PhD candidate
Aspiring doctorate holder
A PhD candidate is a doctoral student who has completed coursework and preliminary examinations and is now working on their dissertation.
The distinction from "PhD student" matters in academia—candidacy marks advancement to the final research phase: She became a PhD candidate after passing her qualifying exams.
The term signals someone actively pursuing the highest academic degree but not yet holding it.
- dissertationExtended academic treatise
- thesisAcademic argument requiring defense
- literature reviewAnalysis of prior scholarship
- qualifying examTest determining eligibility to continue
- advisorOne who gives guidance
office hours · teaching assistant · research · academia · graduate · defense · scholar · lab · publish · tenure · postdoc · viva · committee · grant · university · coursework · citations · coffee
- academiaprofessors, universities, graduation cap, biology department, professor
- college lifefreshman, freshman year, sophomore, junior, classes
- scholarsscholar, professors, professor, researcher, researchers
- student statusenrolled, withdrawn, graduated, suspended, expelled
- school termsfreshman, sophomore, junior, senior, homework
- communicatorsspeaker, explainer, orator, presenter, announcer
PhD candidatetenured professor
Faculty with permanent appointment
full professor · emeritus professor · distinguished professor · professor · PhD holder
candidate, doctor, doctoral, doctorate, philosophies, philosophical, philosopher, candidacy, candidates