Ph.D. Comprehensive Examinations
Each year, after the end of the Spring semester or at the beginning of the Fall semester, designated faculty members will offer a set of written exams testing students in three core disciplines: microeconomic (Fall), normative (Spring), and political analysis of policy issues (Spring). These exams will be based on material covered in School courses, supplemented by additional readings. Examiners will provide supplemental reading lists several months in advance of the exam date. Full-time students will generally take these exams at the end of the first year; part-time students at the end of the second year. Students also have the option of taking fewer than three exams in a given year. In addition, students must fulfill the quantitative methods requirement by successfully completing and defending a research paper.
Please note that every comprehensive exam is offered only once per academic year.
A student must pass all four comprehensives (economic, normative, political, quantitative), plus additional exams given in areas of specialization, prior to defending a dissertation prospectus and advancing to candidacy. A student who fails one or more of the comprehensive exams may retake these exams when next offered. But a student may take each component of the comprehensive exams only twice; a second failure in any area will lead to removal from the program.
Normative Analysis (RL)