Degree Steps

Step-by-Step
Getting your doctorate in Educational Psychology 

The following instructions are from the desk of Helen Katz, Office Support Specialist for Admissions and Grad Contact, 230 Education, 333-5242. Helen is the “I” and “me” referenced throughout.

The following is a detailed guide to tell you:

  • the doctoral requirements you have to fulfill,
  • how the process works, and
  • the administrative actions you need to take (in bold italic type), based on the procedures in place at this time.

It is your responsibility to be aware of these requirements and to complete them according to the timetable indicated. You will not be able to propose your doctoral dissertation at your preliminary exam unless the College database shows that all the preceding requirements have been completed.

Abbreviations used in the following text:
SAAO is the College of Education Student Academic Affairs Office
OAR is the Office of Admissions and Records
SGRF is a Supplemental Grade Report Form
CCA is a Certificate of Committee Approval
RSPEC is the College of Education Research Specialization Requirement

Master’s Degree  (required for all doctoral students who were admitted to the department without a Master’s degree from a different program or school)

  • You and your advisor need to check your course history to make sure that you have fulfilled the course requirements for a master’s degree, including the College Foundation Course requirements. Remember that you must have a minimum of two hours of thesis credit and can use up to 8 hours toward your master’s degree.
  • TWO WEEKS BEFORE YOUR EXAM TO DEFEND YOUR MASTER’S THESIS, send me:
    • your tentative dissertation title
    • the date, time and place of your exam (let me know if you need me to find a room)
    • the members of your committee, including their committee roles (chair, voting member, etc.) and their departments. You are required to have three faculty members.
  • If you want to use your master’s thesis to fulfill your Early Research Requirement, see the steps below and follow them at the same time that you set up your master’s defense.
  • I will input your information into the College database, print the committee appointment form, get advisor and department signatures and scan the form to SAAO.
  • When the exam certificate has been prepared, I will notify your advisor to pick it up along with a SGRF to get your “DFR” grades for thesis credit converted to “S” grades.
  • Your advisor or another committee member will pick up the exam certificate and the SGRF, take them to your exam, and return them to me with the grade marked on the certificate and required signatures on both.
  • You will prepare several copies of your Certificate of Committee Approval to take to your exam and be signed by your committee members.  You’ll need to submit two CCAs when you deposit your thesis at the Graduate College.
  • I will scan your signed exam certificate to SAAO (and your Early Research form, if included), send the certificate (along with the SGRF) to OAR, and put the original in your department file.

Residency Requirement and Coursework

  • You must take a full course load for two consecutive semesters at some time before you are ready to take your Preliminary Exam (See the College of Education Graduate Handbook for a more detailed explanation of the requirements for coursework and for residency.)

Early Research Requirement

  • Get the required form.
  • After your Early Research committee exam, bring the signed form to me. I will distribute copies to you and your advisor, scan an updated copy to SAAO and put the original in your student file.

Qualifying Examination

Child Development, CSTL and Queries students follow the same procedure for both general field and special field exams. This procedure does not apply to Counseling students.

  • AT LEAST ONE WEEK BEFORE YOUR EXAM, you or your advisor should bring me the exam scheduling form. The form must be signed by your advisor. (Blank forms are also located in 226 Education.)
  • Your advisor will give me the question(s) for your exam.
  • I will input your exam information into the College database and provide the exam to you on the scheduled day and time.
  • Complete your exam answer(s) and return to me by the deadline indicated.
  • I will copy your answer(s) and distribute them to your readers with grading forms. Your readers will have three weeks to grade your exam.
  • When I receive the grades, I will input them into the College database and distribute them, along with any comments or marked-up answers, according to your advisor’s instructions.

Research Specialization

  • Click here for general information about the RSPEC requirement and to get your RSPEC form.
  • When you have completed the RSPEC courses and other work and have the signatures of your advisor and the RSPEC chair in both the plan and the completion sections of the form, bring the form to me.
  • I will distribute copies to you and your advisor, scan an updated copy to SAAO and put the original in your student file.

Human Subjects Approval

  • You will need human subjects approval (or a waiver) before you can propose your thesis in your Preliminary Exam.
  • The approval for human subjects research is handled by the Bureau of Educational Research, 38 Education Building. (Click here to see the review process.)
  • When your human subjects approval has been granted, Anne Robertson in the Bureau will give me the approval form.
  • I’ll scan the approval form to SAAO.
  • I’ll put the approval form with your prelim exam certificate for you to take to your exam.
  • At the exam, get the required signatures on the approval form.
  • Bring the signed form back to me after the exam; it will stay in your department file.

Removal of NR, I, F, FR, ABS and non-thesis credit DFR grades

  • Before you schedule your preliminary oral exam, make sure that all NR, I, F, FR, ABS and non-thesis credit DFR grades are corrected by the appropriate instructors.

Preliminary Oral Exam (proposing your dissertation)

  • See Human Subjects Approval above. This requirement is tied to the prelim exam.
  • With your advisor, arrange for an exam committee and set a time for the exam. The prelim committee must have at least 4 members.  Membership must include:
    • Two or more members who are tenured. 
    • Three of more members who are in the Graduate College. 
    • One or more member who is from a different department.

For a member who is not on the university’s graduate faculty or who is from a different institution, you will need to provide the member’s CV and a letter of justification from the department. (We’ll talk about how to do that.)

  • AT LEAST FOUR WEEKS BEFORE YOUR EXAM, e-mail the following exam and committee information to me:
    • Your name
    • Your tentative dissertation title
    • The date, time and place of your exam (let me know if you need me to find a room)
    • All committee members’ names and departments, and their roles on your committee (i.e., chair, contingent chair if any, director of dissertation research, voting member)
  • I will input your information into the College database, produce the committee appointment form, get your advisor’s and the department signatures, and scan the form to SAAO three weeks before the exam date.
  • SAAO will get college approval and send the committee appointment to the Graduate College.
  • The Graduate College will produce the exam certificate and committee appointment letters and send them to me.
  • I will finish preparing your exam certificate and ask your advisor or another committee member to pick it up before the exam. The human subjects approval form will be enclosed.
  • At the exam, your advisor will check off the appropriate grade on the certificate and get signatures from all committee members, and also will complete and sign the human subjects approval form.
  • Your advisor or another committee member will return the signed certificate and the signed human subjects approval form to me.
  • I will scan your signed exam certificate to SAAO, put a copy in your department file, and send the original to OAR.

Preliminary Planning Session with Format Checker

  • After your dissertation proposal has been approved, begin working with the College Format Checker as soon as possible. Click here for instructions.

Final Oral Exam (defending your completed dissertation)

  • When you have set a date for your final exam, make sure you’re registered for the semester in which you plan to defend. (See the Graduate Programs Handbook for an exception to this rule for Fall exams.)
  • AT LEAST FOUR WEEKS BEFORE YOUR EXAM, e-mail the following exam and committee information to me.
    • Your name
    • Your dissertation title (if the title is different from your Prelim title, see Anne Robertson in 38 Education to get an IRB Amendment form)
    • The date, time and place of your exam (let me know if you need me to find a room)
    • All committee members’ names and departments, and their roles on your committee (i.e., chair, contingent chair if any, director of dissertation research, voting member)
      • The rules for the membership of your final exam committee are the same as the rules for your prelim committee.
      • Usually your final exam committee is exactly the same as your prelim committee, but membership changes are permissible.
  • I will input your information into the College database, produce the committee appointment form, get your advisor’s and the department signatures, and scan the form to SAAO three weeks before the exam date.
  • SAAO will get college approval and send the committee appointment to the Graduate College.
  • The Graduate College will produce the exam certificate and committee appointment letters and send them to me.
  • I will finish preparing your exam certificate and ask your advisor or another committee member to pick it up before the exam.
  • You will need to take several CCAs to the exam.Complete this form and print out several originals. Your name on the CCA must be the same as your OFFICIAL name in the university database. Check with me if I haven’t already looked it up and sent it to you.
  • At the close of the exam, your advisor will check the grade on the certificate and get signatures from all your committee members, then s/he or another committee member will return the signed certificate to me.
  • I will scan your signed exam certificate to SAAO, put a copy in your department file, and send the original to OAR.
  • You will need to get all the committee signatures on all the CCAs.
  • Take the signed CCAs to Julie Kellogg in 210C Education to get Dr. Schwandt’s signature as Department Chair. Allow two days’ lead time to get Dr. Schwandt's signature on the forms.
  • After the CCAs are signed, keep them until it’s time to deposit your thesis at the Graduate College. (If you wish, you may give a signed CCA to me for your department file; however, this is not required.)

Final Planning Session with Format Checker

  • After your dissertation has been accepted at the final exam, complete the format review and approval process with the College format checker.

Final Deposit of Your Dissertation

  • Get final format approval from the College format checker and deposit your dissertation, including abstract and two signed CCAs, at the Graduate College. (Counseling students should not deposit until internship is completed.)
  • Congratulations, you are now officially a Dr!

About that Degree List …

  • You can receive a master’s or Ph.D. degree in October, December or May of each year.  The August degree conferral is for master’s degrees only.
  • If you receive your degree in October or December, you will be invited to walk in the following May ceremony.
  • Check for the appropriate deadlines necessary to complete your final oral exam and deposit your dissertation in time to get your degree at the desired conferral date.
  • There are three ways to get on a degree list:
    • or ask me to add your name and expected degree to the pending degree list when I receive it from OAR.
    • or check the degree option when you register for your final semester prior to the 10th day of class.
  • If you are a Counseling Intern who has passed your final exam prior to completing internship, you cannot deposit your dissertation until after the Graduate the College May deposit deadline and so cannot graduate until the following October. However, you can apply to the walk in College May ceremony before internship completion. There’s a separate procedure for that … of course!  Ask the Counseling Psychology Director of Training/Chair for assistance and instructions.

Revised June 2008