AIM Oral Exams When a student passes the AIM Oral examination, they will be eligble to advance to candidacy. At this point the student can only take one course per semester and is expected to focus their energy mainly on research. Before a student can be considered to eligible to take the oral examination they must have: * Successfully completed at least nine of the required courses. * Passed two of the AIM preliminary exams within 13 months of entering the program * Successfully participated in the AIM student seminar for at least three semesters. In addition, before a student even considers taking the AIM oral exam they must have already chosen both co-advisers (one from the mathematics faculty and a faculty member from outside the mathematics department). The student should have good command of their partner field and the associated mathematical concepts. If this is the case, the next step for the student to write a thesis proposal which will contain a careful literature review, a well thought out proposal for the PhD dissertation, and possibly some preliminary results. The length of the thesis proposal will be determined by the student's thesis advisers. It most cases it will be between 10 and 30 pages. The student should then assemble a committee consisting of four faculty members, this must include the two thesis co-advisers and another member of the mathematics faculty. The other person can be a faculty member from any department on campus (including mathematics). The proposal should be submitted to the proposal committee and after they have had sufficient time to read it over, the student should schedule time to meet with the proposal committee. During this time the student will make a presentation of the requisite background material and the thesis proposal. This should last approximately 40 minutes (with no questions). Typically, the committee will ask many questions during the presentation and it may take as long as 90 minutes. Afterward the committee will ask more questions for time between 20-40 minutes. The student should expect questions broadly related to the partner discipline and the associated mathematics. The entire examination make take 2 hours. The student is responsible to find a room and time for the oral exam. The student should make it clear to the committee that the exam may last up to 2 hours. The decision on the oral exam will be made by the committee in attendence. Questions? If you have any questions about the AIM program or admission, please contact us at the following address or e-mail below. Please include "AIM PROGRAM" in the subject line of any e-mail inquiry. AIM Program Department of Mathematics University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1043 USA 734.615.3439 or 734.764.7436 E-mail: math-grad-admissions@umich.edu