Department of Philosophy
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Progress through the Ph.D. Program
During the first stage of the program, students will normally take three or four classes a semester, until all the course work for their area requirements is completed. All students are encouraged to complete at least one of their area requirements during their first year of study. Unless excused by the graduate committee, students must complete the requirements in at least two areas by the end of their second year of graduate study, and they must complete all four areas by the end of their third year.
There are important reviews of each graduate student in February of each year (see http://www.cla.purdue.edu/philosophy/graduate/annualreview.html). Positive reviews each year are required to remain in good standing in the program. A comprehensive review takes place in the fall of the fourth year of study, and a positive review at this stage is required to continue on to the Ph.D. Students whose fall fourth year review is negative may be asked to leave the Ph.D. program with an M.A.
Students should choose a dissertation topic and begin forming a committee and preparing a dissertation during their third year. It is expected that students will defend their prospectus by the end of the third year or early in their fourth. To remain in good standing, students must successfully defend the prospectus by the end of their fourth year. Ideally, students should complete the dissertation by the end of their fifth year. The department will make every effort to ensure financial support to students who enter the graduate program with departmental aid or fellowships through their fifth year in the program (as long as their scholastic work and teaching have been judged to be of sufficiently high quality), but it does not guarantee support beyond the fifth year. (Students are encouraged to complete their dissertations during the first part of the year in which they plan to enter the job market, as the application and interviewing process for jobs is time consuming.)
Once students have begun working on the dissertation, they must register for the minimum number of research credits (3) every semester until the degree is granted; failure to do so may require students to reapply for admission to the program before their degree can be granted. Students must also complete all requirements for the Ph.D., including the dissertation and the final public oral exam, by the end of the semester that falls in the fifth calendar year after the semester of a successful prospectus defense. (E.g., a student who successfully defends a prospectus in September 2010 must complete all requirements for the Ph.D. by December 2015.) In rare cases, extensions of this deadline may be granted by the Graduate Committee, with the approval of the department head, upon receiving appropriate justification for such an extension.