UC Davis CS Qualifying Examination
As I note on my page about my grad student
work, the Davis CS qualifying examination is a grueling process
that took me a long time to navigate. Considering this, I've put
this page together to share what I learned
for my fellow students. Of course my experiences will be unique
to the Computer Science Department
at UC Davis -- obviously, other departments and universities
are very different. For those that aren't aware, the qualification
exam is the big thing in CS at Davis: the prelims (or comps) are
usually waived, and there's no dissertation defense, so it all comes
down to the quals.
- You'll hear it from others and I'll reinforce it: your committee
is here to help you -- when getting questioned by the committee
there's a tendency to feel like they're attacking you, especially
when they're nit-picking your research that you've spent years on
so far. You have to keep in mind that their goal is to ensure that
you finish your dissertation and that it meets everyone's
expectations.
- My qualification examination was easily the most stressful thing
I've ever done, and I haven't lived a sheltered life. I don't have
any bald blood relatives. My maternal grandfather died with a full,
thick head of hair, and I'm not even thirty and started distinctly
thinning.
- The paperwork you receive from Davis states that you will either
pass, not pass, or fail the examination. What it doesn't prepare
you for is what happened to me and many others I know: the
"conditional pass" where the committee says, "you didn't not
pass, and won't have to retake the exam, but we want to see some
revisions to your proposal before we pass you." So while it's best
to pass that day, just don't be surprised if that happens to you.
- My committee told me that the survey portion of my work was
excellent, however they found my proposal lacking. Take a look at it
yourself (on the page linked above) for a guideline of what not to do:
- They thought it was too broad and that any one of the questions
I wanted to address should probably be dealt with in enough
depth to be a dissertation in and of itself.
- They wanted to see more formalism, like methodologies and
frameworks that my findings would fit into, such that the
answers I found could be applied or adapted to a variety of
environments.
- Some said they would have liked to have seen some proofs of
concept to demonstrate that my approach had merit (although
I find this mentality in research of, "we'll only approve or
fund your research once you show it works," to be aggravating
and counterintuitive -- further it discourages the publication
of negative results forcing others down the same dead-end
path).
I now realize that this discontinuity in my paper stems from the
fact that I've read many good survey papers and know what a good
survey paper should look like. Prior to committing my TeX to lpr,
I had only seen the draft of one other dissertation proposal, so
I didn't know what a good one looked like.
Talk to your advisor and other students and get your hands on a
couple so you have something to use as a guide.
- One of the mistakes that I made was rushing to finish my
proposal so that I could take the exam by the end of the school
year, instead of waiting for fall. This leads to two recommendations:
- Make sure your advisor is 100% on board and happy with your
proposal before even scheduling your exam.
- Make sure all your committee members have three weeks before
the exam to read your proposal (granted, there will always be
some profs who won't, but I think most will given enough
time).
In retrospect, I wished I would have spent the summer perfecting
my proposal and taken the exam in the fall (although I understand
that given the time limits to advance to candidacy, this isn't an
option for some, but that wasn't a concern for me).
- One of my committee members didn't show because his flight back
from a conference the previous day was delayed, which leads to my
next recommendation: Don't just schedule for a day that all your
committee members can be there, but make sure that they will be
in town at least 24 hours in advance.
- One of my committee members was from another University. While
he had been to Davis before for conferences and the like, figuring
out where to park near Kemper (nee EUII) proved trying (as it
was for me first time I came to campus): if you are fortunate enough
to be graced by a visiting committee member, make sure they have
a campus map, know where to park and where Kemper is.
- My understanding is that the committee can ask you anything in
your major or even minor area of study. I did not get a single
question that was not related to my proposal. Now maybe this is
just because that gave them enough fodder, however I suspect it
is fairly typical.
- You will be sent out of the room once at the beginning for the
committee to talk about you, and again at the end for them to
confer over your proposal. If your quals are in 1131, this might
mean you're left standing in the hall for up to a half hour, with
no place to sit (and I didn't want to sit on the floor dressed to
the T's): you might want to stash one of the chairs from 1131 out
in the hall before you start (I don't know what the facilities
people will say about that, but I suspect they'll understand).
"Zow" Terry Brugger
Last modified: Sat Jan 6 2007