CS PhD Candidacy
Students must demonstrate their readiness for dissertation research by having authored or co-authored an accepted journal article or high quality conference paper. This should occur by the end of coursework. The appropriateness of the work and venue will be judged by the student’s dissertation advisory committee and, if deemed satisfactory, will result in a recommendation that the student be given Candidacy status. Admission to candidacy requires the approval of the program director and the college coordinator and is forwarded to the UCF College of Graduate Studies for status change. Only after admission to candidacy may a student register for doctoral dissertation hours (CXX 7980). The Candidacy Status change form and any associated paperwork must be submitted for processing by the last day of classes of the semester prior to enrolling in Dissertation credits.
Forms Required
External members of dissertation advisory committee are often not appointed until after the student has entered candidacy. By general University guidelines, a student and his or her dissertation advisory committee must formally convene for the committee to appraise the student’s progress at least once per calendar year.
All transfer of credits, grade changes, and incomplete grades must be resolved prior to entering candidacy status.
Upon entering candidacy status, students must be registered continuously (including Summer) as full-time students until graduation. Students in candidacy status are considered “full-time” when enrolled in 3 credits of CXX 7980, Dissertation.