Physics Department, Princeton University

When you have written your thesis and are ready to defend, there are several steps to be followed. You need to allow one full month between the time you have a finished draft in hand the date of your FPO. Most importantly, it is necessary to speak with the Graduate Administrator (Jadwin 210) for a description of the complete process.

First, the advisor and a second reader must prepare reader's reports. This cannot be done at the last minute: Faculty generally prefer to receive the thesis one to two weeks before you go on deposit in order to read it thoroughly.

Second, you must choose an FPO committee and arrange a date for your FPO.  The guidelines for who should serve on your FPO committee are explained below.

The next steps toward going on deposit are to bring the following documents to the Graduate Administrator, in hardcopy form:

• The title and abstract pages of your thesis.
• The thesis itself, double-sided, including all figures, in a three-ring binder.
• The Prior Presentation and Publication Form, signed by your advisor.
• The two reader's reports, signed by the readers.

At the same time, you must e-mail the Graduate Administrator a complete PDF version of the thesis (the same version that you submitted in hardcopy), which will be posted on the department website.

The next step is to generate your degree application through SCORE.  When completed, this application is automatically sent to the Graduate Administrator.  The Graduate Administrator must receive your degree application from SCORE 16 days prior to the date of your FPO. The Graduate Administrator then works with the Director of Graduate Studies and the Graduate School to secure approval for your FPO.  You are not officially on deposit until the Graduate Administrator has processed your degree application.  Your FPO date must be at least 14 days after the day you are officially on deposit.

The Mudd Library website includes information on formatting your thesis.  The Graduate School supplies a PhD defense checklist which you should consult; however, note that the departmental deadline for receipt of your degree application is two days earlier than the Graduate School's deadline; this is because up to two days are needed for departmental review before your approved application is forwarded to the Graduate School.

The rest of this page provides further details on the end-of-degree process.

To generate your degree application on SCORE, please follow these steps:

• Creat a new application.  Access to the new application is via SCORE, using your regular Princeton I.D. and password.
• You enter as much information as you can about your dissertation and FPO directly into the new application.
• You upload required documents, such as your Abstract, Title page, etc.
• The site will link you directly to the Graduate School's Exit Survey and the NRC's Survey of Earned Doctorates.
• Once you are finished you will click submit and your application will be sent to the department for approval.
  

Here are the guidelines to be followed in assembling an FPO committee.

• A minimum of 3 faculty members who are at least at the rank of assistant professor at Princeton, two of whom have not been readers.
• Theorists must have an experimentalist on the committee;
• Experimentalists must have a theorist on the committee.
• Both theorists and experimentalists must have a committee member who is not in their area of physics.
• Both of these requirements may be the same person.

You will have two weeks after your FPO to submit your thesis to Mudd Library.  You will also need to bring the Final Public Oral Examination Report Form signed by your advisor with a bound copy of your thesis. A signature from the Mudd Librarian will need to be obtained as well.

For Mudd Library's submission policy please refer to: http://www.princeton.edu/~mudd/thesis/index.shtml

The signed copy of the Final Public Oral Report form will then need to be taken to 111 Clio Hall.

Upon submitting your final version of your thesis to the Seely Mudd Library, you must also submit a final electronic copy to the Graduate Administrator to be posted on the Physics website.  If you do not submit the final version of your thesis to the Graduate Administrator promptly, your thesis will not be posted on the website.

The final step you must complete is the submission of the End of Enrollment Form. This form only needs to be filled out if you are currently still enrolled.  The form should be submitted within one week of the termniation date indicated on the form.  You will also have to provide the Graduate Administrator with your future contact information.  This is for departmental use only.

The bindary is Smith-Shattuck Bookbinding. They are located at 759 State Road in Princeton. Telephone: (609) 497-1445

In order to participate in Graduation in June 2013, you must successfully complete your FPO and submit your thesis to Mudd Library on or before May 7, 2013.  

Therefore, the Graduate Administrator must receive your degree application on or before Friday, April 19 (and prior to that your title and abstract pages, your dissertation, your Prior Presentation and Publication Form, and your reader's reports, the last two items signed as indicated above).  

Note that binding takes time, so to stay on schedule after submitting your degree application on April 19, you must have one bound copy of your thesis in hand on the day of your FPO.