Comprehensive Examination

Graduate students in APS are admitted directly into the Ph.D. program. Master's Degrees canbe awarded to students who have completed Comps.

Preliminary Requirements

As of Spring 2020, the APS department no longer requires a separate written "comps 1" preliminary examination. All students must pass the fiveCore Courseswith a grade of B- or better unless preparation by a particular student prior to starting the APS graduate program indicates that a waiver for individual courses is appropriate (evaluation of prior experience will be made by the Admissions Committee during the review of applications).Any student who doesn't meet this standard during their first enrollment in a given core coursewill be assigned a second faculty mentor (not the core course instructor) who has previously taught the core material and who has the time to work closely with the student to help in mastering the core material. Students may, at their option, request a course of independent study to prove mastery of the material instead of retaking the course.

Prepare for Comps:

1) You will need to get your Comps committee approved by the Grad Associate Chair.Please email them and the Graduate Program Coordinatorwho your planned committee members are no later than a month in advance of the planned date of your exam. If I've already approved you committee, please make sure the Coordinator has a copy.

2) You will also choose one of your committee members to be the non-advocate chair; email this person well ahead of time to ask them to fill that role. It is strongly recommended that your non-advocate chair be an impartial APS faculty member who is not a research colleague of you or your advisor.

3) The usual Comps committee has a total of 5 members, and we also require that at least 3 of them be rostered APS faculty members (though all of them can be). Thus, if you're considering having external researchers on your committee, I'd ask that they comprise no more than 1 or 2 slots. It's a good idea to have 1 or more of the committee members be from a different research institute as you and your advisor, too. (Insufficient research topic/institute diversity is the most common reason that I'll come back and ask for edits to your committee list.) There's also the requirement to have 1 member from the APS Exams Committee.

4) Let the GAC and the GPC know the date of your exam, when you have it set. Your exam must be before October 31.We don't need to approve the date, but we do need to know it well in advance so that we can start the grad-school paperwork.

5) Then, be sure to submit your research paper to your committee 10-14 days before your exam. If some members of your committee are external researchers, it would also be a good idea for you to share a copy of the Comps Guidelines with them, so they know what to expect.

Comprehensive Examination

The comprehensive exam ("Comps")is designed to examine a Ph.D. candidate's ability to carry out semi-independent research and to encourage students to develop skills in written and oral communication and time management.

You may get an MS along with your advancement to Ph.D. candidacy, though this is not required. Graduation requirements are governed by policies of both the Department of APS and the . The basic requirements for attaining a Master'sdegree are:

  • Complete within 4 years.
  • Complete 30 hours of course work with at least a B– in each class by the end of a student’s fourth year in the program
  • Retain a minimum GPA of 3.0.
  • Complete the Comps Exam.

Pre-Comps:

  • Apply to graduate with an MS (if you want to get the MS. Do not do this step if you do not want the MS) online through by the posted deadlines.
  • File theCandidacy Application for an Advanced Degreeڴǰat least two weeks before the Comps exam
    • Major: Astrophysical & Planetary Sci
    • Status: Active
    • Plan Code: ASPS-MS
    • Plan II -Non-thesis or creative thesis/project with final exam
  • If getting the MS: Submit Master’s Examination Form to the Graduate School at least two weeks before your comps exam and
  • Submit theDoctoral Comprehensive Exam Formto the Graduate School at least two weeks before your comps exam. IfԴdzgetting the MS, only submit this form.

The APS department only recognizes Plan II because the Comprehensive Examinationpresentation is also an oral exam (note that a Comprehensive Exam paper is not a “Master’s Thesis”). The Comprehensive Exam serves as both the exam to advance to doctoral candidacy as well as the final exam to earn a Master's degree.

Post- Comps: PhD Candidacy

Within two weeksof passing the comprehensive exam, students must submit the candidacy application. When the student’s application has been approved by the Graduate School, their status is changed to “D” in CU-SIS for the semester following that in which they passed the comprehensive exam.

  • Submit a Candidacy Application for an Advanced Degree form and select PhD:/graduateschool/academics/forms-current-students.
    • Major: Astrophysical & Planetary Sci
    • Status: Active
    • Plan Code: ASPS-PHD
    • Do not select anything from the ‘select one if applicable’ section.

After Comps and Classes

  • Dissertation work generally begins in the fifth or sixth semester, after passing Comps. Sign up for thesis hours and remain a full-time student. You can sign up for 5-10 thesis hours per semester, 5 being typical if you're not taking classes.
  • Students establish a progress review committee, which meets regularly to evaluate the student's progress. The progress review committee often forms the core of the student's thesis committee. At least once a year, you are expected to meet with your advisor and 3-4 of your (potential) thesis committee members for a progress report. This serves the purpose of (1) you get to explain what you are doing (or plan to do), (2) you hear ideas from people who may have a somewhat different perspective than your adviser - suggestions for people to talk to, papers to read, avenues to explore, (3) if your adviser has some rather nutty ideas (no!) then the others provide a sanity check, and (4) you can avoid the situation where a member of your committee tells you that you need to do another 6 months' work a week before your defense. After this meeting, your advisor should write a brief summary and e-mail the GPC for your file.
  • Graduate students are required to write and defend a thesis before their thesis committee. For the curious, university Ph.D. requirements are discussed in more detail in the requirements for advanced degrees section of the Graduate School website.
  • Read therequirements for doctoral degreesfrom CU to make sure you haven't forgotten anything.
  • Compsdoexpire, so if you stay here more than 5 years after you have taken them, you may have to take them again (you can petition the department/graduate school to "keep them" valid).