Doctoral Oral Exam Calendar
General information
Oral exams are ordinarily held in the Music Graduate Office (JS120). They will generally take place on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday beginning at 3:30 pm and usually ending between 5:00 and 5:30 pm. In spring 2025, oral exams will take place on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. No orals are given during the first week of classes or during exam week.
Exceptionally, students may petition, after consulting with their committee and the Director of Graduate Studies, to have oral exams administered online using Zoom.
Oral examinations are possible during the main JSoM summer session if the members of the advisory committee are teaching in the summer or voluntarily offer to participate.
Oral exam dates are opened up as the semester progresses (every two weeks, two additional weeks of new dates are available). Dates later in the semester are not available until earlier dates are filled to ensure enough opportunities for students to schedule their oral exam.
To schedule an oral exam
To schedule you must have been notified by the Music Graduate Office that you are eligible to schedule your oral exam. In general you must have passed all written exams. Click here for details on the qualifying exam process.
Once you are eligible to schedule, review available dates on the calendar below. When you find an available date which you would like to schedule, email the Doctoral Clerk (musdoc [at] iu [dot] edu) to request that date. If you would like to schedule by phone, please call the Music Graduate Office at 855-1739. If you would like to talk to the Doctoral Clerk in person, she will generally be in the Music Graduate Office Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to noon.
Once you have reserved a tentative date, you have one week to confirm that tentative date with the members of your Advisory Committee. If you are able to confirm with all members of your committee, contact the Music Graduate office and we will officially schedule you. If your entire committee is not available for your reserved date, please contact the Doctoral Clerk to find a new tentative date. All of the members of your Advisory Committee must be present in person at the oral exam except for minor field representatives who have waived participation in the oral exam.
Current calendars
These online calendars are kept as up-to-date as possible, but please keep in mind that a date you request might have been requested by another student by the time you contact the Graduate Office.
If a date on the calendar says "OPEN Oral Exam Date," then that date is currently available for reservations.
If the date on the calendar says "Busy," then that time has already been reserved for another student, and is not available.
If the date on the calendar says "TENTATIVE Reservation," then that date has been reserved for up to one week while the student checks on faculty availability. If a student is not able to confirm the availability of their committee within one week, the date opens up and another student may reserve it. As such, dates listed as "TENTATIVE" may be available for scheduling in the future, but not necessarily.
When you find a date you would like to reserve, email the Doctoral Clerk (musdoc [at] iu [dot] edu) to request the date.
Dates shown as "Oral Exam Date - not available yet" are not yet available for scheduling. New calendar dates are opened on a regular schedule throughout the semester.