Final Examination

As required by the Graduate School, master's degree students and doctoral degree students must pass certain examinations to be awarded a degree. You must have a minimum GPA of 3.00 on both your Program and cumulative graduate transcript to schedule the final oral examination. All course work with a grade of I appearing on the program of study must be completed prior to scheduling the final oral examination. You must schedule your exam with the Graduate School two weeks in advance to allow time to audit of your program of study. Please refer to the OSU Graduate Catalog for more details on this requirement.

Seminars

Each graduate student on a thesis program is expected to present a public seminar related to the thesis subject that includes a presentation created by the student and a brief period for the public to ask questions following the presentation. It is the responsibility of the student’s major professor to see that the seminar is adequately advertised in advance in this department and other appropriate areas. Up to one hour including time necessary to reconvene the closed thesis defense will be allotted for this purpose.  This one hour time period must be strictly enforced by the Major Professor. The amount of time allotted for each component of the seminar (presentation and Q&A) within the one hour period is up the Major Professor and committee, but generally a 45 minute presentation with 5-10 minutes of questions is adequate. The seminar is open to all interested parties. After the public seminar, the student and their committee shall reconvene in private for the thesis defense.

For a Master's Degree

All master's degrees (except non-thesis EdM students electing the internship option) require a final oral exam, which should under normal circumstances, be scheduled for 2 hours. Submit one examination copy of the pretext pages of the thesis to the Graduate School at the time you schedule. Distribute examination copies of your thesis to all committee members, including the Graduate Council Representative, sufficiently early to permit thorough review prior to your exam date.

For a Doctoral Degree

At least one complete academic term must elapse between the preliminary oral exam and the final oral examination, which should, under normal circumstances, be scheduled for 2 hours. The examination committee will consist of the same members as for the preliminary examination, although substitutions may be made if approved by the department/program or college and the Graduate School. Please refer to the OSU Graduate Catalog for more details on this requirement.

Submit one examination copy of the pretext pages of the thesis to the Graduate School at the time you schedule. Distribute examination copies of your thesis to all committee members, including the Graduate Council Representative, sufficiently early to permit thorough review prior to your exam date.