Note: This message was written for PhD students in the Ecology and Evolution Program in the Biology Department at Stanford University. These students typically do their qualifying exams (“quals”) in the spring of their second year. Practices around qualifying exams may differ in different PhD programs, and I encourage you to talk to your advisor, committee, and student services administrators for advice specific to your program. I’m sharing this advice based on my belief that this general philosophy (if not the specific details) applies in most ecology and evolution programs and for most faculty and students.
Demystifying Quals
The Ecology and Evolution faculty and the Graduate Studies Committee would like to reach out to students planning to complete their oral exams ("quals") in the next few months. We know that this process can seem daunting, uncertain, opaque, and even stressful, and we hope that providing some information about expectations will help you all to get the most out of this experience and to minimize your stress in these already challenging times.
First and foremost, quals is an opportunity to present your research ideas to a set of faculty mentors with knowledge and expertise in your area of interest, to help them get to know you, and to get their feedback to improve your research projects and anticipate and avoid any pitfalls. The goal is to present your questions and proposed approaches in enough detail that they can really understand what you're doing and why, and help you identify where more work is needed or methods need to be refined. Their goal is to save you from headaches down the line! As most of us have found over the course of our careers, sometimes a little bit of thoughtful, constructive feedback can be just as valuable as approval and validation in bringing your science to the highest level possible--and we aim for quals to provide both. Our goal as faculty during quals is to help you think through and refine your research ideas, to share our experience and expertise, and help you get used to answering questions about your work and justifying the approaches you are taking, which will help you down the road as you publish and present your work in seminars. Different faculty differ in their exact approach to quals, and you should talk to your advisor about their specific expectations, but all of us share the goal of helping you to conduct the best research you can and to be successful in your PhDs and beyond. With that in mind, here's a brief summary of what the process is and is not.
What quals IS:
- A chance to present your research proposal to your committee, chapter by chapter, starting with an introduction that gives the motivation behind your proposed work. This is a formal presentation with slides that usually lasts around 30-45 min (though it often takes longer when interspersed with questions). Some faculty will ask questions throughout your presentation, while others will wait for breaks between your chapters to discuss each section. You can discuss expectations around the length of the presentation and whether questions will be asked throughout the presentation or just at the end ahead of time with your advisor and committee members. You can shape the discussion by letting your committee know what specific ideas you most want feedback on, and where you have specific questions for them.
- Faculty may pose questions that challenge you to justify your proposed approaches, think through the ideas more deeply, and connect your work to previous work in the field. The aim of these questions is to help improve the quality of the proposed research, not to trip you up, embarrass you, or put you on the spot. It is okay to admit that you don't know the answer, or to ask your committee members for their opinions and feedback if you don't know how to address a question. It is also okay to take a minute to regroup and think through your answer before you respond. The goal is to generate an engaging discussion.
- This is an opportunity for you to get a group of smart and experienced scientists focused on your ideas and to pick their brains about how to improve the work. Viewing the quals through this lens can help to make the process seem less personal, evaluative, and judgmental.
- Many faculty will follow up on quals by sending links to relevant papers or follow-up ideas, and this can create meaningful dialogue among you and the members of the committee.
What quals IS NOT:
- A chance to judge you or embarrass you. It is very normal to feel "imposter syndrome" at this stage, as you become aware of just how big the scientific world is and how narrow any one person's area of expertise is. Remember that faculty view quals as a chance to help you and get to know you, and to guide you in your research over the next few years.
- A "grilling" session with impossible or esoteric questions, or a general knowledge test. We expect you to be familiar with important literature in your field, but we are not looking to ask "gotcha" questions or to quiz you on specific results from specific papers. In some cases if we identify an area of literature that you were not familiar with but may be relevant, the purpose is to be helpful to you.
- A chance to kick you out of the program. We are all focused on helping you succeed. We do not admit students into the program with the goal of weeding them out later on--we expect all students to successfully complete their quals and go on to a successful PhD. Students almost never "fail" quals outright, and the goal is not just for you to "pass." Instead, the goal is for you to engage in an interesting scientific discussion with faculty colleagues who can potentially help to refine your research plans and use the discussion to enrich your science.
You are all here because you are outstanding students with great potential, and because faculty are excited about your being in our program and working with you. We hope that this message helps to demystify the quals process and to put some potential concerns or anxieties to rest. Under normal circumstances, you could informally chat with more senior grad students with similar faculty committees to get a sense of quals expectations, but we realize that this is more challenging than ever during the pandemic. Please consider reaching out to more senior grad students and faculty in your own program to learn more about the specific expectations and traditions in your program.