Preliminary Examination
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PhD students who are ready to take the preliminary examination must work with their advisor to select a preliminary examination committee, which consists of five faculty members.
Students must submit the Committee Recommendation Form to the Graduate College three weeks prior to the exam date. The form is available on the Graduate College forms page. The Graduate College will review and approve the committee based on the CME department’s recommendation.
The preliminary examination committee must meet these criteria:
- At least three exam committee members must be full-time CME faculty.
- The chairperson of the committee must be a full member of the UIC Graduate College faculty (you can find a list of Graduate College faculty via this page).
- At least one faculty member must come from outside of UIC CME.
- At least two faculty members must be tenured.
It is preferred that the preliminary exam committee will become the final dissertation defense committee, so students and their advisors should think ahead when developing the roster.
For the preliminary examination, the committee vote is “pass” or “fail.” A candidate cannot be passed if more than one vote of “fail” is reported.
The Examination Report Form must be completed, signed, and dated by your committee, then submitted to the CME graduate program coordinator and the Graduate College within two business days of your preliminary exam.