Part II: The MPhil Degree

We expect that all students will complete the MPhil examinations and successfully defend their dissertation proposal by the end of the third year, although in some cases advisors and students may determine that it should be held in the summer between third and fourth year. This schedule allows each student to have two fully-funded dissertation research and writing years.

Field-specific competencies, including languages, methods, and other areas of expertise required for successful progression toward the MPhil degree and dissertation may be found here.

Spring term of second year: Students meet with their faculty advisor to review procedures and purposes of the examination and begin drafting reading lists.

September of third year: Students meet with advisors to finalize the examination lists and the structure of the written component, select and communicate with the examination committee, and set a benchmark date/month for the oral examination in the spring. Advisors confirm with the Director of Graduate Studies that the list and examination structure has been decided.

Fall and winter of third year: Preparation for the examination. 

Spring term of third year: Written and oral examinations usually take place in in March. Ideally, the dissertation proposal defense will follow in May. Note: GSAS policy requires that the dissertation proposal defense occur within six months of the MPhil examination for a student to remain in good standing.

Reading lists for the examination consist of a selection of monographs and major essays or articles that represent the students’ breadth and depth of interest in a particular field or fields. They are not meant to be cumulative of the study that the candidate has undertaken prior to the examination. Rather, lists are developed in consultation with a student's advisor(s) for the purposes of the examination. 

In many respects, preparation for the MPhil examination begins in the first semester of the doctoral program, as students take courses and/or independent reading courses and begin to focus on and strengthen their knowledge in their chosen fields, as well as in theory and methods, zone areas, and related disciplines. This broad and deep range of reading and coursework supports and feeds into the development of examination reading lists finalized by the beginning of the third year.

The MPhil reading lists will include a balance of texts already mastered and new areas of inquiry, so that students, in preparing for the examinations, expand their knowledge base, explore new materials, and strengthen and deepen their familiarity with materials previously studied through both independent reading and regular courses. 

Students develop their lists in consultation with their advisor and faculty members who will serve on their examination committee. The MPhil examination is typically composed of three parts, each with its own reading list, as described below, although some students or advisors may wish to depart from this structure as the student’s interests and developing expertise warrant. Examination lists will not exceed 150 titles total, regardless of the structure of the lists and written exam. 

A typical three-part examination list will include (a) a primary field examination (or survey) that is intended to set a broad context for dissertation research and teaching in the student’s primary area of scholarship and teaching (50-75 titles), and (b) second and third examinations focused on specialized areas of interest that may encompass methodological and/or theoretical foci, research in particular topics, or be oriented around major questions or debates in the field (30-40 titles each).

The examination committee should be comprised of four Columbia faculty members, including the student’s advisor. One member must be a Religion Department member who is not in the candidate’s primary field. One or possibly two members may be from another Columbia Department.

Non-Columbia faculty members do not ordinarily participate in the MPhil examination.

The written components of the examinations can take different forms according to the needs of the student, with the general guideline that written components should enable students to display their understanding and mastery of the materials on their examination lists. What follows are possible formats that may serve as guidelines as faculty advisors and students determine the best format for the individual student.

Option 1: Open-book, four-hour written examinations or, alternately, essays of modest length (e.g. 9-11 double spaced pages) written over the course of a week (one essay per list). The written exams are taken within one seven-day period. The oral examination will be scheduled to take place within two weeks of the written exams. 

Option 2: One written examination may be replaced with a syllabus or syllabi, to be distributed to the committee no later than one week before the oral examination.

Option 3: One written examination may be replaced by a 20-30 page critical literature review, focused on an area and topic agreed upon by examiners and written over the course of four weeks, to be distributed to the committee no later than one week before the oral examination.

The oral examination itself is an important event. It is an opportunity for students to do several things: demonstrate some mastery of the field and related areas; give a sense of how they approach the field; articulate the primary animating questions; be an interlocutor with the questioners and with the authors they read; and show that they are ready to enter into the final stage of the PhD program, where they will be expected to undertake independent scholarship and become an active participant in the discipline. 

The committee assesses both the written and oral examination and awards one of three marks.  

Candidates receiving Pass who have fulfilled all other MPhil requirements are awarded the MPhil degree and proceed to the doctoral program.

Candidates receiving Fail are not awarded the MPhil and are not permitted to re-take the orals or advance to the doctoral program.

Candidates receiving Low Pass are eligible to receive the MPhil degree, but do not proceed to the doctoral program. Candidates receiving a Low Pass may petition the Director of Graduate Studies within one week if they want to re-take the written and oral examination; if granted approval, candidates must re-take the exam within one month of the first oral examination. A candidate who fails to score above a Low Pass on the second orals will not advance to the doctoral program.

The Theory and Method and Zone (TMZ) exams are taken during the first year of coursework for the PhD program but are part of the requirements for the MPhil Degree. For information about the TMZ exam please consult here.

Per GSAS Policy: As part of the academic requirements for conferral of the degree, all students in the thirty-one Arts and Sciences PhD programs must fulfill a one-year GSAS teaching requirement that must be completed in their first four years of residence (three years for students admitted with advanced standing) or before receipt of the MPhil degree, whichever should come first. Students are most often appointed as teaching assistants while they fulfill the requirement but may also be appointed as teaching fellows depending on the assignment. It is expected that students will fulfill the instructional requirement in consecutive semesters of an academic year; exceptions based on compelling academic or professional reasons must be approved by the Office of the Dean.

Students who receive GSAS multiyear fellowships must typically teach for two more years as a condition of their fellowship support, as indicated in their official letter of admission from the dean of the Graduate School.