The results are in and I have passed all my sections of the robotics PhD qualifying exam. After months of studying with an awesome group of fellow robotics PhD students I have made it through the first big hurdle in the robotics PhD program… QUALS… and a glimmer of light peeks through at the end of the tunnel.
Robotics PhD students at Georgia Tech take the qualifying exam at the end of their second year in the program. Each student in the program most chose to specialize in three robotics areas. The areas to choose from are: Controls, Artificial Intelligence, Mechanics, Perception, and Human Robot Interaction. During the first two years the students take core graduate classes in these areas. Then take a comprehensive exam in the areas that they have chosen… aka “quals”. The quals consist of a 4 hour written exam and 1.5 hour oral exam. If the student fails to show proficiency in all three sections the student is allowed one retake the following year.
Luckily (well mostly hard work) for me no retakes necessary!