• PBMM students are encouraged to qualify by October/November of their third year.  
• The Qualifying Exam consists of a written grant proposaland an oral presentation.  Both the written proposal and oral presentation should be given to the student's Dissertation Advisory Committee, and any other faculty members the committee recommends.  
• More information regarding selection of a mentor and the qualifying exam may be found in the GBS Student Handbook, pages 34-37.  Please note, however, that for the Qualifying Exam, PBMM will use the following format for written proposals:  NIH R01 format (one page for Specific Aims; 12 pages for Research Strategy; and a Literature Cited section). 
• Students are encouraged to read the relevant portions of both the GBS Student Handbook and the UAB Graduate Student Handbook regarding qualifying exams.  
• Once a student has successfully completed the qualifying exam, his/her committee must recommend the student for candidacy to the UAB Graduate School, using the Admission to Candidacy form below.  
• Once the student has been admitted to candidacy, he/she may register for GBS 799:  Dissertation Research Hours the following semester.  
• A student must be admitted to candidacy for one year before he/she may defend.  

Qualifying Exam Information (from PBMM website)

Admission to Candidacy Form