Preliminary Oral Exam
Please check out the Prelim Oral Steps document on how to prepare for the preliminary oral examination. The steps are as follows:
Requirements Before Beginning
In order to take the preliminary oral exam, you must:
Complete all 36 coursework credits (see program requirements)
Pass 4 written prelims at the PhD level
2 theory prelims: Micro and Macro
2 field prelims
Approved GPAS
Advisor on record
Once you have completed all the requirements, you can begin the preparations for the oral preliminary exam.
Record Your Preliminary Oral Exam Committee
The preliminary exam committee must consist of 4 members.
3 members inside your major, department of Economics or at the Federal Reserve Bank
Chair of your committee is your advisor or co-advisor
1 member outside your major, from a different department at the university
Verify that your outside committee member is on the faculty role list for the Economics PhD. If they are not, inform the GPC of the committee member you would like to serve on your committee so they can complete the necessary paperwork.
Once all your committee members are on the faculty role list and have an active UMN email, you can complete the online form (http://z.umn.edu/DoctoralPrelimOralExamCommittee) to record your committee. You will need to know the internet ID or employee ID for all your committee members, which can be found in the University Directory.
For more information on the preliminary oral exam committee, check out the One Stop page.
Schedule Your Preliminary Oral Exam
You will be responsible for finding a date and a time as well as a room for your prelim oral (and any remote arrangements). When you have found a date and a time, ask the Office Manager to find you an appropriate room. After these arrangements have been made you must schedule the prelim oral using the online form (https://z.umn.edu/PrelimOralExamSched) at least one week before the prelim oral date. Once the preliminary oral has been scheduled, a signature form will be emailed to the chair of the committee.
Initiate Your Preliminary Oral Exam Report for Doctoral Students Form
At least one day prior to your preliminary oral exam, initiate the form to review your examining committee for accuracy and send the form to your committee chair.
Standards for the Preliminary Oral Examination
You are expected to discuss the research from your third year and workshop presentations for the exam. Students must clearly communicate their plan for the dissertation to pass the oral exam. If the committee feels the plan has substance but needs additional work then they may assign a grade of “pass with reservations.” If this happens, the committee will write a letter stating what you need to do to pass as well as give you a timeline. You are expected to have removed reservations no later than 3 months after the oral. For instance, an August oral pass with a reservations decision should be satisfied by November 30. You will still be eligible for a fall teaching appointment with a pass with reservations, but further support depends on passing the oral. If you cannot fully pass, you will be terminated at the end of the calendar year and would not have any spring support.
In rare cases, the committee may decide that a student has not developed a plan for the dissertation and lacks supporting evidence that they can successfully write and defend a thesis. In these cases, the committee may assign a grade of “fail” to the student. If a student fails the exam, they will be advised to work with their advisor to remedy the shortcomings in their work and sit for the exam again. The committee will assign the student a deadline by which the exam must be passed and any intermediate goals the student must meet. If a student fails the preliminary oral exam, any financial support for the following semester(s) will be at the discretion of the program. The program will consider the student’s progress to date, their performance in classes and written preliminary exams, the department’s teaching needs, and available funding. A student may be restored to good academic standing if they pass the preliminary oral at a later date. See section IV in this policy: https://policy.umn.edu/education/doctoralperformance