4.8 Doctoral Degree Requirements

Degree-Specific Requirements

Candidacy

Admission to Candidacy

Admission to a doctoral degree program is preliminary to, and distinct from, admission to candidacy.  Admission to candidacy for the doctoral degree is a judgment by the faculty in the degree program of the student’s potential to successfully complete the requirements of the degree program. Students are expected to complete degree program qualifying procedures and apply for candidacy by the end of their second year in the doctoral program. Honors Cooperative students are required to apply by the end of their fourth year. Candidacy is valid for five calendar years (through the end of the quarter in which candidacy expires), unless terminated by the degree program (for example, for unsatisfactory academic progress). A Pregnancy or Parental Leave of Absence automatically extends the pre-candidacy or candidacy period.

Admission to candidacy for the doctoral degree is granted by the degree program following a student's successful completion of qualifying procedures as determined by the degree program. Programmatic policy determines procedures for subsequent attempts to advance to candidacy in the event that the student does not successfully complete the procedures. Failure to advance to candidacy results in the dismissal of the student from the doctoral program.

Applying for Candidacy

Candidacy is confirmed on the Application for Candidacy for Doctoral Degree opens in a new tab (or a departmental version of this form). This form also specifies a departmentally approved program of study to fulfill degree requirements, including required course work, language requirements, teaching requirements, dissertation (final project and public lecture-demonstration for D.M.A.), and university oral examination (for other doctoral degrees). The department should confirm at this point that the student’s program will meet all university and degree program requirements. If the doctoral student is pursuing a minor, approval by the degree program awarding the minor is also required on the Application for Candidacy.

Prior to candidacy, at least 3 units of course work must be taken with each of four Stanford faculty members. A student will only be admitted to candidacy if, in addition to the student fulfilling programmatic prerequisites, the faculty makes the judgment that the student has the potential to successfully complete the requirements of the degree program.

Extension of the Pre-Candidacy Period

The degree program may determine that extension of the pre-candidacy period is necessary to provide a student with additional time to complete qualifying procedures or to provide faculty with necessary evidence on which to base a candidacy decision. Decisions to extend the pre-candidacy period and thus delay the candidacy decision should be made on an individual student basis and should not be applied to entire cohorts or students absent exceptional circumstances. Degree programs are not obligated to extend the pre-candidacy period.

When providing an extension of the pre-candidacy period, the degree program should communicate in writing the reason for the extension, expectations for the academic work to be completed by the student, the duration of the extension, and the timeline for the candidacy review. Extensions of the pre-candidacy period should generally not extend beyond two academic quarters.

Time Limit for Completion of a Degree with Candidacy

Students are required to maintain active candidacy through conferral of the doctoral degree. All requirements for the degree must be completed before candidacy expires. Candidacy is valid for five calendar years (through the end of the quarter in which candidacy expires), unless terminated by the degree program (for example, for academic unsatisfactory progress). The candidacy time limit is not automatically extended by a student’s leave of absence.

Failure to make minimum academic progress or complete university, department, and program requirements in a timely or satisfactory manner may lead to dismissal of the student.

Extension of Candidacy

All requests for candidacy extension, whether prompted by a leave or some other circumstance, must be filed by the student before the conclusion of the program’s time limit, using the Application for Extension of Candidacy or Master's Program opens in a new tab form. Departments are not obligated to grant an extension. Students may receive a maximum of one additional year of candidacy per extension. Extensions require review by the department of a dissertation progress report, a timetable for completion of the dissertation, any other factors regarded as relevant by the degree program, and approval by the degree program; such approval is at the degree program's discretion.

A Pregnancy or Parental Leave of Absence will also result in an extension of candidacy (or of the pre-candidacy period).

Teaching and Research Requirements

A number of degree programs require their students to teach or assist a faculty member in research for one or more quarters as part of their doctoral programs.

World Language Requirement

Some degree programs require a reading knowledge of one or more world languages. Fulfillment of language requirements must be endorsed by the chair of the major department.

University Oral Examination

Passing a university oral examination is a requirement of the PhD and JSD degrees. The purpose of the examination is to test the candidate’s command of the field of study and to confirm fitness for scholarly pursuits. The oral examination retains value first as a teaching experience and intellectual encounter for the student; second as a milestone, a means of internal indication, and a point of contact with the larger university for the degree program; and third as a small but significant unifying force and means of promoting communication between the different, often highly specialized, degree programs of the university.

Degree programs determine which of the following three types of oral examinations is to be required in their doctoral programs:

• A test of knowledge of the student’s field; this type of examination is intended to assess the student’s overall mastery of a specific field of knowledge

• A review of the dissertation proposal covering content relevant to the area of study, rationale for the proposed investigation, and strategy to be used in the research; this type of examination is intended to assist the student in refining a dissertation topic and to ensure mastery of theoretical and methodological issues as well as the materials needed to conduct the research effectively

• A defense of the dissertation presented either upon completion of a substantial portion of the dissertation or upon completion of a pre-final draft (in either case, a draft of the work completed should be available for the examining committee well in advance of the examination); this type of examination is intended to verify that the research represents the candidate’s own contribution to knowledge, and to test his or her understanding of the research. General questions pertaining to the field as a whole, but beyond the scope of the dissertation itself, may be included.

Timing and Process

Students are required to be enrolled in the term in which the university oral examination is taken. The period between the last day of final exams of one term and the day prior to the first day of the following term is considered an extension of the earlier term. Candidacy must be valid at the time that the examination is taken. If the oral examination is a defense of the dissertation, the Doctoral Dissertation Reading Committee form opens in a new tab must be submitted to and recorded by the degree program prior to the scheduling of the examination.

The University Oral Examination form opens in a new tab is used to schedule the examination officially, including:

• Date, time, and location of the examination

• Type of examination and title of dissertation or subject of examination

• Composition of the committee, approved by the department chair or faculty delegate

• If a member cannot attend the scheduled examination, the examination is rescheduled.

The University Oral Examination opens in a new tab form must be submitted to the department graduate studies administrator at least two weeks prior to the proposed examination date. The examination is conducted according to the major department's adopted practice, but it should not exceed three hours in length, and it must include a period of private questioning by the examining committee.

University Oral Exam Committee

The University oral examination committee consists of at least five Stanford faculty members: four examiners and the committee chair from another department. All committee members are normally members of the Stanford University Academic Council, and the chair must be a member of the Stanford University Academic Council. Emeritus faculty are also eligible to serve as examiners or as chair of the committee.

Out-of-Department Chair Requirement

The chair of a Stanford oral examination is appointed for this examination only, to represent the interests of the University for a fair and rigorous process. The out-of-department chair serves as an impartial representative of the academic standards of the university by maintaining the quality and integrity of the university oral examination.

The chair must be a member of the Stanford Academic Council and may be a Professor Emeritus. If emeritus, the chair counts as an Academic Council member. The chair of the examining committee may not have a full or joint appointment in the advisor's or student's department, but may have a courtesy appointment in the department. The chair can be from the same department as any other member(s) of the examination committee and can be from the student's minor department provided that the student's advisor does not have a full or joint appointment in the minor department.

The responsibilities of the chair of an oral examination are to:

• Serve as an impartial representative of the academic standards of the university;

• Ensure that the examination is conducted within university and degree program guidelines and keep examiners aware of both sets of rules;

• Ensure that the candidate is asked challenging but fair questions (the chair may participate in the questioning);

• Confirm that one or more members of the examining committee will provide the candidate adequate evaluation after the examination;

• Vote on the candidate’s performance;

• Report the examination results and any changes in committee composition on the University Oral Examination Form opens in a new tab and return this form to the degree program's graduate studies administrator within five days of the examination; and

• In the event of a candidate’s failure, submit a written evaluation of the student’s performance to the candidate, the chair of the major department, and the Registrar's Office within five days of the examination.

The out-of-department chair is both a quality controller and an umpire. As a quality controller, the chair's role is to actively participate in the assessment of the quality of the student and judge the intellectual merits of the candidate. The chair is also an umpire whose role is to act as a timekeeper and monitor of university rules and procedures. In order to maintain impartiality, the orals chair may not simultaneously serve on the student's dissertation reading committee.  The appointment of an outside chair provides an opportunity for a measure of outside scrutiny of the department’s academic programs.

The convention of the out-of-department chair continues to foster serendipitous contact among members of the faculty and helps strengthen the intellectual ties that make it possible to describe the university as a community of scholars. (Adapted from “The Study of Graduate Education at Stanford,” 1972, pp. 76-77, 81-82; and discussion of the Academic Senate, April 29, 1993.)

Responsibility for appointing the out-of-department oral examination chair rests with the candidate’s major department. The department should not require the student to solicit the out-of-department chair, although the student may participate in selecting and contacting potential chairs. (See July 2012 memo from Richard Roberts opens in a new tab, then chair of the Committee on Graduate Studies.)

For Interdisciplinary Degree Programs (IDPs), the chair of the examining committee may not have a full or joint appointment in the primary advisor's major department and must have independence from the student and advisor. The faculty director of the IDP is not allowed to chair an examining committee for students in that IDP.

Responsibility for monitoring appointment of the out-of-department oral examination chair rests with the candidate's major department. The department should not require the candidate to solicit faculty members to serve as chair, however, the student may participate in selecting and contacting potential chairs.

Out-of-Department Chair Exceptions

The department of Electrical Engineering has been granted an exception to the out-of-department chair policy, whereby out-of-department may include a faculty member from another division of the department.

The Graduate School of Education has been granted an exception to this policy, whereby out-of-department may include a faculty member from another program area of the school.

Committee Membership for Non-Academic Council Faculty

The Petition for Non-Academic Council Doctoral Committee Members opens in a new tab may be submitted to appoint an examining committee member who is neither a current or emeritus member of the Academic Council. Approval of appointing a non-Academic Council member to a committee is determined by the student’s chair of the department or faculty director of graduate studies, if the prospective committee member contributes an area of expertise that is not readily available from the faculty and holds a Ph.D. or equivalent foreign degree. The majority of the examiners must be current or emeritus Academic Council members. More specifically:

• If the committee has four or five examiners, only one non-Academic Council member may be appointed to the oral examination committee.

• If the committee has six or seven examiners, up to two non-Academic Council members may be appointed to the oral examination committee.

Committee Membership Without a Ph.D. or International Equivalent

Exceptions for prospective committee members whose terminal degree is not the Ph.D. or international degree equivalent may be granted by the Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education, upon request of the student’s department chair or faculty director of graduate studies.

University Oral Exam Voting and Reporting of Results

A candidate passes the examination if the examining committee casts four favorable votes out of five or six, five favorable votes out of seven, or six favorable votes out of eight. Within 30 days and after review of the examining committee's evaluation and recommendation, the chair of the student's major department must send the student a written statement indicating the final action of the degree program.

Doctoral Dissertation

Submission of an approved doctoral dissertation is required for the Ph.D. and J.S.D. degrees. The doctoral dissertation must be an original contribution to scholarship or scientific knowledge and must exemplify the highest standards of the discipline. Every doctoral dissertation is read and approved by members of the Stanford faculty to ensure that standards for programmatic and university quality are met. Standards for professional presentation of doctoral work have been established by the Committee on Graduate Studies.

Certificate of Final Reading

One reading committee member, who must be a current member of the Academic Council, reads the dissertation in its final form and certifies on the Certificate of Final Reading opens in a new tab that degree program and university specifications, described below, have been met.

• All suggested changes have been taken into account and incorporated into the manuscript where appropriate.

• If the manuscript includes joint group research, the student's contribution is clearly explained in an introduction.

• The dissertation format complies with university requirements.

• If previously published materials are included in the dissertation, publication sources are indicated, written permission has been obtained for copyrighted materials, and all of the dissertation format requirements have been met.

• The dissertation is ready for publication.

Dissertations in a Language Other Than English

Dissertations must be drafted and submitted in English.

Exceptions to permit dissertations in a language other than English are granted by the school dean upon a written request from the chair of the student’s major department. Dissertations written in another language must include an extended summary in English (usually 15-20 pages in length). When submitting electronically a dissertation in a language other than English, the the English summary should be uploaded as a supplemental file. 

Deadlines

The deadline for submission of dissertations for degree conferral in each term is specified by the university academic calendar opens in a new tab. The final dissertation must be submitted to the Office of the Registrar on or before the quarterly deadlines if degree conferral is desired.

Some degree programs may set earlier deadlines for the submission of dissertations.

Dissertation deadlines are strictly enforced and no exceptions are made. Students are strongly encouraged to submit their dissertations at least two weeks prior to the deadline to ensure that all requirements can be met in time for the conferral of the degree.

Doctoral Dissertation Submission

Once a student finishes submitting a dissertation or thesis in Axess, and it has been approved by the university, the submission is considered final and no further changes are permitted. 

Directions for preparation of the dissertation for submission are available from the Office of the University Registrar. opens in a new tab

Enrollment Requirement for Submission

At the time of dissertation submission, students are required to either be enrolled full-time or on Graduation Quarter, an Application to Graduate must be on file, all degree program requirements must be complete, and candidacy must be valid through the term of degree conferral.

Doctoral Dissertation Reading Committee

The doctoral dissertation reading committee consists of the principal dissertation advisor and, typically, two other readers.

The doctoral dissertation reading committee must have at least three members and may not have more than five members. At least one member must be from the student's major department. Normally, all committee members are members of the Stanford University Academic Council or are emeritus Academic Council members. Professors who have recently become emeritus and have been recalled to active duty may serve as principal dissertation advisors, though they are no longer current members of the Academic Council.

Principal Dissertation Advisors and Co-Advisors

Any member of the Academic Council may serve as the principal dissertation advisor. A non-Academic Council member, former Academic Council member, or emeritus Academic Council member may serve as co-advisor with the appointment of a principal dissertation advisor who is currently on the Academic Council. This is to ensure representation for the student in the degree program by someone playing a major advisor role in completion of the dissertation. Professors who became emeritus within two years of the student’s anticipated degree completion and who have been recalled to active duty may serve as principal dissertation advisors, though they are no longer current members of the Academic Council. The reading committee must conform to university requirements at the time of degree conferral.

Requests for further exceptions to the requirement that the principal dissertation advisor be a current member of the Academic Council, for example for recently retired emeritus professors who are still actively engaged on campus, but not recalled to active duty, will be reviewed by the Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education.

Membership for Non-Academic Council Faculty

The student's department chair or faculty director of graduate studies may, in some cases, approve the appointment of a reader who is not a current or emeritus member of the Academic Council, if that person is particularly well qualified to consult on the dissertation topic and holds a Ph.D. or equivalent international degree, via the Petition for Non-Academic Council Doctoral Committee Members opens in a new tab. Former Stanford Academic Council members and non-Academic Council members may thus, on occasion, serve on a reading committee. However, the majority of the examiners must be current or emeritus Academic Council members. More specifically:

• If the dissertation reading committee has three or four members, only one non-Academic Council member (including former Academic Council members) may be appointed to the dissertation reading committee.

• If the reading committee has five members, up to two non-Academic Council members may be appointed to the dissertation reading committee.

Emeritus faculty, whether recalled to active duty or not, count as an Academic Council member on dissertation reading and oral defense committees (clarified by the Committee on Graduate Studies in 2011; see SenD#6535).

Prospective committee members in the following categories may be approved without submission of a curriculum vitae: former Academic Council member, visiting professor, visiting associate professor, visiting assistant professor, and senior Stanford University officer holding a PhD but without an academic appointment.

A curriculum vita is required for prospective committee members in the following categories: senior research associate, senior lecturer, consulting professor, consulting associate professor, consulting assistant professor, acting professor, acting associate professor, acting assistant professor, senior fellow of the Hoover Institution, members of the professoriate at other universities, and distinguished scholars who may currently hold no academic title. The curriculum vita should include a summary of education, professional experience, publications, and academic or other honors.

Membership Without a Ph.D. or International Equivalent

Exceptions for individuals whose terminal degree is not the Ph.D. or equivalent foreign degree may be granted by the Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education, upon the request of the student’s department chair or faculty director of graduate studies.

Changing Committee Membership

Students may petition to add or remove members of the reading committee or change principal dissertation advisors. The resulting committee must conform to university requirements at the time of degree conferral.

In the rare case where a student’s dissertation research on an approved project is in an advanced stage and the principal dissertation advisor is no longer available, every reasonable effort must be made to appoint a new advisor, usually from the student’s reading committee. This may also require that a new member be added to the reading committee before the draft dissertation is evaluated, to keep the reconstituted committee in compliance with the university requirements for its composition. Advisor changes are made with the Change of Dissertation Advisor or Reading Committee Member form. opens in a new tab

In the event that a student’s principal dissertation advisor leaves Stanford University or becomes emeritus and has not been recalled to active duty, that advisor may continue to work with the graduate student as a co-advisor and serve on the oral and dissertation reading committees, with the appointment of a principal dissertation advisor who is currently a member of the Academic Council. Professors who have recently become emeritus and have been recalled to active duty may serve as principal dissertation advisor, though they are no longer members of the Academic Council. Requests for further exceptions to the requirement that the principal dissertation advisor be a current member of the Academic Council (for example for recently retired emeritus professors who are still actively engaged on campus) will be reviewed by the Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education.

Doctoral students should work with their dissertation advisor and their academic department to ensure timely completion of all requirements.

Candidacy: Admission to Candidacy

Candidacy is awarded upon successful completion of degree program qualifying procedures.

Candidacy: Extension of Candidacy

Confirming Ph.D. Requirements

University Oral Exams: Scheduling the Oral Examination

University Oral Exams: Conducting the Examination and Reporting the Results

University Oral Exams: If the Committee Votes to Fail a Student

Doctoral Dissertation: Creating a Reading Committee

Doctoral Dissertation: Dissertation Preparation and Submission