Stuart Weitzman School of Design
102 Meyerson Hall
210 South 34th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
3d. Candidacy Examination
After completion of your coursework, you must pass the Candidacy Examination consisting of two written field examinations demonstrating your mastery of subfields within the discipline and an oral examination defending the written examinations and your dissertation proposal. Your dissertation chair is responsible for reporting the results of the candidacy examination in writing to the GGC and Graduate Group Administrator.
3.d.1 Committees
3.d.1.i. Composition of the Field Examination Committee: The Committee consists of two faculty members; each one will supervise one field examination. One member can be the chair of your dissertation committee. In some cases, you may ask two faculty members to supervise one field examination. Consult with the GCC about this possibility. The faculty members must be members of the Graduate Group in City and Regional Planning. For any exception, consult with the GGC. You should have taken at least one formal course or Independent Study with each member of the Examination Committee.
3.d.1. ii. Composition of the Dissertation Committee: The committee has three faculty members, one of whom serves as chair; the other two are readers. The chair must be a member of the Graduate Group. One of the two readers must be a member of the Graduate Group. The third reader will usually be a member of Penn’s Standing Faculty, though with the approval of the Dissertation Committee chair and the GGC, an outside person with the appropriate academic qualifications and special knowledge can be appointed.
3.d.2. Two field examinations You will work with your principal advisor and the GGC to define fields the fields. You must take at least two courses in each field, including one by your field examiner who must be a member of the Graduate Group. You may count transfer credit to fulfill one of the two courses in each field.
3.d.2.i. Field selection. You have the following options
3.d.2.ii. Form The written examination can take one of several forms. For example, examiner may ask you to prepare a paper-length essay, a research proposal over a period of a week a lecture-length essay over several days or a several-hour written “classroom” type of examination, consisting of a set of questions.
Regardless of its form, your examiners will ask you to demonstrate an ability to describe and assess the literature of the field deal critically with major issues, and/or demonstrate competence in an instructional or research area applicable to your future employment.
3.d.2.iii. Timing and Scheduling By the beginning of the third semester, you must present a Field Examination Statement to the GCC and your principal advisor via email. This plan will include the name of each field, a short description of the field and a brief bibliography about five key readings. (You will augment this bibliography with each field examiner as you discuss the scope of the examination after approval of the fields).. You will take the examinations after completion of your coursework and within a 21-day period. You will defend your responses and your dissertation proposal at an oral examination within three weeks of completing the written examinations. You are responsible for all scheduling.
3.d.2.iv. Grades The Examination Committee will evaluate your field examinations giving letter grades ranging from A+ to B. Any grade below B is a failure. A member of a field examination committee may ask you to revise your response or to retake the examination. If you are asked to retake an exam, you may do so once within two (2) months. If you should fail two field examinations, you will be dismissed from the program.
3.d.3 Dissertation proposal
3.d.3. i. Form Your dissertation proposal has the following components: title, abstract, introduction, a literature review that positions your research question, statement of the problem or research question, your hypotheses (if applicable), your research design, proposed table of contents (with short descriptions first, second and third drafts
3.d.3.ii. Timing You must submit your dissertation proposal to your committee two weeks prior to sitting for your field examinations.
3.d.3.iii. Grades and approval The Dissertation Committee will evaluate the dissertation proposal providing one of the following determinations: Accept, Revise and Resubmit to the chair, or Revise and Resubmit to the Committee. In the latter two cases, you have one (1) month from the time of the oral examination to make modifications to the proposal and obtain its acceptance by the Committee. If you do not secure approval of your proposal within this time, you will be awarded the A.M. degree as a terminal degree. The final approval of the dissertation proposal by your Dissertation Committee is to be completed within the fifth semester of full-time study, if not sooner.
3.d.4. Reporting the results You are responsible for filing the following forms indicating your progress with the Graduate Group Secretary and the Weitzman School of Design Registrar. After your field examinations, submit University of Pennsylvania. Form 150.
3.d.5 PhD Candidate Status and Tuition When you have passed the Candidacy Examination, you will become a PhD Candidate. After becoming a PhD Candidate and completing three years of full-time study you will qualify for the reduced tuition rate. See Tuition and Fees for more information.
