Annual Evaluations

The Department reviews graduate students annually to ensure that they are making progress through the program.

In a student's first year, an evaluation takes place near the beginning of the Spring Quarter. The evaluation will be based on course grades, confidential progress reports written by instructors in Departmental courses, an advisor's summary report, and an essay read by the Graduate Program Committee. All final evaluations are made by the Departmental faculty as a whole.

For this first year evaluation, students should submit a course paper; revisions to this paper are permitted. Students are told the results of this evaluation by their advisors and the Director of Graduate Studies. In particular, students will be told whether they are making fully satisfactory progress and why.

Students making fully satisfactory progress after two quarters will not be reviewed again until the Spring Quarter of their third year unless some reason for concern arises. Other students will be reviewed again in the Spring Quarter of their second year on the same basis as the first review. Students whose work is judged unsatisfactory will not be allowed to continue in the program.

All third year students will be evaluated early in the Spring Quarter on the basis of reports from their preliminary essay committee and an assessment of their essay by the Graduate Program Committee. Passing (or better) grades in one's courses and on the Preliminary Essay are a necessary but not sufficient condition for continuing to candidacy for the Ph.D. The Department will decide on the basis of the student's performance in courses and the quality of her Preliminary Essay, whether she should be allowed to continue toward writing a dissertation.

In the fourth year, the Topical Examination will provide the principal basis for students to receive an assessment of their work.

In addition, beginning with the fourth year, students submit a written report on their progress to the Director of Graduate Studies and (after their Topical) to their dissertation committee by the end of the Winter Quarter. If progress is not satisfactory, the Department may require a new dissertation committee and/or a new topic or refuse to permit the student to continue in the program.

In rare cases, the Department, after evaluation and discussion of a student's performance, may find it necessary to withdraw him or her from the program. For those situations, it has adopted the following procedural guidelines. (i) No student will be asked to leave the program who has not already been on probation for a period of time equal to one academic quarter. (ii) When placed on probation, the student will be notified of the financial consequences of termination. (iii) No student will be asked to leave the program during the last four weeks of either the fall or winter quarter, or during the last two weeks of the spring quarter. The point is not to prolong or postpone the process, but rather to require the faculty to act soon enough to give affected students sufficient notice to adjust their immediate plans and goals.