Graduate Handbook:
Admission to Candidacy.

WHAT DOES ADMISSION TO CANDIDACY MEAN?

For the Ph.D. in Mathematics we require 24 credit hours of coursework beyond those presented for the Masters degree (not including Math 591, 599, 698, 699, 700 and 707). Note: Those are the same 24 credit hours required by the Graduate School for a student who already has a Master's degree from another school. Requests for exceptions to this coursework requirement may be submitted by the student's faculty advisor, and may be approved by the Department of Mathematical Sciences Graduate Committee under special circumstances.

There is a formal process for admission to candidacy which is described in the following guidelines.

GUIDELINES

PhD COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATIONS
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BINGHAMTON

1. The Graduate Committee is responsible for conducting comprehensive examinations and determining their outcome.
2. A student who wishes to pursue a PhD program must find an adviser who is willing (at least provisionally) to supervise his thesis.
3. In due time, the thesis adviser will submit to the Graduate Committee a written proposal covering the conduct of the comprehensive examination. The proposal may address, among other things, such issues as:
1. syllabus: a detailed list of topics on which the student is to be examined;
2. modes of examination: whether the examination will be written, oral, or based on an oral presentation (of one or several papers, for example), or a combination of these;
3. parts of the examination: how the topics in the syllabus should be grouped for the purpose of holding separate examinations on each group;
4. a request that the Graduate Committee appoint a special advisory committee to act as its surrogate in the matter of comprehensive examination for the particular student.
A rationale should be given for the proposal.
4. Having determined and set down in writing the parts of the examination, and the syllabus and mode of each of them, the Graduate Committee will select, for each part, an examining committee which will be widely representative of the faculty members whose activities are pertinent to the topics in question. Each examining committee will examine the student and report the results to the Graduate Committee which will make the ultimate decision concerning the outcome of the student's comprehensive examination.
5. In case a Surrogate Committee is appointed, as in #3 above, it may be charged with performing some or all of the duties of the Graduate Committee as described above. Its charge is determined by the Graduate Committee. It reports to the Graduate Committee.
6. If a student changes adviser after passing his/her comprehensive examination, he/she may be asked to pass an additional examination.
7. All oral examinations and presentations will be open to attendance by the entire faculty. All written examinations will be available to the entire faculty for perusal. Reasonable notice will be given.
8. While there will be no attempt at uniformity in the procedures to be used from student to student or from examination to examination, the competence and ability of the students passing this examination will meet uniformly high standards.