Students should formulate a program of study in consultation with their assigned faculty advisor at the beginning of their program, during fall or spring orientation. Students should preselect courses whenever possible and plan to take them when offered, maintaining flexibility with alternate courses in mind. Courses other than the required courses are offered based on demand and are subject to faculty availability. Not all courses are offered every year; however, the graduate school will do everything possible to assure continuity of programs and permit students to make continuous progress toward earning their degrees.
Prerequisite Courses/Undergraduate Courses
Students are not awarded credit toward graduate degree requirements for prerequisite courses unless expressly stated by the student’s academic department. Students may occasionally be permitted by their advisor to take undergraduate courses. However, undergraduate courses do not count toward a graduate degree and may affect a student’s eligibility to receive federal financial aid. Undergraduate courses do not count toward the graduate-level course load requirement for full-time students.
Dissertation and Dissertation Continuation
Once program requirements are met for the PhD candidacy, PhD candidates must register for Dissertation Term 1 (XXXX 9990) and Dissertation Term 2 (XXXX 9991). Candidates must then register for Dissertation Continuation (XXXX 9996) in each subsequent semester (excluding the summer term) until the dissertation is complete and approved by the Graduate School of Engineering. Students completing their dissertation in the summer term must register for Dissertation Continuation. Dissertation and Dissertation Continuation confer full-time status.
MS Thesis Option
Master’s degree students who are completing a thesis must register for 4 semester hours of Master's Project (XXXX 7945) followed by 4 semester hours of Thesis (XXXX 7990) for a total of 8 semester hours. Students who have not completed their thesis but have already registered for the required number of thesis hours may register for Thesis Continuation in their last semester (including summer terms). There is a 1-semester-hour tuition charge for Thesis Continuation. Thesis Continuation may only be completed once.
Petitions
Petitions are required in all cases where a student is requesting a change or exception to their current program or student status for the Graduate School of Engineering to maintain a complete and accurate record for all students.