Integrative Neuroscience Graduate Program

Qualifying Examination

The purpose of the Qualifying Exam is to establish that the student has acquired sufficient proficiency in the discipline of Neuroscience for admission to Candidacy for the Doctoral Degree. The qualifying exam for the INS program is divided into two components, the comprehensive exam and the candidacy exam. The comprehensive exam is taken at the end of the 1st year whereas the candidacy exam is taken at the beginning of the 3rd year. The comprehensive exam consists of an oral exam on general neuroscience knowledge. The Candidacy exam consists of both a written exam (in journal format or as a grant proposal) with an oral presentation and oral defense of the written document to be based upon the subject of the Early Research Project. The Early Research Project may or may not have publishable data and may or may not be the prelude to future thesis research. Thus, this exam tests general information of neuroscience, specific knowledge related to the topic of the early research project, the ability to plan and execute laboratory research and oral and written communication skills.

Policies Governing Re-Examination

Should a student fail to perform satisfactorily on the Comprehensive Exam, the student will be re-tested by a take-home exam administered approximately 1 month later. This take-home exam will be comprised of 8 questions where the student must choose and answer 6. The student must satisfactorily answer 5 questions. Manuscripts or proposals that are deemed unacceptable by the Committee will be returned to the student for revision, and the oral portion of the exam may be postponed. At this time the student may seek the advisor's assistance in preparing a revised version. The advisor may offer suggestions on the organization, structure, style and content of the document. Again, however, the submission must be written without editorial assistance from the advisor. A PDF of the revised document should be provided to the Chair of the committee within 1 month’s time of initial submission. The re-exam will be scheduled within 2 weeks time of re-submission.

The student must pass both the Comprehensive and Candidacy exams of the Qualifying Examination to be advanced to candidacy. If a student fails any component(s) of the examination, those components may be re-taken individually once. Thus, students may be required to re-take the comprehensive exam, the written component or proposal defense, or any combination of these.

Terminal Masters Degree

If a student fails to pass all components of the Qualifying Examination after the second attempt, the student will be asked to leave the program and a terminal Master of Science degree may be awarded, based on the recommendations of the Qualifying Examination Committee and the approval of the Director(s) of the Graduate Program. Awarding of a terminal Master's degree is contingent upon completing at least 30 hours of graduate course credits, including at least 24 hours of course credit with a B average, and submitting an acceptable write-up of the Early Research Project to the Qualifying Examination Committee.   Under exceptional circumstances students leaving the program who have completed the above course requirements but not the Early Research Project and/or its write-up may be assigned a Final Paper topic by the Chair of the Qualifying Exam Committee. This paper will be reviewed by the Qualifying Exam Committee and if it is found acceptable, the M. S. degree will be approved and awarded.