In most cases, a student's POSC form is approved during the first POS committee meeting. Approval of the POS must be obtained before the end of the first semester of the student’s second year (Ph.D.) or before the end of the first year (M.S.)
At least one week prior to the scheduled POS committee meeting, students should prepare the following documents:
- Proposed POSC form
- Description of Proposed Research
The Description of Proposed Research should be concise (usually 2-3 pages) and summarize the major objectives of the research project and planned approaches to achieve these objectives. Because the POS must be approved soon after the student has chosen a major professor, the research description is expected to be preliminary; it is understood that the student's plans may change as the research progresses. The written proposal should be viewed as a tool to help the student plan the dissertation or thesis research and to aid the POS committee members in evaluating whether the proposed POS coursework is appropriate. The Description of Proposed Research should be emailed to the committee members one week prior to the first meeting.
Students should be prepared to make a brief oral presentation at the first POS committee meeting. Typically, the student describes his or her academic background (undergraduate institution, previous degrees, research experience, research interests, career goals) during the first few minutes of the meeting. The student then briefly summarizes the proposed research and solicits input from committee members.