Course Plan Years 3 and 4

The Third Year: Breadth

Early in the third year of study, successful students will have reached Candidacy. They must then find an acceptable thesis topic. Success at this stage, more than at any other, determines how quickly they can complete the program. Students who have a well-defined thesis topic (perhaps partially developed in their Second-year Paper) can propose in the third year and defend their dissertation by the end of the fourth year. Most students, however, use much of the third year in search of a topic and spend a fourth year at the Simon School researching and developing it for a thesis proposal.

PhD Seminars and Workshops

The PhD Program is structured so that students gain experience early in presenting their own research in a workshop environment. All third- and fourth-year doctoral students are expected to make a presentation at least once a year in one of the PhD Seminars or Workshops (AEC 510, CIS 52123, MKT 501, OMG 52123, STR 501). Third-year students generally present either their Second-year Paper or other ideas for a thesis. Fourth-year students are expected to present material from their thesis research. These seminars/workshops provide students with the opportunity to obtain feedback from their peers and faculty.

Distribution Requirement

As mentioned above, the market for academic researchers is highly specialized. Our PhD Program is sensitive to this need for specialization. To maintain a degree of comprehensive, balanced training in all of our doctoral graduates, however, we include a Distribution Requirement in the Simon School’s program. Students must take a total of three courses (3 credit hours each) in three fields other than and unrelated to those selected as the major and minor. APS 511, 514 and 515 will not count for the purpose of this requirement.

Prior to the fall of their third year, all students who major in Accounting or Finance must take at least one course from Computers and Information Systems, Operations, or Marketing. Correspondingly, all students majoring in CIS, MKT or OMG must take at least one course in Accounting or Finance. The Distribution Requirement should be satisfied by the end of the third year. For students with prior graduate training, the requirement may be reduced at the discretion of the PhD committee chair.

Courses selected for distribution requirements must be pre-approved by the PhD program chair.

The Fourth Year: Dissertation

In an effort to encourage creativity and cross-disciplinary thinking, we have no formal rules regarding appropriate thesis topics. Recent areas of research interest of some faculty and PhD students are included in the Field Descriptions.

Thesis Proposal Seminar

An important milestone in thesis preparation comes when students give a Thesis Proposal Seminar. This occurs only after a committee, made up of the student's advisor and two other faculty members, agrees that a suitable topic has been chosen and that a substantial amount of work on the order of 35 to 50 percent of total research to be conducted has been completed. Students typically have their problems well structured, present at least partial solutions to them and, when appropriate, discuss preliminary empirical results.

The primary purpose of the Thesis Proposal Seminar is to allow all interested faculty to judge the merits of the proposed topic and the approach students plan to use. The seminar can also provide students with an opportunity to receive helpful suggestions from faculty and other graduate students. They also provide first- and second-year students with very useful experience. By attending such seminars, and hearing accompanying faculty discussion, students learn first-hand a portion of what is involved in writing a dissertation.

A proposal seminar must be given by the end of the fourth year in the program. If a student fails a proposal, a retake may be permitted.

Thesis Contract

One attractive feature of the Thesis Proposal Seminar is that it provides students with a Thesis Contract. This contract details what must be done in order to complete the thesis. In writing this contract, faculty invest significant resources and are required to think carefully about how a student's research can best be brought to fruition.

Thesis Defense

The majority of our students propose a thesis, go on the job market and begin work, and then return shortly thereafter to present a seminar for faculty and students in which they defend their completed dissertation. The thesis committee and a Reader and Chair from outside the Simon School question the presenter and request any necessary corrections. A vote is then taken by the participating faculty in a closed session on the merits of the thesis. The result is communicated to the student, and a recommendation for the thesis acceptance by the University Council on Graduate Studies and by the Trustees of the University is made. Upon the vote of the trustees, candidates are granted the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration.