<p>How hard are they? Do most people pass them? Do they grill you or just want to make sure you know what you're talking about?</p>
<p>Totally dependent on where you are and what area you're in. Varies widely from university to university, department to department, and sometimes even within different groups in the same dept.</p>
<p>Some are brutal oral exams, some are brutal written exams, some both written and oral, some not so hard oral and/or written exams, some just look at your grades in the required phd classes.</p>
<p>jbusc is right. You'd have to ask about a specific area within a specific department within a specific school.</p>
<p>Hmmm ok. Guess I'll just study hard and do my best. Thanks. Anyone by chance know about Chemical Engineering at Penn State?</p>