What are we even doing here? Reminders and reconsiderations on the point of qualifying exams

Thomas M. Menino Convention & Exhibition Center 

A growing and diverse pipeline is bringing students into biostatistics Ph.D. programs from many different backgrounds, training experiences, and scientific interests. It is only natural that such expansion of discipline and student diversity should be accompanied by continued reconsideration of education and training, and recent experience points to qualifying exams (QEs) as warranting attention. But QEs are just one strand in a complicated web of student pipeline, admissions processes, curriculum, and departmental priorities, and as such cannot be considered in isolation. This talk defends the maintenance of QEs - even traditional, timed, written exams - but looks to address their evolving place in biostatistical training by reconsidering how the goals of the QE can be appropriately situated within the broader training process to maintain departmental standards while maximizing student success. In particular, I advocate that we elevate considerations of what we hope students to gain from the QE process to receive at least equal weight alongside considerations of what we are trying to evaluate through rigorous examination.