A doctoral committee conducts the prospectus defense, supervises the preparation and passes the dissertation, and administers the final dissertation defense.

• The standard committee consists of four members that consist of faculty from the student's home department and faculty from outside the department.  Thoroughly review the Political Science Doctoral Committee Membership Chart and the University Policy Governing Doctoral Committee Membership before proposing a committee.
• Due to the complicated breakdown of committees, we suggest you consult your Graduate Coordinator at least 6 weeks before the examination. To appoint your committee, email the names, titles, and department affiliations of your selected committee members to the Department of Political Science Graduate Program Coordinator no less than 3 weeks before the scheduled qualification exam for Advancement to Candidacy.
• An advancement exam must not be scheduled unless the Graduate Division has approved the student's committee. DO NOT defend to an unapproved committee. Doing so may result in having to re-defend.

The official Pre-Candidacy Time Limit is the end of Spring Quarter of the 4th year. Fourth year students who have not defended by the end of spring cannot register for Fall quarter classes until they advance. Because of the difficulties that sometimes arise when selecting a committee and scheduling a defense, we urge you to submit your committee constitution for approval at the beginning of Spring quarter and schedule your defense before the end of the Spring quarter.

All PhD students in the department must constitute their doctoral committees before the prospectus meeting.  After receiving approval from GEPA on their doctoral committee, international students must complete their prospectus defense and advance to candidacy by the end of their third year.  Otherwise, after their third year, they will be responsible for the non-resident fees assessed to international students in subsequent quarters until they advance.

Students may take their qualifying exam over the summer between their third and fourth year. However, all advancement forms turned in during the Summer Quarter will count for the following Fall Quarter.  All the signatures are on the Advancement to Candidacy DocuSign form and GEPA approval must be completed by the first day of Fall.  To ensure that all signatures and approvals are in place, students should schedule their prospectus defense date to be held at least 2 weeks before the start of the Fall quarter.

Graduate Academic Affairs will review advancements during the summer quarter and send out the advancement letters.  After receiving the letter, students will be assessed the $50 advancement to candidacy fee on their next TritionLink billing cycle. Please note that the advancement forms will sit in the Graduate Academic Affairs Docusign queue as they cannot be fully processed until the first day of Fall instruction.   

Students must remain or be registered and enrolled for the Fall for the advancement to be processed.

And, the advancement paperwork should be submitted before the first day of the Fall quarter so that the non-resident fee waiver can be processed.

• 1st year progress – completion of 9 or more courses, including 4 core courses
• 2nd year progress –At the end of the second year, good progress requires completion of eighteen courses, of which at least fifteen must be numbered between Political Science 200 and 279. A student must also complete the General Examination by the end of the second year. A student who has not attempted all parts of the General Examination by the end of the second year may not continue in the program.
• Pre-candidacy limit – 12 quarters – Maximum registered time in which a student must advance to doctoral candidacy.  Students will not be permitted to continue in doctoral status if they have not advanced to candidacy before the expiration of the pre-candidacy time limit or if they have not completed their program before the expiration of the total time limit.
• Normative time limit – 18 quarters – The period within which students, under normal circumstances, are expected to complete requirements for the doctorate. 
• Support limit – 21 quarters – Maximum time during which a doctoral student is eligible for support. Students will not be permitted to receive UCSD-administered financial support after the expiration of their support time limits.
• Total time registered limit – 24 quarters – Maximum registered time in which a student must complete all doctoral requirements.
• 18 TA Quarter Limit -- Effective Fall 2013, no one student may be employed as a teaching assistant and/or associate (teaching a course) for more than 18 quarters.

Time limits are affected by the following:

• Up to three quarters time spent on approved Leave of Absence from the graduate program will not count in the above limits.
• Time spent registered in-absentia will count towards the above time limits
• Time spent withdrawn from the graduate program will count toward all time limits (pre-candidacy, support, total, and normative) for a student who is readmitted to the graduate program.
• Time spent at UCSD as a master's, non-degree graduate, or intercampus exchange student will count towards the above time limits.
• Adjustment to the time limits for students who change departments or enroll for one year or more of half-time study may be made upon departmental recommendation and approval by the Dean of Graduate Studies (normative time is not adjusted for quarters registered at half-time status).