Timeline

PhD Program

Approximate Time in Program	Action	Outcome
Fall Year One	Meet with Director of Educational Affairs to map out first semester	Fall and tentative spring courses confirmed Options to research for possible lab rotations
Fall Year One	Identify lab rotation	First rotation begins in the first semester and may be completed in the spring Lab rotation summary is completed and send to Academic Program Manager
Fall Year One	Register for Journal Club and attend Seminar. Attend all other applicable classes.	Completion of these courses every semester until writing on dissertation begins
Spring Year One	Meet with Director of Educational Affairs to confirm spring semester	Spring courses confirmed
Spring/ Summer Year One	End first lab rotation and begin second lab rotation. This lab rotation may continue into the summer.	2nd rotation begins in the spring semester and may be completed during the summer Lab rotation summary is completed and sent to Academic Program Manager
Spring Year One	Meet with Director of Educational Affairs and/or Academic Program Manager to review an academic progress report at end of year one	Academic Progress Report is completed by mid-May/June, accepted, and kept on file. Students entering program without Masters degree are awarded the MA through GSAS
Summer Year One	Lab rotations continue through the summer	Progress towards completing lab rotation Coursework as appropriate
Fall Year Two	Complete third and final rotation	All three lab rotations completed. Final lab rotation summary submitted to Academic Program Manager
Fall Year Two	Choose a mentor for thesis in preparation for qualifying exam	Thesis advisor selected if not already confirmed.
Fall Year Two	Select a thesis project topic	Topic selected
Spring Year Two	Mandatory ethics course	Course completed
Spring/ Summer Year Two	Actively working on qualifying exam¹. All final coursework.	Qualifying exam may be taken as early as end of this semester but must be completed no later than end of the summer². Final courses have been taken.
Spring Year Two	Meet with Director of Educational Affairs and/or Academic Program Manager to review an academic progress report at end of year two	Academic Progress Report is completed by mid-May/June, accepted, and kept on file.
Spring Year Two	Once qualifying exam is completed and a total of 6 RU’s have been obtained, the MPhil degree is granted	MPhil degree obtained. Application through GSAS and Academic Program Manager.
Post-Year Two	Six weeks post qualifying exam meet with primary advisor to choose thesis committee and schedule meeting with committee	Established thesis committee. This information is submitted via email to the Academic Program Manager First meeting scheduled and completed. Thesis Committee Form completed and submitted to Academic Program
Post-Year Two	Complete thesis work and meet with thesis committee every six months.	Met with committee 2x in the calendar year Submitted a Thesis Committee Form to Academic Program Manager
Post-Year Two	Yearly seminar presentation followed up with a bi-annual Thesis Committee Meeting. This occurs up until dissertation defense	Met with committee 2x in the calendar year Submitted a Thesis Committee Form to Academic Program Manager
End of spring semester every year until program completed	Academic Progress Report is reviewed with primary advisor	Academic Progress Report is completed by mid-May/June, accepted and kept on file.
Upon completion of thesis work	Finalize dissertation committee membership (see Dissertation Committee Formation section of this handbook)	Thesis writing begins Feedback received from thesis advisor Identify a thesis reader who is a dissertation committee member who is on faculty at Columbia
Thesis writing completed	Schedule dissertation defense with the assistance of the Academic Program Manager	Defend
Post-Defense	Make corrections to thesis and deposit with GSAS	See GSAS website for rules regarding the dissertation deposit

¹ The qualifying exam is a standing committee that consists of four EHS Faculty Members: Dr. Greg Freyer, Dr. Pat Kinney, Dr. Matt Perzanowski and the student’s thesis advisor

² Upon completion of the qualifying and exam and an accumulation of 6 RUs (6 semesters of a full time student or 4 semesters if you enter the program with a relevant MA degree), students will be awarded the MPhil. At this point, continuous registration is through Extended Residency (ER).

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PhD Program

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