• Welcome
• Areas of Study
• Prospective Students
• Current Students
• Funding
• Requirements
  • Language Requirements
  • Qualifying Exams
• Forms
• NU Graduate School

Qualifying Exams

Flexibility, comprehensiveness, and breadth are the goals of the general field exams.  Except for the general questions on the study of religion exam, which are written by a common committee, the student’s examination committee, chaired by his or her adviser, determines the optimal format for the student’s examinations and writes the examination questions. There are four examinations:

• One four-hour, written examination in the study of religion—first week of fall quarter.  The examination in the study of religion is based largely on the reading in the common theoretical courses and the summer reading list sent to all students upon matriculation, with some emphasis on readings that address each student’s particular theoretical and methodological concerns. Readings for this latter section will be worked out with the adviser.  A student in East Asian Buddhism, for example, might be examined both in the history of the study of religion broadly and in the making of Buddhism as an object of inquiry and practice.
• Two examinations in the student’s general field, at least one of which must be written, and one of which may be given by another department--one each in reading week of fall and winter quarters. The reading lists for these examinations are based on general reading lists in the field, supplemented or adjusted according to the needs and interests of the student.  The lists are worked out with the appropriate mentors (the adviser, or the adviser and an extra-departmental mentor).

Students following the double-major model must take one examination that is administered by their second department, following its normal procedures.  The adviser consults with the pertinent faculty in the affiliated department to ensure that this examination approximates a Religion field examination as much as possible in its expectations and standards, if not in its format.  When the affiliated department has no basic qualifying examination, the adviser, with assistance from the DGS, organizes and administers the external exam with assistance from the affiliated department.

• One oral examination in the student’s special field, which includes presentation and discussion of the first draft of the dissertation prospectus—reading week of spring quarter.  It scheduled by the GPA and attended by the student’s adviser, a second Religion faculty member, and either a faculty mentor from another department or a third Religion faculty member, as is appropriate to the student’s program.  The exam lasts approximately two hours, after which the student leaves the room and the faculty determines whether the result is a pass, a conditional pass, or a failure. 

Dissertation Prospectus

Students must submit initial drafts of their dissertation prospectuses to their dissertation committees by the end of the eighth week of the spring quarter of the third year and should present some version of this initial proposal in the graduate colloquium during the third or fourth year.

The revised dissertation proposal must be approved by the third week of the fall quarter of the fourth year.  All departmental and Graduate School requirements for candidacy must be completed before the final proposal can be considered.