Ph.D. students are required to successfully complete a Ph.D. Preliminary Examination in order to progress into their Ph.D. studies.
- Purpose of the Exam. The purpose of the exam is to assess the student's competency in the discipline, knowledge of the fundamentals, and potential for independent research. The examination provides the faculty with an opportunity to evaluate the student's presentation and communication skills, the student's level of confidence in the mastery of the discipline, and the student's ability to tackle unfamiliar problems in real time.
- Frequency of the Exam. The exam is administered by the department and takes place once every year. In case of failure, the student may be re-examined only once subject to approval by the Vice-Chair of Graduate Affairs.
- Participation in the Exam. Ph.D. students are required to complete all their course requirements and the Ph.D. Preliminary Examination within two (2) academic years from admission into the Ph.D. program. It is strongly recommended that students take the Ph.D. Preliminary Examination during their first academic year in the Ph.D. Program. Students admitted originally to the M.S. program in the Electrical Engineering Department must complete all M.S. program requirements with a GPA of at least 3.5 in order to be considered for admission into the Ph.D. Program. Only after admission into the Ph.D. program, can students take the Ph.D. Preliminary Examination.
- M.S. Students. M.S. students can petition for participation in the exam prior to completion of their M.S. requirements and prior to their admission into the Ph.D. program. Approval of the petition, if granted, will be conditional on the student completing all M.S. requirements with a minimum GPA of 3.5 by a specified deadline. Regardless of the outcome, participation of an M.S. student in the Ph.D. Preliminary Examination counts towards the limit of two participations per student during his/her graduate studies in Electrical Engineering.
If an M.S. student is permitted to participate in the Ph.D. Preliminary Examination by approval of a petition, then a positive (successful) outcome in the examination becomes void under any of the following circumstances:
- Failure to complete all M.S. requirements by the specified deadline on the approved petition.
- Failure to satisfactorily progress toward the M.S. degree within the time limits specified by the department regulations.
- The student is denied admission into Ph.D. Program.
Regardless of the situation, a voided result still counts towards the limit of two participations by the student in the Ph.D. Preliminary Examination.
A successful completion of the Ph.D. Preliminary Examination by an M.S. student does not guarantee admission into the Ph.D. program. Students must still apply separately for admission into the Ph.D. program. As indicated earlier, students originally admitted to the M.S. program in the Electrical Engineering Department must complete all M.S. program requirements with a GPA of at least 3.5 in order to be considered for admission into the Ph.D. program. Students may apply for admission to the Ph.D. program during their last quarter of M.S. studies in Electrical Engineering. However, if granted, approval will be conditional on completing all M.S. program requirements within the time limit specified by the department.
- Structure of the Examination. Every student is examined independently by eight (8) faculty members for a total of 4 hours. The examination by each faculty member lasts 30 minutes, and typically includes an oral part and a written component or record. Every applicant submits a list of twelve (12) faculty members. The list may include at most one faculty member from outside the department. The department selects the eight (8) examiners. Each of the department¡¯s three areas (Circuits and Embedded Systems, Physical and Wave Electronics, and Signals and Systems) ranks its students and makes pass/fail recommendations to the Vice-Chair of Graduate Affairs. A student passes the entire Ph.D. preliminary examination and not in parts. The results of the examination are announced by the Vice-Chair of Graduate Affairs following a departmental faculty meeting. A student who fails the examination may repeat it only once, subject to the approval of the Vice-Chair of Graduate Affairs. The examination should be passed within two (2) academic years after admission into the Ph.D. program.
- Examination Procedure. You will be notified of your list of examiners about one week prior to the start of the Examination Week. During the examination week, you must arrive at the offices of the faculty examiners promptly. The examination by each faculty member will last 30 minutes, and will typically include oral and written components. Each examiner will grade students on a scale from 1 (poor) to 10 (excellent) on the following items:
- Mastery of the fundamentals
- Communication skills
- Confidence, creativity, enthusiasm.
- Honor Code. Obtaining a doctorate degree from UCLA Electrical Engineering is an outstanding accomplishment. Passing the Ph.D. Preliminary Examination is one step towards achieving this goal. The examination is a highly competitive process. Some students pass the exam and other students fail the exam. You should not share information about the examination with your fellow students until the examination week has finished. Doing so may jeopardize your chances of passing the examination. You will also be in violation of the University Academic Integrity Policy and the UCLA Student Code of Conduct. Students are required to report any infractions of this rule to the Department's Office of Graduate Student Affairs. Acts of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Office of the Dean of Students and serious penalties may apply.
- Selection of the Examiners. Applicants should follow the guidelines below when composing their list of 12 potential examiners:
- You should submit a list of 12 faculty members. By selecting these faculty members you are indicating that you are comfortable being examined by anyone of them.
- You may select faculty members from any area across the department and not only from your general area of study.
- You are advised to select faculty members that are closest to your areas of expertise.
- All names listed in the application form are Electrical Engineering faculty members that will be participating in the Ph.D. Preliminary Examination.
- Rank each of your selections by using a score of 1 to 12 with 1 being the most desired and 12 being the least desired.
- The department will select 8 faculty members from your list to be your examiners. The selected examiners need not be the top examiners on your list. The selected examiners may or may not include any outside examiner on your list. The selections are meant to ensure a reasonable distribution of students and examiners across the department.
- Outside Examiners. Your list of 12 examiners may include at most 1 faculty member from outside the Electrical Engineering Department. In this case:
- You need to contact the faculty member in advance (before completing the application form) to make sure that he/she is willing to participate as an examiner. If the faculty member needs information about the examination and its format, the examiner should be referred to the Vice-Chair of Graduate Affairs in the Electrical Engineering Department. Your advisor may assist you in contacting the faculty member.
- The faculty member needs to indicate via E-mail to the Vice-Chair of Graduate Affairs in Electrical Engineering his/her willingness to participate in the examination. The faculty member needs to provide in his/her email a list of topics that he/she is likely to examine students from. The faculty member also needs to indicate during what times of the examination week he/she is available. The email should be copied to eeweb@ee.ucla.edu.
- Once the faculty member agrees to participate as an examiner, you will be asked to enter his/her information in a section in the application devoted to examiners from outside Electrical Engineering.
- Faculty members from other departments who hold joint appointments in Electrical Engineering are treated as Electrical Engineering faculty for the purposes of the examination.
- Examination Topics. Each faculty member in the department has provided a list of topics that they are likely to examine students from. The topics are generally expected to be at the advanced undergraduate level. For every faculty, the list of topics does not mean that students will be examined in all the topics listed by the faculty member. It only means that students should expect questions from any of the topics.
[View List of Examination Topics by Electrical Engineering Faculty]
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