Overview
At the time of admission to the Ph.D. program, you become a "doctoral
student." After about a year's work in the department (see below for details
about timing), you will be invited to apply for Qualification as a "doctoral
candidate." For this process, the Graduate Steering Committee reviews
your progress to date through the program, your skills as a critical writer,
and your progress in planning for the Comprehensive Examination. After
its review, the Graduate Steering Committee makes one of three decisions:
to admit you to candidacy for the degree, to defer your application, or
to deny admission to candidacy. After admission to candidacy, you become
a "doctoral candidate" and begin formal preparation for the Comprehensive
Examination. If your application is deferred, you may re-apply within
an outside limit of one academic year. If you are denied admission to
candidacy, you may re-apply one more time, which you must do in the next
semester.
Detailed Account
A. Choosing an Adviser
If a student has not already done so, Qualification is the moment to specify
a field of concentration and select an interim adviser. The adviser will
confer with you about your academic record, including future plans within
the program and any academic problems perceived by the student or the
adviser. At the time of Qualification, the adviser needs to approve and
sign the completed Application for Candidacy. After Qualification, students
may change advisers if they wish. Such changes should be registered with
the Program Assistant.
B. Timing of Qualification
Students will be invited to apply for Qualification after 12-15 semester
hours of work in literature and/or criticism at or above the 200 level
(12 semester hours for students holding an M.A., 15 semester hours for
students holding a B.A.). Because this tally does not include language
courses, course work in other departments, courses taken at the 100 level,
and independent studies, this point will vary, but for most students it
will occur during the third or fourth semester of graduate study. There
may occasionally be reasons for a student to delay an application for
candidacy beyond this point, which may be done by a request to the Director
of Graduate Studies. Because it is vital that students maintain an active
commitment to finishing the degree expeditiously, however, if application
for Qualification is not made in the semester after a student has completed
21 semester hours of work in literature and/or criticism at or above the
200 level, the student must switch from the Ph.D. program to the M.A.
program or, if the student already has an M.A., resign from the doctoral
program.
C. Process of Qualification
The department requires that a student fill out an Application for Candidacy. This provides an opportunity to reflect upon progress so far through the degree program. The form should be typed and on it, you should indicate your progress towards the language, distribution, and seminar requirements and explain how you plan to complete these requirements. This is also an opportunity for you to formulate your plans for the Comprehensive Examination. While plans may be tentative at this stage, students must include the names of at least two faculty members with whom they have discussed the Comprehensive Exam and who have expressed provisional agreement to work with them.
Students must also submit a sample paper of 15 + pages, written in an English course at the 200-level or above. The sample paper may be revised, based on the professor’s comments at the time of the course, as long as the original graded paper with the professor’s comments accompanies it. Revision is an option, however, not a requirement. We do not intend to encourage students to polish an already strong paper but, rather, to address certain challenges that may arise regarding the essay requirement. As examples, the following two circumstances might render revision an attractive option:
a) The student's strongest work was written for a readings course and is shorter than fifteen pages. The student can use the revision option to lengthen the essay.
b) The student's best work meets the page requirement for qualifications and has potential, but also has substantial problems. The student can use the revision option to address some of those problem areas.
The sample paper need not concern your expected area of expertise. However, it should demonstrate promise regarding such literary critical skills as: pursuing a lucid argument, drawing upon sustained research, providing nuanced and careful readings, engaging with theoretical methodologies, and contributing to ongoing scholarly debates.
You will be evaluated on your progress through the Ph.D. program as indicated by your course grades (successful candidates will usually have a GPA of 3.5 or above), by your progress through the requirements, and by faculty evaluations of your course work, added to your file after each course. Your abilities at Ph.D. level writing will be assessed through faculty evaluations of course work and through the sample paper.
The Graduate Steering Committee—comprised of the directors of admissions, qualifications, the M.A. Program, finances, the Nonfiction Writing Program, placement, and the Graduate Program as a whole—judges the applications for candidacy. It renders one of three decisions: pass, defer, or deny. If passed, the student turns his or her attention to further coursework and preparation for comprehensive exams. If deferred or denied, the student should meet with the Director of Qualifications and the Director of Graduate Studies to discuss the committee’s assessment and recommendations. If deferred, the student must reapply within a year to stay in the doctoral program but may reapply the next semester. If denied, a student must reapply the next semester in order to remain in the doctoral program. Whether deferred or denied, applicants for candidacy who intend to receive the Ph.D. can and should continue completing further requirements towards that degree even as they strengthen their cases for reapplication to candidacy as needed. If, however, a student is denied a second and final time, the student is dismissed from the doctoral program. She or he does retain funding through the current one-year funding cycle. Also, the M.A. option remains open to students denied doctoral candidacy, providing they do not already hold an M.A. in English.
D. After Qualification
Formal admission to candidacy marks the department's intention to see
a student through the Comprehensive Examination and the completion of
a dissertation. If by the end of the semester in which you qualify, you
have 24 or more semester hours of total graduate credit (including language
courses and independent study), you will be allowed five semesters within
which to take the Comprehensive Examination. If at the time of Qualification
you have fewer than 24 semester hours of total graduate credit at Iowa,
you will have five semesters after the 24th semester hour within which
to take the Comprehensive Examination. If this deadline is exceeded, you
must re-apply to the Graduate Steering Committee for admission to candidacy.
Where progress toward the degree has been sustained, the department may
grant an appropriate extension (normally of one calendar year) for completing
the Comprehensive Examination. |
The following pages provide details about the
various aspects of the Ph.D. in English.
See Also:
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