These are general recommendations based on previous experience. Please consult up-to-date guidelines and regulations, and get in touch with the doctoral administration office as soon as possible for official information.
A recommended timeline to the doctoral exam is as follows:
- Credits. Get an informal confirmation from the D-INFK doctoral administration that your 12 credits conform to the requirements — ideally as soon as you have them, even if you are several months or years away from graduating. A formal confirmation will be issued when registering for the doctoral examination.
- Committee (3+ months before). Agree on an examination committee with your supervisor. The committee must be approved at the department conference (which only takes place 4 times a year), and a committee proposal must be submitted at least one week before the conference. At least one committee member must be "independent", i.e. a person you did not work with on any research papers; this member can be from ETH or external. For external members, collect their CV and put together a brief explanation (3–4 sentences) on why they are appropriate to serve on the committee.
- Date (8 weeks before). Find an exact date and time for the exam with your supervisor and co-examiners, and inform the doctoral administration office.
- Thesis (5–6 weeks before). Send the thesis to all members of the committee.
- Registration (12 days before). Finalize the registration at the latest 12 days before the exam.