Qualifying Exam Procedure

Below is a concise list of procedural steps associated with the qualifying exam. Please see pages 26-28 of the Graduate Student Handbook for an in depth explanation of requirements:

Students are expected to complete their Quals exam during the 2nd year of their PhD program. Summer quarter exams (or a delay to year 3) will only be approved by petition to the Chair of Graduate Students, Professor Cochran, and will require the explicit support and justification for such an exemption from your primary Faculty Advisor.

  1. Once your Faculty Advisor feels that your research project(s) are sufficiently defined, you must submit the following materials to the BioE office one week before the faculty meeting at which the packet will be reviewed:

A.Curriculum vitae with your picture

B.Calculation showing your GPA for courses taken at Stanford (exclude research and activity courses)

C.Research project title and abstract (< 300 words)

D.Preliminary dissertation proposal (< 3 pages)

E.Updated transcripts of all undergraduate and graduate course work

F.A list of four independent areas (each matched to a specific faculty examiner) in which you feel you have depth: one must come from a fundamental engineering topic. A second area must focus on a biological or medical specialty. The other two areas may come from any biological or medical specialty.

Examiner Requirements:

  • One examiner must be a faculty member with a full appointment in Bioengineering
  • A second examiner must either have a full appointment in Bioengineer, or a courtesy appointment in Bioengineering
  • Your third (and fourth, if used) examiner(s) may be any other faculty member at Stanford. If you only have 3 examiners to cover the 4 topics, your primary advisor may not be responsible for 2 of the topics.
  1. After submitting these materials, you will, in absentia, be evaluated by the faculty at one of the Bioengineering Department faculty meetings. The faculty will determine if you should be allowed to proceed to the next step in the Ph.D. Qualifying Examination.
  2. Your 2-hour Quals exam may be scheduled after you receive the department’s approval. Students present their proposal for no more than 15 minutes, followed by a short public Q&A. The exam then continues in private between the student and the faculty committee. Please refer to Section 4 on page 28 of the Graduate Student Handbook for details.
  1. Possible outcomes of qualifying exam:
  • Pass unconditionally
  • Pass conditionally
  • Fail with or without the option to retake the exam
  1. Your faculty advisor will notify you with the results of your exam.