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Progress Report (Post-Coursework)
Formal advising in the department occurs in three phases. All new students are initially advised by the Graduate Program Director (GPD). Early in their second year, students are encouraged to choose, with advice from faculty and the GPD, a Pre-Dissertation Advisor (PDA) to carry them through the transition from coursework to dissertation research. A description of pre-dissertation advising may be found here. During this period students will narrow their research focus with an eye to choosing a dissertation topic and dissertation advisor, who will be the dissertation committee chair. The chair of the dissertation committee (who may or may not have been the PDA) will, in most cases, remain the student’s advisor until the degree is earned. Of course, students, at all stages of their careers are also welcomed and encouraged to meet and consult with faculty members who are not formally their advisors.
Students are expected to meet with their advisors at least twice a semester, preferably at least once early in the semester during course registration, and then, again, towards the end of the semester to discuss the Progress Report that students should file at the end of each term. Students in their first, second, and third years should fill out the Coursework Progress Report. Students beyond their third year should fill out the Post-Coursework Progress Report. In either case, rather than filling them out by hand, students are encouraged to complete and save the reports on computer and then just update them on a semester basis.
Progress to the Degree - General Guidelines
The guidelines provided below offer some general expectations of what progress you might reasonably expect to make in any year of your program. Please read them carefully and consult the GPD if you have any questions. This is provided as a guide to help you plan. Students will, of course, move at different paces through the program for different reasons. So please take that into account as you read through the guidelines. The most important thing is that semester to semester you are making progress towards completion of your studies.
Information on formal requirements can be found in the document entitled Doctoral Program Requirements.
The milestones highlighted below do not replace the official requirements which are in the document above.
Incomplete courses
Occasionally students are not able to complete their work in a course by the end of the term and receive a grade of Incomplete (INC). Students in this situation should, in consultation with their instructor, complete the form, Incomplete Contract. An unrepaired INC will convert to an IF one year from the beginning of the course.
Independent Studies
Students and faculty may propose Independent Studies courses, that, after the GPD’s review, may be used for credit in the program. The GPD will consider:
1. Is the Independent Study rigorous? In other words, does it have a coherent topic? Will it include regular meetings between student(s) and instructor? What work will be evaluated for a grade?
2. Is the Independent Study appropriate to use for our field requirement? The Field Group faculty determine whether independent studies can be used to fulfill a field requirement. Note that where the department regularly offers a course an independent study course may not be used to fulfill a field requirement.
3. Does the Independent Study overlap with or reproduce an existing course in our program? This is an important consideration: many of our courses are small enough that an independent study course can reduce demand enough to threaten the viability of the regular course when it's offered in a future term.
Keep in mind that an independent study is extra work for the faculty and that faculty are free to decline a request.
With all that in mind, we ask a student who wants to do an independent study to send the GPD a study plan or syllabus that includes:
Description of the class
Number of credits to be earned
Number of meetings and their duration
Readings
Student assignments
Manner of assessment
An Independent Study can be offered on a Pass/Fail basis. Instructors may also choose to assign a grade of SAT. Normally a 3-credit class is expected to have the equivalent workload of a standard class: weekly meetings and readings, and at least a 20-page-or-so paper or its equivalent. The class may be offered for fewer than 3 credits with a corresponding adjustment in the coursework. After the study plan is approved, the Graduate Program Assistant will be able to enroll students in a section of Econ 796 or Econ 896.
First Year Students
Your advisor is the GPD. You’ll meet with the GPD before classes begin in the fall, and again before registering for spring courses. Give serious thought to the classes you hope to take over the next three or four years as you satisfy your core course and field course requirements and begin to focus on areas of future research. Students with prior graduate economics work may qualify for a waiver of some of the required courses. To request a waiver, please print out the waiver form and take it and a syllabus of the course that you believe qualifies you for the waiver to the appropriate faculty member listed on the form.
Second Year Students
It is time to choose a Pre-dissertation advisor (PDA). The faculty member you choose does not necessarily have to end up being your dissertation advisor. You are encouraged to approach faculty members who you would like to be your pre-dissertation advisor and discuss your plans and interests with them. By October 1 the GPD will ask you to give a ranked list of 3 faculty members you would like to be your advisor.
In consultation with faculty members, the GPD will assign advisors based on the preferences submitted. Please note that you may not get your top preference as we need to distribute the load of advising between faculty members.
During this year you should:
1. Complete all core courses.
2. Take your core comprehensive exam and plan ahead to your second comp.
3. Know what your fields will be.
4. Start adding dissertation credits to your transcript.
Third Year Students
Meet with your PDA. At this point in your program you should be able to outline the following:
1. Semester you completed or expect to complete your course requirements
2. Your two fields and what four courses you will apply to your field requirement
3. Subject and date of your remaining comprehensive exam. This must be completed in your third year.
4. Your plan to complete the 15-credit dissertation credit requirement
5. A plan for beginning work on your prospectus, including ideas and timelines on research, the pre-prospectus research presentation (see below), and potential dissertation advisors.
6. If you plan on doing field work, you will need to plan for when you will do the field work and how you propose to fund it. Please note that getting outside funding may require an application as early as one year before you embark on field work.
All students are expected to complete two comprehensive exams and two fields. A full description of the requirement can be found in the Doctoral Program Requirements.
You can find ideas of what a prospectus is at: Ideas about the Prospectus
Note that there is no single set of rules for what a prospectus is. It is important at the beginning of writing it that you have sat down and mapped out with your advisor/committee chair what exactly will be expected from you. Students entering the program from Fall 2015 onward are required to give a short public presentation of their pre-prospectus research, preferably in their third year, but certainly before the end of their fourth. The GPD will organize one or two departmental symposia each year to accommodate these presentations.
Fourth Year Students
At this point you should be switching to a dissertation advisor. You should have completed your
Core course requirement
Field course requirement
Both comprehensive exams
You should be well on your way to having all 15 dissertation credits.
If you have not already participated in a pre-dissertation research symposium, you should count on doing that within this year.
If you have completed your course requirements you may apply for an MA if you wish. Having it in hand can sometimes be helpful in obtaining outside employment as you complete your dissertation. Please contact the Graduate Program Assistant to complete the necessary forms.
You should be working on your prospectus with the aim of defending it this year. Continue to work closely with your advisor, earlier rather than later, to focus your interests, establish research goals and timelines, and agree on expectations. In your Progress Reports from now on you will be expected to give descriptions and timelines for
1. Research and fieldwork
2. Writing
3. Tentative semester of completion
Note that the Graduate School requires that there be at least 7 months between your prospectus defense and your dissertation defense.
Becoming ABD is an important stage as a lot of outside funding for dissertation work and writing requires you to be ABD. Thus, the earlier you complete this the better.
Fifth and Sixth Year Students
At this point you should be writing with a somewhat clear idea of when you hope to finish and which year you expect to go on the job market. Please discuss a plan of completion with your advisor and the expected date of completion. Please also note that your statute of limitations expires at the end of the sixth year and the graduate school expects us to provide documentation and a plan of how you expect to complete your studies.
Post sixth year students
You should be writing your dissertation. It is likely that your statute of limitations has to be renewed on a yearly basis. To do this you have to provide both a plan for moving towards completion and explain what you have accomplished in the last year or semester towards completing your work. The Graduate Dean now pays close attention to this and will refer to your past plans and your report of accomplishments before approving a statute of limitations extension. So please pay careful attention to this.