Committee Meetings

In graduate school, your committee decides your fate. They are the ones you have to please to pass your orals and your defence so picking the right members can be important. Your PI will have ideas on who should be on your committee, the problem usually is that you need to hold your first committee meeting (the program of study meeting) by the end of your first year. This is a challenge because it is difficult to get 5 professors in a room at the same time, so get on it quick and be organized and respectful when contacting them for meeting times. Some professors like things like doodle polls, some prefer to have a small selection of date and times to pick from, and some will ignore your emails all together so you need to go talk to them in person. Though this is difficult, you only need to organize these meetings a handful of times over four or five years.

The program of study meeting is the first meeting of your committee and it is when you give a short presentation on your research topics, and you cover what classes you have taken and will take. Then the committee members sign off on your paperwork if they approve of your course selection and you can submit it to the graduate school. This also officially selects who is on your committee at this time (it is possible to change committee members later on, but it requires more paperwork).

The second committee meeting is usually your orals, where you present your current research progress, possibly also present a new research proposal, and then your committee will grill you on everything, from your research to basic concepts that you learned the first year of undergrad. This is a stressful time, but few graduate students that prepare for this fail. Also if you fail, you are typically asked to present again within 6 months so you are not instantly kicked out of the program.

The final, and most stressful, meeting is your defence. This meeting is the deciding factor on whether or not you get your PhD. You will give an hour long presentation that is open to the public that is followed by a short Q&A session. Then there is a break for the public the leave and then it is just you and your committee. Like the orals, your committee will grill you on pretty much anything that you have taken a class on or should know about for your respective field. You can be so nervous that you can trip up on basic general science questions like "What is Gibbs free energy?" Once they are done grilling you, you leave the room and your committee decides whether you passed or not. If you fail your defence, it is not an instant out, you are typically asked to present again at a later time. Once they are done deliberating, you are called back into the room and they tell you the verdict. Whether you passed or failed, do not expect to get any more work done for the rest of the day and the day after.

Committee meetings are a necessary part of graduate school. They start off simple and basic, but as your research evolves your meetings will get more challenging. Passing your defence is the ultimate adrenaline rush for a graduate student because it means those years of hard work paid off. Always remember to have friends that will celebrate with you when you succeed in anything, and help you feel better when you fail at times.