PLEASE NOTE: Graduate students in APS are admitted directly into the Ph.D. program. Master's Degrees can be awarded to students who have completed Comps.

A student must pass Comps at the Master’s level in order to receive a Master’s degree. It is possible to pass Comps at the Master’s level but not advance to candidacy. It is not possible to receive a Master’s by completing the required coursework but not passing the comprehensive exam at the Master’s level.   

Take a look at the APS Comprehensive Examination Guidelines for more detailed information. 

comps exams

Graduation requirements are governed by policies of both the Department of APS and the University of Colorado Graduate School. The basic requirements for attaining a Master's degree are:

  • Complete within 4 years.
  • Complete 30 hours of course work with at least a B– in each class by the end of a student’s fourth year in the program
  • Retain a minimum GPA of 3.0.
  • Complete the Comps Exam. 

Prepare for Comps:

The APS department only recognizes Plan II because the Comprehensive Examination presentation is also an oral exam (note that a Comprehensive Exam paper is not a “Master’s Thesis”). The Comprehensive Exam serves as both the exam to advance to doctoral candidacy as well as the final exam to earn a Master's degree.

Applying for PhD Candidacy post-comps 

Within two weeks of passing the comprehensive exam, students must submit the candidacy application. When the student’s candidacy application has been approved by the Graduate School, their status is changed to D in CU-SIS for the semester following that in which they passed the comprehensive exam. 

  1. Submit a Candidacy Application for an Advanced Degree form and select PhD: https://www.colorado.edu/graduateschool/academics/forms-current-students.
  2. Major: Astrophysical & Planetary Sci
  3. Status: Active
  4. Plan Code: ASPS-PHD
  5. Do not select anything from the ‘select one if applicable’ section.