To be formally admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree, the student must pass Parts I and II of the Ph.D. Qualifying Examination. The student must also submit a written research proposal and must defend it in an oral examination before a committee of at least four faculty members. This examination should follow Part II of the Ph.D. Qualifying Examination, and precede the thesis defense by at least six months. The research proposal should be prepared in consultation with the likely dissertation advisor. The next section discusses the choice of a dissertation advisor and how to get started on research at RUTCOR.