One of the major challenges in my PhD studies: the Doctoral Candidacy Examination (aka quals/comps)

It's been an awfully long time since I wrote in here. I guess I was preoccupied with making up for lost time with Mico. Since his arrival last 18 December 2023, I had not written anything despite having lots of ideas and happenings that I wanted to write about. Such activities included spending Christmas 2023 and New Year 2024 with Mico's family in Perry Hall, MD; Mico's enrollment and orientation at UT Arlington for his MS in Mechanical Engineering; my upcoming MS in Public Health Sciences (Epidemiology) graduation; and just going through motions and daily activities of living together as husband and wife. Since our wedding in 2020 and me moving to the US in 2021, we have been living physically apart longer than we've been living physically together. It wasn't only until the end of 2023 we finally got to the point where we are living together again. Anyway, that was such a dreary explanation/justification of why I haven't been writing as of late. I shouldn't be giving such excuses to write because not writing means I lose the opportunity to hone my writing skills, lose the opportunity to document my memories. I lose a lot of things if I don't write my memories down. So I should be more aware and conscientious of writing in my blog. 

Anyway, let's move on. 

This post is all about my upcoming PhD Candidacy Examination which will take place in Summer 2024 (no exact dates yet). Another term used for the candidacy examination is either comprehensive exam/s or qualifying exam/s. There is also the term, preliminary exam or "prelims". Depending on the university you are in, this varies. For my school, we use comprehensive exam, shortened to "comps". But personally, I like using "quals". I guess I got used to this term when I first read Jorge Cham's PhD Comics way back 2007 and this was the term he used to describe the candidacy examination. My epi professor, who graduated from Boston University, would also use the term quals. So I guess it's just institution-specific which term to use, particularly here in the US. Moving forward, I will use quals/comps to mean the PhD Candidacy Examination.

Another thing I'd like to talk about before proceeding to my main point is, "What is a quals? Is quals a requisite to complete one's PhD studies?" 

To answer the first question, a quals/comps is a series/battery of exams given to a second or third year PhD student, which the student needs answer within a limited time frame. The goal of the quals is to test the student's knowledge and competency in the field s/he is pursuing. If one should pass the quals, the status of the PhD Student would now "ascend" or change to PhD Candidate. I say ascend because it is a step up from being "just" a PhD Student. When you encounter a PhD Candidate, you would immediately know that this person has already finished the required PhD coursework, has passed her/his quals/comps, and is already in the dissertation stage. A student only stays very briefly in the PhD Candidate phase as it is expected that the Candidate will be defending her/his proposal and dissertation within a year or two. PhD Candidates will also be seen or be in campus less than PhD students because they do not have classes to attend to anymore (or if there are, it'll just be one class in a semester compared to the usual three classes) and because they are busy writing their proposal/dissertation. Unless of course, the Candidate needs to stay in the lab to do data gathering, then they will mostly be found in the lab. But usually, PhD Candidates are left to their own device and would mostly interact with their advisers and less with their colleagues. This is because the dissertation stage would require a higher degree of concentration and focus to get into that flow state of thinking and writing. And this usually happens when one is undisturbed over extended periods.

To answer the second question, let me answer this with an annoying-because-it's-ambiguous response: it depends. Quals/comps is also country-specific in addition to it being institution-specific. Based on my limited experience and interactions with fellow PhD friends, there is no quals in countries like Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Netherlands, some UK universities, and mostly European universities. Countries that DO require quals include US, Canada, South Korea, Japan, and I think the Philippines also requires quals. So depending where you are pursuing your PhD, quals is or is not a requisite in one's PhD completion. 

Now let me get to my main point for this blog post: I have recently signified my intent to take my quals in the Summer Semester of this year. Below is the email I sent to the Department Chairs, and I CC-ed my adviser and the Director of MS and PhD Program:

Sending this email is part of the process to initiate the quals. According to our school's Handbook, an email must be sent to the Department Chair prior the semester when you would take your quals. In my case, I would sit my comps in summer so I need to email the Chair in the Spring semester. This is to give time for the Chair to form a Candidacy Examination Committee and that the committee members would have time to formulate your quals questions. As my concentration is epidemiology, I have two epidemiologists and one biostatistician in my committee. From what I have been told, my committee has already been formed and it's just a matter of informing me of the exact dates of my exam.

This email initiation is a huge deal for me. Why? First, it means that I have finished or close to finishing my PhD core coursework. Second, it means that I am already in my third year and would be entering my fourth and final year of PhD studies. Third, I should already prepare myself in doing my PhD dissertation - another major challenge in this PhD journey. And finally, it's one step closer to my dream of becoming a full-fledged scientist (how I define being a scientist can be explained in another post). The quals IS a big deal. Fail it once, you get another chance to retake. Fail it twice, you say goodbye to the PhD program. Yep. You get kicked out of the PhD program. So the quals is a make-or-break deal. Unlike in a dissertation, the defense itself is just a formality. You are able to consult and have multiple reviews and exchanges of the dissertation manuscript with your adviser thus, improving your manuscript as you further along the dissertation. Also, you will submit your dissertation manuscript to your committee, have them review it, and they can suggest minor or major revisions and comments on the paper before you can formally present and defend your dissertation. No one actually flunks and gets removed from the program because of the dissertation. Unless of course, it's due to some egregious error on your end that merits expulsion (i.e. plagiarism or data fabrication/falsification).

Bottom line is, taking the candidacy examination is no small matter as it can dictate whether you stay or leave the PhD program. And I just took the first step in realising my quals. I get nervous and anxious just thinking about it that my heart palpitates. Anyway, I have to make sure I nail the quals. Otherwise, all this PhD work will be for naught. 

Let's go!