Faculty members in the Department of Linguistics have approved the following revision of the qualifying exam requirement for graduate students. The new exam format and policy for admission to the Ph.D. program in Linguistics are detailed below.

Effective date: The revised qualifying exam format went into effect beginning Fall 2004. Students entering the graduate program at or after that date will follow the revised exam format. Guidelines for continuing students are presented in Section II of this document.

Student's right to petition. All students are expected to follow the guidelines for the qualifying exam described here. Students who experience special circumstances that disrupt their graduate study may submit a petition to the department’s Student Examination & Evaluation Committee to request a deadline extension or other modification. Petitions will be considered by the committee and handled on an individual basis. Petitions for extension will be granted only for genuine and unavoidable disruptions, and must be submitted prior to the deadline for completion of qualifying exam requirements.

I. Revised qualifying exam format

After completing all required coursework for the M.A., a student will be admitted to the Ph.D. program upon satisfaction of a minimum GPA requirement and the successful oral defense of two qualifying exam research papers (QE papers). Specifically, a student must:

1. Achieve a minimum GPA of 3.5 on the Core courses required for the M.A. program, based on the Core courses defined in the published guidelines with the inclusion of Practicum (Ling 504). No elective courses are counted in computing the minimum GPA requirement. The GPA on the Core courses will be assessed at the end of the 5th semester, by which time all required courses must be completed.

2. Write two QE research papers.

• The student must choose topics for the two QE research papers in two distinct areas from the seven areas of specialization approved by the department: Computational Linguistics, Historical Linguistics, Phonology/Phonetics, Psycholinguistics/Neurolinguistics, Semantics/Pragmatics, Sociolinguistics, or Syntax.
• In the second year in the graduate program the student must enroll in one semester of Practicum (Ling 504), where students will develop the research, writing, and oral presentation skills necessary for satisfying the QE paper requirement. The Practicum course will be added to the list of required courses for the M.A., and will count toward the M.A. required units.
• Both QE papers must be submitted to the department no later than the last day of instruction of the student’s 5th semester in the graduate program. This is a firm deadline, and extensions will be considered only under extreme circumstances such as personal or family emergency.

Upon submission of the two QE papers, a committee of three Linguistics Department faculty members will be selected by the Student Examination and Evaluation Committee (SEEC) and assigned to evaluate both of the QE papers and conduct the student’s oral examination. A single oral defense will be scheduled early in the student’s 6th semester on a date determined by the SEEC. The examination committee will assign an exam grade of Pass or Fail, based both on the written papers and the oral defense. The committee’s evaluation is final, and there will be no routine rewrite or re-examination option.

II. Guidelines for continuing students (admitted to the graduate program prior to Fall 2004).

There are three cases, listed below.

1. Students who entered the graduate program prior to Fall 2004 but who have not taken any qualifying exams as of Fall 2004 will have the option of taking quals under either the old or new format.

• The student must follow all of the requirements pertaining to the selected format, as stated in the guidelines published by the department.
• Students selecting the new format must adhere to the timeline for completion of the required courses and submission of the two qualifying exam papers by the end of their 5th semester of graduate study.
• Once a student has selected a format (old or new) for the exam, the student must complete all exam requirements under that format. Specifically, students selecting the old format may not switch to the new format after the first attempt at the exams.
• Students opting for the new exam format are required to take the Practicum course, during which one of the qualifying exam papers is developed. Practicum will be offered in the Fall 2004 semester, and every semester thereafter. Practicum must be completed prior to the submission of the qualifying exam papers. The Practicum course is one of the core courses and is included in the GPA assessment (see next item).
• The change in exam format includes changes in the GPA assessment, and a student’s GPA will be evaluated according to the format they select. That means that students selecting the new format must have a minimum GPA of 3.5 on the core courses of the M.A. program, with no exceptions. Under the new format, the GPA assessment is made at the end of the 5th semester, which is also the deadline for submission of the qualifying exam papers.

2. Students who entered the graduate program prior to Fall 2004 and who have taken the qualifying exams (first attempt) under the old format must complete the exams under the old format.

3. Continuing students who have passed the qualifying exams under the old format are not affected by the changes described here.