About / Neuroscience Program Description

Qualifying Examination Guidelines¹

A. Rationale and Overview:

A broad perspective, a critical mindset, a deep knowledge base, and an ability to prioritize the information in that knowledge base form the foundation for excellence in research. The preparation and evaluation process described in this document has been designed to help students begin to hone such skills and offers faculty a formal opportunity to assess each student’s progress and suitability for PhD thesis research. A satisfactory performance on the Qualifying Examination is required of all students in the Graduate Program in Neuroscience.

B. The Reading Period:

Upon entering the Graduate Program in Neuroscience (in June following the first graduate year) students will begin a six-month “Reading Period” in which they will read and evaluate all original published papers that appear in the “Research Highlights” section of the monthly journal, Nature Reviews Neuroscience. Papers that are featured in the issues from April through September will form the reading list. These ~40 papers (culled by expert neuroscientists from the field’s top journals) vary widely in scope—from molecular to systems neuroscience—and represent some of the most influential and outstanding current work. To facilitate the integration of this body of information, students will participate in a study group that will meet weekly. A faculty member from the Graduate Program in Neuroscience will also participate in each study group session to help facilitate (but not lead) the discussion and analysis. One facet of these discussions will be to identify key issues in each paper, as examples of those that could be raised by an Examination Committee during the oral Qualifying Examination (described below); this exercise will help students pinpoint the level of understanding necessary to perform well in the Examination.

C. The Examination Committee:

Each Examination Committee will consist of three faculty members whose expertise, together, represents a broad range of neuroscience. Each committee member will be familiar with the required reading list and, prior to the Examination, will choose a few papers from the list on which to develop a series of questions to orally assess a student’s understanding of the material, in the format described below.

D. The Oral Examination:

All Examinations will take place in January following the Reading Period. Students and Examination Committees will be randomly paired, and the Examinations scheduled at mutually convenient times. Each Examination will last approximately two hours and will consist of a scholarly conversation between student and faculty participants. The discussion topics will be at the discretion of the Examination Committee but will be drawn exclusively from papers on the required reading list. Students should expect to be queried not only on their understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the papers chosen by the Examination Committee but also on their opinions regarding where such research will (or should) go in the future. As a general rule, the level of the discussion should focus on “big picture” concepts, rather than on technical minutiae. Students should, thus, prepare for this examination by reading thoroughly and critically and thinking deeply about the work rather than by attempting to memorize specific details.

E. In the Event of Failure:

If a student performs unsatisfactorily, s/he can elect to repeat the Qualifying Examination with a different Examination Committee. The second Examination must be completed within two months of the first. A second unsatisfactory performance will result in dismissal from the Program.

¹The format for this examination has been adapted from one originally developed by William Goldman, PhD, Dept. of Molecular Microbiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO.