Steps to Graduation and the Thesis Defense
Filing for Graduation
Talk to the Department Office about deadlines and the exam committee process well before you plan to graduate. Read the Graduate School’s page on graduation and apply for graduation – make sure you are registered for the semester you graduate in. If you’re an international student planning to stay in the US for a year after graduation, apply for Optional Practical Training (OPT). Start your job search early – some of our students receive offers well before graduation, but it takes time to sort out, and offers are more common at certain times of year.
Degrees are conferred in May, August, and December, but you don’t have to wait for the conferral date to start working if you’ve finished all requirements and filed your thesis. Fill out the Request for Letter of Completion and bring it to us – we’ll check your file, sign the statement, and the Graduate School will issue the document you need for employment. You’ll remain a registered student through the end of the semester even if you start a job right after your defense.
The PhD Defense
The PhD defense is an oral presentation of your dissertation before your Thesis Defense Committee, usually built around the same three people from your Oral Exam Committee plus one external member. All defense committees require approval from the Graduate Program Director.
Committee. At least four members: at least three from the Department (full-time or adjunct), plus one external member from outside the Department who is not a collaborator or co-author and can evaluate the thesis independently. At least half the committee, including the chair, must be full-time faculty, and the chair cannot be your advisor. The committee should include at least one experimentalist, one theorist, and one member from a field other than your thesis topic (the external member can fill the experimentalist or theorist role). The advisor, chair, and student must attend in person; at most one other member may attend remotely. A postdoc may serve in addition to these required members, and in exceptional cases – with the Graduate Program Director’s permission – can serve as the external member if they had no scientific collaboration with you.
Stony Brook faculty from other departments automatically qualify as the external member, unless they’re affiliated with our Department. Otherwise, get a CV from the proposed member and bring it to the Graduate Program Director for approval.
Procedure and deadlines.
- Submit your committee to the Graduate School at least four weeks before the exam; discuss possible members with the Graduate Program Director before the start of the semester.
- File for graduation during the first week of the semester you want to graduate in – no harm is done if you later postpone to the next semester.
- Pick a defense date with your committee. There is a strict deadline near the end of the semester for submitting your thesis to the Graduate School; miss it and your graduation is pushed to the next semester.
- At least three weeks before the defense, send the Department Office your defense announcement (see Forms below) with the date, time, and location.
- About two weeks before the exam, check that your defense is listed on the Graduate School’s website – an unposted exam is invalid and must be repeated.
- Distribute your thesis to the committee well in advance; two to three weeks before the exam is recommended (not a strict deadline). If you won’t be fully done in time, talk to your committee about whether they’re willing to review a slightly incomplete draft and what the latest acceptable date is – committee members can decline to participate if they haven’t had time to read your thesis.
- Route the electronic signature page to collect the committee’s signatures, then submit your dissertation to the Graduate School and send a copy to the Department Office.
Forms. Complete the committee approval form for the defense committee. For the defense announcement, fill out the Doctoral Defense Announcement Template and send it to the Graduate Program Director and Graduate Coordinator; they may be able to make minor edits for you if you use the Word template.
Preparing for the defense. Prepare your dissertation according to the Thesis and Dissertation Guidelines – most students use LaTeX, and a good starting point is a template from a recently graduated student, though it’s your responsibility to confirm it matches the current rules. Plan a talk no longer than 45 minutes and be ready for questions on any part of the thesis. Have a signature page ready for the committee to sign afterward. See also the Graduate School’s Top Ten Mistakes to avoid.
Collecting signatures. Use permanent black ink only. Committee members sign the signature page once they’ve accepted the dissertation, usually right after the defense – though occasionally a committee will request changes first and withhold one or more signatures until those are reviewed.
After the defense.
- Send a final PDF of your thesis to the Graduate Program Director.
- Bring a copy of the signed signature sheet to the Department Office – your degree can’t be conferred until the Office files the Completion Statement, which requires both the signature sheet and your final thesis.
- Prepare the final version in the format the Graduate School requires for electronic submission, and keep a copy for yourself.
- File your thesis with the Graduate School before the deadline – don’t wait until the last minute, in case small problems need fixing.
- Return your library books, keys, and any other University property.
- Finish any remaining paperwork with the Graduate School.
- Attend the Hooding Ceremony, if you can.
- Leave us a forwarding address.
You can stay on the payroll as an RA after submitting your dissertation, through the end of the semester, as long as your advisor is willing and able to continue paying you. You’ll also remain a registered student through the end of that semester, even if you’ve already left Stony Brook.
The MA Defense
The Master’s defense is an oral presentation, generally 30-40 minutes, so the whole defense – including questions – runs about an hour.
Committee. Three faculty members: your advisor and two others. At least two of the three must be Stony Brook faculty; the third may be an external member, in which case you’ll need to provide their CV. Your advisor is one of the three but cannot chair the committee – one of the other two chairs instead.
You arrange your own committee, defense time, and location. After the defense, the chair emails the Graduate Program Director and the Graduate Coordinator confirming the thesis was accepted, and you send a copy of the thesis to both.