Summary Calendar === | | === Summary Calendar === |
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| − | Here are the important dates for the 2008-2009 Qualifying Examinations.
| + | The important dates for the current year's qualifying examinations is available at http://ee.stanford.edu/phd/quals. |
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| − | * Wednesday, October 1, 2008: online application form available.
| + | <br> <br> |
| − | * Friday, October 31, 2008: deadline for submitting quals application form.
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| − | * Friday, December 19, 2008: deadline for submitting initial examiner preference form.
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| − | * Tuesday, January 6, 2009: revisions to examiner preference form must be made by 8:00pm.
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| − | * Wednesday, January 7, 2009: final examiner preference forms must be confirmed by 3:00pm.
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| − | * Friday, January 9, 2009: exam schedules are sent to all candidates.
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| − | * Friday-Tuesday, January 9-13, 2009: examiner names are sent to candidates three days before exams.
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| − | * Monday-Friday, January 12-16, 2009: qualifying examinations.
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| − | * Wednesday, January 21, 2009: examination results announced.
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| − | * Friday, February 13, 2009: deadline for appeals of quals results.<br>
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| | [[Appeals of Qualifying Exam Results|Next]] | | [[Appeals of Qualifying Exam Results|Next]] |
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| | [[Category:Degree]] [[Category:Handbook]] | | [[Category:Degree]] [[Category:Handbook]] |
The Department allows students two attempts to pass the qualifying examination. There is no GPA requirement for PhD students applying to take the qualifying exam in their first academic year of graduate study at Stanford. Students in their second or later years require a GPA in technical courses of 3.5 or greater for admission to the qualifying exam. Students in the PhD program must take the qualifying examination at the first opportunity, normally winter quarter of the first year after matriculation.
PhD applicants who do not meet the GPA requirement for the qualifying exam will be considered only if a statement from their faculty advisor provides acceptable supporting evidence of academic achievement. It is the applicant’s responsibility to bring the most favorable aspects of their records to the attention of the Department.
The examination consists of ten separate 10-minute oral exams given individually in one day by the professors on the student's examination committee. The exams take place in faculty offices and are scheduled with at least 12 minutes between each exam.
The professors who make up each student's examination committee are selected by a scheduling program that is designed to ensure fairness based on the students' individual ranking of potential examiners. Students list their desired faculty examiners on a preference form. Each student must rank 20 professors in four groups of five. Professors are grouped according to question areas (listed below). No more than six professors from any one question area may be listed. The scheduling program constructs committees, choosing more examiners from the higher ranked groups than from the lower ranked groups. Typically, committees consist of four examiners from the first group and respectively three, two and one from each of the three remaining groups. The scheduling program also guarantees breadth of committees since no more than four examiners can be in any one question area.
The Qualifying Examinations will take place the second week of Winter Quarter, January 14-18, 2013. The deadline for submitting the quals application form is Friday November 2, 2012.
Examiners score each session on a scale of 0 to 10. The scores are normalized to account for faculty scoring variations, and the normalized scores are summed to arrive at the candidates' final scores.
The results of the Qualifying Examination are determined at a meeting of the Electrical Engineering Department faculty held the week after the examination. The lowest passing score will be determined by faculty vote. The number of students passed depends on an estimate of the number of students the faculty are able to supervise in research. Students will also be notified of the examination results by email.
Students who are unsuccessful in their second attempt in the quals will be dismissed from the Ph.D. program unless they petition the Department for special consideration. The Department Qualifying Examination Appeals Committee will then either :
Petitions for reconsideration of the Ph.D. qualifying examination decision must be submitted immediately after the decision is announced. Decisions of past years cannot be appealed.
Students should rely on published information about faculty question areas; they should not approach potential examiners with specific questions aimed at determining details of what the examiners intend to ask. Faculty should not reply to individual inquiries about question areas.
Students should not ask faculty examiners for an evaluation of performance, nor should students argue their scores with examiners, either immediately after the exam or at a later time. Except for clerical errors, no scores may be changed once the examiners have submitted them to the Department.