Comprehensive Examination

Graduate students planning to take a required comprehensive examination must be matriculated and currently registered each semester as they prepare for and take their comprehensives. If registered for no other courses, graduate students must register for maintenance of matriculation or for an examination preparation course offered by their academic department.

Master's degree candidates who are required to pass a comprehensive examination as part of their degree requirements should consult the Graduate Program Adviser in the program in which they are enrolled to determine the precise requirements for the degree in that program.

Students not successful on the first attempt at the comprehensives are urged to discuss their examination with their Program Adviser before taking the examination a second time. Students who are unsuccessful after two attempts will be dropped from the College. In order to take the examination a third time, students must appeal to the Graduate Studies Committee no later than the third week of the semester immediately following their second unsuccessful attempt. If their appeal is successful, students then should apply for readmission through the Office of Graduate Admissions (Shuster Hall, Room 150). Filing an appeal does not in itself guarantee that any student will be granted a third attempt at the comprehensive examination. No further appeals are possible after a third unsuccessful attempt to pass the comprehensives.