During the summer following the student’s first year of study, the DGS will collect and review course feedback reports and grades from the instructors who taught the student during the fall and spring terms of their first year. Before registration for the third semester, the DGS will meet with students entering the second year of study in order to discuss their progress in the graduate program and to ensure that the student has met the academic requirements for courses during the first year, which is to obtain at least two grades of Honors in graduate courses taught by core faculty in French. The purpose of this meeting is to give the DGS and each student an opportunity to communicate clearly about the student’s progress, and to reflect and problem solve as appropriate.
Before the final date of registration for the fifth term, or as soon thereafter as the record of required courses is complete, the graduate faculty will reflect together on evaluations and grades that each student has received during their first two years of coursework in order to ensure that each student has shown evidence that they are able to proceed toward successfully completing the subsequent requirements for the PhD. By this point, a student must have obtained four grades of Honors in graduate courses, of which at least two must be in French department courses.
This assures the student that they are prepared for next step toward the PhD, which is to complete the Oral Qualifying Examination.