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When you have established a day and time for your final oral, schedule a room through EDP. Final orals cannot be held after noon on Fridays without without prior approval of the EDP Department Chair.   Final orals must be held on the UT-Austin campus during regular business hours.  Exceptions Exceptions must be approved by the Dean of Graduate Studies.

At least 4 committee members (including your dissertation supervisor) must participate in your Final Oral. Read carefully the Graduate School’s rules about committee member attendance at your final oral. The Graduate School no longer distinguishes between physical attendance or virtual/electronic attendance. However, if you are defending in person, EDP requires that you and your dissertation supervisor both be in the same room. If any of your committee members cannot attend your final oral either in person or remotely, put them on Page 2 of the Request for Final Oral form. 

Note regarding fully virtual defenses: as of Spring 2025, the Graduate School requires a room on campus be booked and available for in-person attendees for all dissertation defenses, even if fully virtual, to comply with the public attendance requirement for dissertation defenses. If your defense is planned to be fully virtual, please contact the EDP Graduate Coordinator regarding room reservation/technology.

Final Oral Results

Dissertation defense meetings generally go well (i.e., a unanimous vote to pass the student). Some revisions of the document are almost always requested.  Be sure to leave time to complete these before the deadline to upload your dissertation and turn in all necessary paperwork to the Graduate School (3:00 p.m. the last day of class). 

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