In article <1997Aug18.134321 at opal.tufts.edu> matkisso at opal.tufts.edu writes:
>Most universities have some sort of candidacy exam (prelim, etc.) which
must be
>passed. Isn't this supposed to be the 'triage' point? But how many
people
>have you seen fail? My (mis)perception of the "good old days" was that
they
>were much less fussy about who they let in, but quite demanding about
who they
>passed to Ph. D. candidacy.
>
>Going back to something like this could save a lot of people a lot of
time,
>ensure that the best move on, and still give universities a pool of
teaching
>assistants. People who fail candidacy could still get a Masters, and
then
>could get on with their lives sooner than Ph. D. + Post-doc I + Post-doc
II.
>
>Seriously, what percentage of people at your institution fail the
qualifier?
>
In my department, there are not that many incoming students (4 to 6 per
year) but usually at least one every year will fail the qualifying exam.
The college does not have a masters program as such. they do have a
"consolation prize" masters degree - but one must pass the qualifier and
do a significant amount of work in the lab to get it. People who get a
Masters usually have had bad luck with their thesis project.
Annette
