The Oral Exam
For the requirements, deadlines, and committee-composition rules, see The Oral Exam in the PhD Degree page. This page covers the practical steps.
Committee
The committee has three members: your advisor (who will sign a statement agreeing to take you as a student), another faculty member from the same research group, and a faculty member from outside your research area. At least half the committee, and the chair, must be full-time faculty; the chair cannot be your future advisor. The committee should include at least one experimentalist and one theorist. Postdocs may also serve, but only in addition to these required members.
You identify the members yourself, after consulting your advisor; the Graduate Program Director must approve the final committee.
If your advisor works primarily off campus – for example at Brookhaven National Lab – check whether they hold adjunct faculty status. If so, the usual rules apply. If not, you will need a Stony Brook faculty co-advisor, ideally in a closely related research area, and your committee will have four members: both advisors plus two more chosen under the usual rules.
Procedure and Deadlines
The oral exam is a requirement for advancing to candidacy. It’s recommended by the end of your fifth semester at Stony Brook – in practice, no later than August 20 for Fall entrants or January 20 for Spring entrants – and required by the end of your sixth. You don’t need to have finished your coursework or passed the Comprehensive Exam first; many students take the Oral Exam while those requirements are still in progress. Contact the Graduate Program Director at least three weeks before your exam to establish your committee.
The exam itself is a presentation of an approved research topic to your committee, prepared with guidance from your advisor – typically the same person who becomes your thesis advisor. Choose the topic together with your advisor: it can be a literature review, an account of research you’ve already done, or a thesis proposal (a thesis proposal is required if your advisor is not a faculty member). The exam demonstrates that you’re ready to begin PhD-level research; you don’t need a completed project.
If you pass the oral exam on time but haven’t identified a thesis advisor yet, you may still be provisionally readmitted for a semester without one – see The Oral Exam in the PhD Degree page for the details and funding implications.
Committee Forms
Once your committee is approved, fill out the committee approval form and email it to the Graduate Program Director and Graduate Coordinator. Before the exam, also download the signature sheet and the advisor’s note. Have both signed after the exam, then submit them to the Graduate Program Director and Graduate Coordinator.