Credit Transfer from Other Graduate Institutions
According to the Graduate School’s policies, a student’s program may decide to transfer graduate credits completed at another institution (earned post-baccalaureate). There are no limits on the number of credits that can be transferred except that the program’s minimum graduate residence credit requirement can be satisfied only with courses taken as a graduate student at UW–Madison. To meet minimum graduate residence credits, PhD students need to earn at least 32 credits at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Credits earned five or more years prior to admission to a master’s degree or credits earned ten or more years prior to admission to a doctoral degree are not allowed to satisfy requirements. To initiate the process of having transfer credits evaluated, an unofficial transcript your prior institution(s) should be emailed to the DGS with your advisor and the GPM cc’d.
Expectations for Progress
The expected time frame for completion of the overall MS/PhD program in the HSRP program is four or five years. The HSRP PhD program is designed so that a full-time student with an MS can complete the PhD program in approximately 3-4 years. To remain in the HSRP MS/PhD program, a student must continue to make progress toward the degree and demonstrate this progress via the Annual Review process.3
HSRP faculty and students will engage in this annual review process twice per academic year. In Spring, students and faculty will pay particular attention to timelines and milestones identified from SMART Goals when submitting documentation for review, which include but are not limited to: discussing courses, developing independent development plan (Individual Development Plan), summer funding, research proposals, attending conferences, giving presentations, identifying a thesis topic, completing the thesis, identifying a PhD topic, forming a PhD committee, taking the written preliminary exam, writing and defending a PhD proposal, submitting and publishing manuscripts.4 5
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3 The Graduate Program Manager will provide access to Annual Review documents throughout the academic year.
4 The UW Graduate School has also established Minimally Acceptable Progress guidelines. The SAS Division guidelines take precedence.
5 To best determine future progress, during the recruiting cycle (likely January-February) students with a master’s degree will work with their potential advisor and the Director of Graduate Studies to assess the experience with an empirical project relevant to HSRP research. If the degree has limited relevance to HSRP, the student may be required to complete.
Preliminary Examination Following Completion of Didactic Coursework
There are four stages to completing the preliminary examination:
- Establish a preliminary examination committee
- Complete the written preliminary examination
- Participate in a feedback session with the examination committee
- Complete the oral preliminary examination in which the student proposes their dissertation topic.
Preliminary written and oral exams occur after students have completed didactic coursework.6 They are intended to assess the student’s knowledge of the field and readiness for independent research. It is the responsibility of the student, in consultation with their advisor, to ensure that all didactic course requirements are met before taking the preliminary exam.
Once the written and oral preliminary exams are successfully completed (the prelims and proposal defense), students become dissertators. Dissertators may continue to enroll for research credits (after achieving dissertator status) but are limited to three credits of enrollment each term. View Dissertator Status Policy
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6 When developing a plan around coursework, students can count no more than 16 credits of graduate course work from other institutions toward the HSRP PhD degree (the student must have graduate student status on the other institution’s transcript at the time the courses were taken). Such courses should be discussed with the faculty advisor and presented to the DGS and Chair during recruitment and early in the admissions process. The review/approval of such credits will be determined by the advisor, DGS, and faculty. Course work earned five or more years prior to admission to a master’s degree is not allowed to satisfy requirements.
Part 1: Establishing a Committee
Selection and appointment of the Preliminary Examination/Dissertation Committee should be given great consideration. The relationship students have with their committee members are based on mutual respect and are intended to be professionally beneficial. The committee will supervise the student’s research closely and will be the ultimate judge of the acceptability of student work and whether the student’s achievement warrants the awarding of a doctoral degree.
Students have a great deal of discretion in the choice of their dissertation topic. Students should take the time to get to know the research specialties of members of the faculty and to consult with them about their proposed dissertation research before requesting their service and appointment on their committee. Ideally, the selection of one’s Preliminary Exam/Dissertation Committee will involve faculty with research interests that are aligned with that of the graduate student.
The committee (individualized, student-by-student) is used in the HSRP Program for three functions: to write and evaluate student performance on the written preliminary exam; to evaluate the oral preliminary exam, and to evaluate the dissertation defense. A student and major professor can change members chosen to join the dissertation committee after their first preliminary exam depending on faculty availability and expertise most needed.
The student is responsible, in consultation with their advisor, to form a preliminary exam/dissertation committee. The preliminary committee only requires three faculty members (2 from SAS required). However, the following conditions must be met for the final dissertation committee for the dissertation proposal defense and the dissertation defense:
- Only a graduate faculty from the Social & Administrative Sciences (SAS) in Pharmacy Division may serve as the preliminary examination/dissertation committee chair.
- Each preliminary exam/dissertation committee must have at least four members (committee chair + 3).
- At least two committee members must be graduate faculty from SAS (committee chair + 1).
- A third member must be UW–Madison graduate faculty from outside SAS.
- The fourth member does not have to be a faculty member but needs to have expertise or perspective uniquely suited to the dissertation research topic. Other optional additional members may also be selected on an as-needed basis to support the student’s dissertation research. These additional members as well may be tenure or tenured-track UW–Madison faculty from a department without a graduate program; UW–Madison academic staff (or UW–Madison emeritus faculty); faculty from other institutions; other individuals deemed qualified.7
- At least three members must be designated as dissertation “readers.” (committee chair + 2)
Upon establishing their Preliminary Examination Committee and Dissertation Committee, students must complete the Preliminary Exam Committee Approval Form and the Dissertation Committee Approval Form, both of which should be submitted to the Graduate Program Manager.
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7 In the case of an international student, they and the advisor have a responsibility to consult with UW-Madison’s office of International Student Services and fully understand the Visa implications.