Admission to the Graduate School does not imply admission to candidacy for the PhD degree.  In order to be advanced to candidacy for the PhD degree, a student must have previously been admitted to the Graduate School, have completed approximately half the number of hours in the degree program, and passed the comprehensive examination. For the master’s degree, however, the comprehensive examination can be used either to advance students to candidacy for the PhD or to measure terminal learning outcomes at or near the completion of the program of study.