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Requirements

Qualifying Evaluation

Recorded Presentation – Slides

Accessible Accordion

Coursework Requirements (2020)

Committee Requirements

  • Your advisor
  • One additional CSE faculty or advisor-approved member.

Permanent Advisor Requirement
Students intending to continue onto the Ph.D. must declare a permanent advisor. No permanent advisor is required for an “MS Pass.”

his page details the necessary administrative procedures to schedule and pass your milestone evaluation.

  1. Review the “The Quals Defined” page. Click the “process” tab on this page to begin. Learn about the purpose of quals, your role, your advisor’s role and more!
  2. Declare a permanent advisor. To earn a “Ph.D. pass” for your qualifying exam, you need a commitment from a faculty advisor to continue advising you throughout the program. Fill out the Advisor Change Survey to declare your permanent advisor. You may have two co-advisors. If you are applying for a “MS Pass” with the intention of exiting the PhD program, you do not need to declare a permanent advisor.
  3. Select a secondary committee member. Work with your advisor to determine a secondary committee member. External folks are OK if your advisor is in CSE. Your committee may also consist of two co-advisors.
  4. Sign up to be considered at the faculty meeting. This needs to be done by the second week of the quarter you’ll take your qualifying evaluation. You can sign up for Quals through MyCSE as seen in the image below: 
    The system will not let you proceed unless you meet all requirements to come up for quals. If you run into an error, report it to grad-advising@cs and we’ll take care of it.
  5. Find a date and time for the talk. Work with your quals committee to determine a date and time for you to give your qualifying presentation.
  6. Schedule your talk. Use this Qualifying Evaluation Presentation Schedule Request form. This will allow us to add your event to the Grad Events calendar and record your exam internally. Students can present their work virtually or in person and your committee may attend virtually or in person. You can also reserve a physical space through the Allen School reservation system. If you will present virtually, please include a self-hosted Zoom link when scheduling your presentation. Hybrid presentations are acceptable, but we are unable to offer staffing support.
  7. Arrange accommodations. The University of Washington & the Paul G. Allen School is committed to providing access and reasonable accommodation in its services, programs, and activities. For currently enrolled UW students, accommodation requests related to a disability should be made through myDRS at least 10 days ahead of a scheduled talk. Accommodation requests on behalf of other guests should be sent to Graduate Program Adviser Joe Eckert (jeckert1) at least 10 days ahead of the scheduled talk.
  8. Optional: Opt-out of exam announcements. Using MyCSE, you can edit your exam entry. There is a checkbox option to opt-out of public exam announcements. Check this box if you do not want your exam announced to Allen School mailing lists./li>
  9. Submit your qualifying project report to your committee three weeks before you are scheduled to give your talk. You want to solicit feedback before your presentation as well as giving your committee enough time to read your contribution if they haven’t yet already.
  10. Give your qualifying evaluation presentation! You’re going to do great.

    Allen School Policy on Food/Drink at Exams: It has been common practice in some programs for students to bring food and/or drinks to meetings with faculty (e.g. during annual committee meetings, general exam defenses, thesis/dissertation defenses). It is often an implicit expectation rather than an explicit requirement. However, the differential in power between the student and their faculty mentors means that this “voluntary” practice is actually far from voluntary. The Allen School, in consultation with the UW Graduate School, the Graduate and Professional Student Senate and the endorsement of the Faculty Senate, now prohibits this practice for formal milestone presentations such as qualifying project presentations, general exam, and final exams. The Allen School is deeply committed to educating the next generation of scholars, innovators, and difference-makers. Allowing students to focus on their studies facilitates that aim. We will continue to allow students to choose to bring snacks for other students to informal meetings such as a practice job talk for a conference paper. 

  11. Wait to hear back from the faculty meeting. The faculty meeting is the Thursday of Finals week in Autumn and Spring. We will email your results by the following Friday.
  12. Submit your quals report via MyCSE.

  1. Review the “The Quals Defined” page. Click the “process” tab on this page to begin. Learn about the purpose of quals, your role, your student’s role and more!
  2. Confirm you are on our mailing list. We send out quals information and reminders to faculty@cs and faculty-advisors@cs. If you’re unsure if you’re on an email list, please email grad-advising@cs and we’ll get you set up.
  3. Have a discussion about your ongoing advising commitment. Your student will likely start this conversation as a permanent advisor is required to receive a “PhD Pass.” If you are the permanent advisor, you are committing to supporting the student through the remainder of their program.
  4. Help consider a secondary committee member. Quals Committees require two faculty. At least one faculty member should be from CSE. If you’re co-advising, you already have two!
  5. Review the qualifying project report. Your student should share this three weeks ahead of the presentation. Consider offering feedback before the evaluation.
  6. Attend your student’s qualifying evaluation presentation. Surprisingly important.
  7. Submit your faculty report on the qualifying evaluation presentation. Please send your report to grad-advising@cs on the Friday before the Quals Evaluation Meeting. Never written a report before? Here’s a suggested format.
  8. (Perhaps) attend the Faculty Quals Evaluation Meeting. The meeting occurs every quarter on the Thursday before finals week. The Quals Evaluation Committee will reach out to you if you need to be in attendance, otherwise attendance is optional.
  9. Sign the “Committee Approval Form” via Docusign. Students have the option of earning a master’s degree following a successful qualifying evaluation. We’ll need your signature on it, so keep an eye on your email! Only some students will choose to do this.

The Qualifying Evaluation (a.k.a. “quals”)  is the first milestone in the Ph.D. program. Students must pass the Qualifying Evaluation by the end of their 6th quarter in the program (not counting summers and approved on-leave quarters). 

There are four objectives to the Qualifying Evaluation:

  • To confirm each student’s potential to successfully complete the Ph.D. program. Specifically, students should show strong academic skills and an ability to work effectively and independently on research.
  • To ensure each student has a permanent Ph.D. advisor.
  • To ensure that each student has a solid foundation in Computer Science & Engineering at the level expected of a student with a Master’s degree in the field.

 For the Qualifying Evaluation to be considered by the faculty, the student must:

  • Apply for the Qualifying Evaluation
  • Declare a permanent advisor or co-advisors
  • Form a Qualifying Evaluation committee
  • Complete required coursework
  • Complete an independent research project, which includes:
    • Doing research
    • Writing a report
    • Giving a quals talk

Applying for the Qualifying Evaluation

The Qualifying Evaluation committee meets to evaluate students twice a year, in autumn and spring. There is no evaluation in the winter, though a student can give their talk at any time.

Before the student applies for their Qualifying Evaluation (a.k.a., sign up to “come up for quals”), they must already have:

  • Declared a permanent advisor or co-advisors
  • Identified their quals committee (to be entered in the quals application)
  • Completed the required coursework with grades recorded for each course to be used as part of the academic review

Students can complete the independent project anytime before the presentation deadline in the quarter when they plan to apply, including in previous quarters.

Declare a Permanent Advisor

Students intending to continue onto the Ph.D. must declare a permanent advisor or co-advisors. The faculty will confirm that the advising relationship has been mutually agreed upon. No permanent advisor is required if the student is requesting a Master’s pass with an intention to leave the program.

Form a Quals Committee

A quals committee consists of:

  • A primary faculty advisor
  • One additional CSE faculty, co-advisor, or advisor-approved member.

Complete Required Coursework

Before a student can sign up for the Qualifying Evaluation, they need to complete the following coursework:

Courses must be taken for a numerical grade and completed with at least a 3.4 or higher. Students should contact grad-advising@cs if they have concerns about any of their course grades. The 3 UW CSE Breadth Courses must come from the CSE curriculum.

If a student earns below a 3.4 in a course, the instructor is asked for feedback on the student’s performance. This feedback will be shared with the student’s faculty advisor. Depending on the feedback and any extenuating circumstances, the Qualifying Evaluation Committee may still allow the course to count. If not, it’s usually a better use of time to take a different course rather than retaking the same one. Course grades must be final in order to be used towards the Qualifying Evaluation.

Course Selection

Students should talk with their advisor (and other faculty) to plan their coursework. Advisors may have different expectations for students and are the best suited to help match coursework to specific research goals. Most students will complete Breadth Courses from at least 3 different areas (“groups”) prior to passing Quals in order to fit with the final degree requirements.

If a student is pursuing a specialized Ph.D. option, their choice of Breadth or CSE++ Courses may be more limited. Be sure to check the requirements for the specific option.

Complete an Independent Research Project

Each Ph.D. student must complete an independent research project under the guidance of a primary project advisor. The project is evaluated by both the primary faculty advisor and a secondary committee member, chosen together by the student and faculty advisor. These two faculty members make up the “Quals Committee.”

The project includes:

  • Doing the research
  • Writing up a report
  • Giving a public presentation

This project gets the student involved in research to help both the student and faculty member(s) decide if the Ph.D. path is right for them. It also helps the Quals Committee evaluate the student’s potential to complete the program successfully, based on how they perform over time.

Doing the Research

The student and their primary advisor will agree on a project and jointly select a secondary committee member. 

  • The student and primary faculty advisor(s) should meet regularly to discuss progress.
  • The project must demonstrate the student’s ability to do independent research of high quality, but the research may be done in collaboration with others.

The primary advisor determines what counts as an acceptable project. In most cases, the research done towards passing quals is of sufficient quality that it becomes a publishable paper.

The project may focus on new research or may evolve from a course project or a group project where the student’s independent contributions can be assessed.

Write the Report

The student will write a short report (approximately 10 pages, longer if needed) explaining the work and results. This report should be shared at least one week before the oral presentation. The report will be added to the student’s academic file.

Giving the Quals Talk

Each student will give an oral presentation of their project open to all members of the school and attended by at least the student’s advisor and secondary committee member. Presentations are typically 40 minutes long with 10-20 minutes for questions from the audience about the project. Since this presentation is not an examination, no closed session is necessary but can occur at the discretion of the primary advisor. Presentations are public by default, but a student can elect to not announce their presentation to the broader Allen School community for any reason by emailing grad-advising@cs.washington.edu or selecting the “opt-out” checkbox in MyCSE. All talks should have a video conferencing link listed in the location field in addition to a room if the evaluation is held in person.

Faculty Report

An evaluation of the project will be written by the primary and secondary committee member and will be used in the Qualifying Evaluation described below. This project evaluation should discuss the following aspects of the student’s performance:

  1. The ability to work independently and think creatively
  2. Mastery of the project area
  3. The quality of the written document
  4. The quality of the presentation

The Allen School provides a template for the Qualifying Evaluation Faculty Report. Faculty must include all information in the template and specifically state whether they plan to serve as the student’s permanent Ph.D. advisor.

If the report suggests changes to the written report or presentation, the student should make those updates before the Qualifying Evaluation Committee meets.

Qualifying Evaluation

The goal of the Qualifying Evaluation is to decide whether a student has shown the potential to successfully complete the Ph.D. program. The Qualifying Evaluation Committee reviews:

  • Coursework
  • The Qualifying Committee’s written evaluation of the independent project
  • The primary advisor’s commitment to serve as the permanent Ph.D. advisor.

The possible outcomes of the Qualifying Evaluation are:

  1. Ph.D. Pass – the student passes the qualifying evaluation and can continue with the Ph.D.
  2. Master’s Pass – the student passes the qualifying evaluation at the master’s level.
  3. Fail – the student fails the Qualifying Evaluation. 

Students who do not pass at the Ph.D. level are automatically considered for a pass at the Master’s level.

If there are concerns or unclear areas, the committee may meet with your faculty advisor(s) to decide on next steps. They may also consider any special circumstances that may have affected your progress.

The Qualifying Evaluation Committee may offer students who pass at the Master’s level the opportunity to do remedial work towards a Ph.D. pass. This may include doing another independent project (possibly with different advisors) or another write-up or presentation of the same project. In rare cases, additional coursework may be assigned.

Applying for a Master’s-level Pass

A student may also choose to apply for a master’s pass with the intent of leaving the program with a terminal degree.

A student may also apply for a conditional Master’s-level pass if they intend to leave the program at the end of the quarter and meet the following conditions:

  • Is close to finishing the project and/or
  • Is completing their last required course in the same quarter.

If a conditional Master’s-level pass is granted and both the project and coursework are completed and deemed satisfactory by the end of the quarter, the student is awarded a Master’s level pass. Students requesting a Master’s level pass are not required to have identified a permanent advisor.

If a student needs to acquire a Master’s level pass and degree in the Winter or Summer quarters, please email grad-advising@cs directly.

Earning the Master’s. Degree

Any student in the Ph.D. program who passes the Qualifying Evaluation is eligible to receive a M.S. degree once the Graduate School requirement of 18 graded credits at the 500-level has been satisfied. See detailed instructions on applying for the master’s degree.

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