{"id":56742,"date":"2021-11-03T09:40:30","date_gmt":"2021-11-03T13:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/graduate-education\/?page_id=56742"},"modified":"2026-09-17T15:42:01","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T19:42:01","slug":"phd-completion-process","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/graduate-education\/phd-students\/phd-completion-process\/","title":{"rendered":"PhD Completion Process"},"content":{"rendered":"

Congratulations!<\/p>\n

As a PhD student, you have spent spend significant time at the University of Rochester taking courses, completing research in your field, completing milestones and are now ready to complete your degree.<\/p>\n

The final requirement in earning a PhD degree is the completion and defense of the doctoral dissertation. Understanding the steps and associated deadlines in the dissertation submission and degree conferral process is necessary to establish a successful plan. For complete descriptions of the process, please review the Regulations and University Policies Concerning Graduate Study<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The page below is organized by before, during and post-oral defense. Please read the page in it’s entirety and email questions you have to UnivGradEducation@UR.Rochester.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Congratulations! As a PhD student, you have spent spend significant time at the University of Rochester taking courses, completing research in your field, completing milestones and are now ready to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":0,"parent":61636,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-56742","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"lead_in":"","display_title":"","subtitle":"","call_to_action":"","hero_image_placement":"no_image","hero_media":"images","hero_pattern_option":"","hero_video":"","hero_image_landing":"","hero_image_landing_two":"","hero_image_landing_three":"","content_modules":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"","title":"

Doctoral Qualifying Exam \/ Admission to Candidacy<\/h2>","content":"All PhD programs must administer a qualifying examination as part of the PhD program requirements. The qualifying examination may be either written or oral or both, at the discretion of the department\/program, and must be passed at least six months before the final examination may be taken.\r\n\r\nThe associate dean of a school certifies that a student has passed the qualifying examinations and is recommended for candidacy.\r\n\r\nFor more details, please review page 12 of the Regulations and University Policies Concerning Graduate Study<\/a>.","background_color":"#f4f4f4","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"","title":"

Planning for the Final Oral Exam \/ Dissertation Defense<\/h2>","content":"At least six months<\/strong> before you plan to defend your dissertation, you should contact the graduate coordinator of your program for details regarding the submitting the defense. During the months leading up to the anticipated defense, your graduate coordinator will walk you through the process and explain any department specific nuances.\r\n\r\nPay careful attention to the five PhD degree cycle deadlines.<\/strong> In each degree cycle, there is a deadline for the last day to complete your degree requirements.\u00a0 There are no exceptions to the deadlines. If a deadline is missed, your name cannot be approved by the Council on Graduate Education and presented to the Board of Trustees until the following degree date.\r\n\r\nThe oral exam\/defense\/dissertation is approved at multiple levels of the University. Starting with the program, oral exam\/defense\/dissertation committee, school graduate deans and the University Dean of Graduate Education. You will receive emails a few days before your defense confirming that the approvals for the defense have all been received.","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"card_grid","anchor":"","css_class":"pb-0 pt-0","title":"","description":"","background_color":"#FFFFFF","width":"width-large","columns":"1","cards":null},{"acf_fc_layout":"accordion","anchor_id":"PhDcalendar","classes":"","title":"

PhD academic calendar<\/h2>","description":"PhD students can reference their specific academic calendar in the drop-downs below.","layout":"center","width":"width-medium","background_color":"#FFFFFF","style":"row_simple","row_bg_color":"","row_text_color":"#252525","row_bg_color_hover":"#252525","row_text_color_hover":"","row_border_color":"#252525","row_border_weight":"normal-border","animation":"slide","icon":"chevron-icon","icon_location":"right-icon","accordions":[{"title":"Dissertation defense scheduling","row_content":"To enable review by the Graduate Education Offices in the Schools and University Graduate Education, online dissertation committee and program director approvals must be completed the following number of working days before the defense:\r\n