academic tasks that must be completed to a certain standard to progress from graduate student to Ph.D. candidate. “Quals” generally occur in the second year of a PhD program. Although these are called “exams”, they rarely take the form of a test as in an academic course. Rather, they usually require the submission of a writing requirement followed by an oral defense before a committee of program faculty.
At Emory, the Second Year Qualifying Exam takes place in the Spring of the second year and the committee of respondents is the student’s future dissertation committee (selected by the student) rather than an assigned committee. Qualifying exams can be challenging but they also mark a significant achievement in a student’s progression towards the rank of independent scholar.