DrPH Qualifying Exam

When the majority of the student's coursework is satisfactorily completed, the student must pass a qualifying examination. The qualifying exam consists of a written Doctoral Project Plan, followed by an oral examination. Once their Doctoral Project Plan has been approved, the student will submit the Qualifying Examination Application in Archivum. The qualifying exam is not open to the public, no announcement will be sent. 

In order to qualify to take the exam, students must:

• Attain an overall and degree program GPA of 3.30 at USF at the of the exam
• Not have any "I" or "M" grades (this includes "IF" and "MF" grades)
• Be enrolled in a minimum of (2) credit hours during the semester in which the exam is taken.
• Complete Chapters 1-3 of the Doctoral Project
• Obtain approval from their doctoral committee
• Obtain approval from the DrPH Director (completed document must be sent at least 4 weeks prior to the exam date)

Written Part of the Qualifying Exam

The qualifying exam will consist of a written Doctoral Project Plan that describes the proposed doctoral project, followed by an oral examination that relates the content, approach, and deliverables of the project to the DrPH competencies in the student's concentration. The examination will be administered and evaluated by the student's doctoral project committee.

The student should begin working with their Major Professor early in the program to develop ideas for their doctoral project.  The student should then work with the Major Professor and other committee members as needed on completing the Doctoral Project Plan prior to submission for evaluation. The written Doctoral Project Plan must follow the guidelines described in the Doctoral Project Plan document below, and will be evaluated based on the Doctoral Project Plan Rubric found here.

Once approved by the Major Professor, the student will notify the committee members of intention to be examined on the Doctoral Project Plan and will schedule the oral examination with the committee members at a mutually agreeable time. The oral examination will take place via Microsoft Teams. The student must submit the final draft of the written Doctoral Project Plan to the committee members a minimum of two weeks prior to the scheduled oral examination. The student must submit the written Doctoral Project Plan to the DrPH Director a minimum of 4 weeks prior to the proposed start of the oral examination, for review and approval. Once the Doctoral Project Plan and Qualifying Exam form has been approved by all parties, the Office of Doctoral Training will send an meeting invite to the oral part of the exam

Oral Part of the Qualifying Exam

On the day of the oral part of the Qualifying Exam, students present their written Doctoral Project Plan:

• The Chair of the Doctoral Committee will introduce the student, (the Major Professor will serve as Chair).
• Student will conduct the oral presentation of the proposed Doctoral Project (not to exceed 35 minutes)
• First round of questions by committee members.
• Second round of questions by committee members.
• Final round of questions by committee if desired.

Following the qualifying exam, the committee members convene to make the final determination of the appropriateness of the doctoral project being proposed and to deliberate recommendations for changes.  The score sheet for the oral exam can be found here.

When a student passes the Qualifying Exam his/her committee may still require modifications to the Doctoral Project Plan at a later date. The committee must approve changes to the Doctoral Project if the student initiates them.

• The oral examination will consist of questions and clarification on the content, approach, and deliverables of the proposal, as well as questions on how the proposal demonstrates synthesis of competencies across the domains in the student's concentration. Typical questions for the concentration in Advanced Practice Leadership in Public Health could include:
• How does the proposed project engage the community? Explain how your content, approach, and deliverables are grounded in your knowledge of community engagement.
• How does the proposed project develop the leadership skills or management goals of yourself or others connected to your project? Explain how your content, approach, and deliverables are grounded in your knowledge of the development of leadership skills, and how organizations and systems are managed.
• How does the proposed project provide for the communication and education needed for transforming public health practice? Explain how your content, approach, and deliverables are grounded in your knowledge of communication and education in public health practice.
• How are the approach, procedures, and deliverables of your project evidence-based? Explain how your content, approach, and deliverables are grounded in research evidence and methodology, and/or in evidence-based program or policy evaluation or program delivery methods.

Doctoral Project Plan Description & Guidelines