Academic and Departmental Probation, Termination, and Appeals

Enrollment & Graduation

Sort Policies

Academic and Departmental Probation, Termination, and Appeals

Probation In addition to dismissal for failure to meet the usual examination and grade requirements, departments and graduate-degree-granting area programs have the right to place a student on departmental probation. After at least 30 days of probation, the degree-granting program can dismiss any graduate student who is deemed to be making insufficient academic progress or whose

Choosing an Advisor

Doctoral A doctoral student selects an advisor or co-advisors by mutual consent from doctoral faculty members who are dissertation supervisors in the department or area program in which the major work is planned. Doctoral advisors must be members of the doctoral faculty. To determine whether a faculty member has doctoral faculty status, refer to the list of

Comprehensive Examination

The comprehensive examination consists of written and oral sections. It must be completed at least seven months before the final defense of the dissertation. The two sections of the examination must be completed within one month.

Doctoral Student Academic Progress

Doctoral Student Academic Progress A doctoral student must successfully complete the comprehensive examination within a period of five years beginning with the first semester of enrollment as a PhD student. In addition, the program for the doctoral degree must be completed within five years of passing the comprehensive examination. Individual departments or area programs may stipulate

Educational Specialist Process

ELPA, LTC and SISLT process Step 1: Advisor assignment Upon admission, the academic department will assign a faculty advisor to the student. Before registering for courses each semester or session, the student consults with the advisor to determine appropriate courses to fulfill program requirements. If an advisor is unable or unwilling to continue to serve

Forming a Doctoral or Thesis Program Committee

Every graduate student must form a faculty committee to oversee the process of thesis or dissertation completion. A thesis committee is composed of three members of the MU faculty: a major advisor from the academic program (i.e., department, unless it is an interdisciplinary program not housed in a department), a second reader from the academic

Freedom to Publish Thesis and Dissertation Research

Freedom to publish and share results are major criteria for assessing the appropriateness of any research project, particularly those involving graduate students. Consistent with the mission of the University of Missouri, the integrity of a student’s academic/research experience shall be preserved, including the ability to complete and publish a thesis or dissertation in a reasonable

Full- and Part-time Enrollment

Full-time enrollment for graduate students is defined as enrollment in 9 credit hours per semester in the fall and spring semesters and/or 4.5 hours in the summer session. Full-time enrollment for doctoral candidates (after successful completion of their comprehensive examinations) is 2 credit hours in the fall and spring semesters and/or 1 hour in the

Graduate Certificate Plan of Study

A Graduate Certificate Plan of Study form must be submitted to the Graduate School at least one term before the conferral of the certificate. Graduate School staff will update the plan of study form with grades from the student’s last term if necessary. The original form becomes part of the student’s official academic record. Note: If a

Graduate Student Progress

Satisfactory progress The progress of each graduate student is evaluated annually by the student’s advisor and/or director of graduate studies. The definition of satisfactory progress and procedures for its verification may vary among departments/programs. If a department/program has instituted guidelines that differ from those applying generally to graduate students, these guidelines should be made available to students

Master’s Degree Plan of Study

After performing satisfactorily for a minimum of one semester, the student completes the Plan of Study for the Master’s Degree (M1) form (or the Plan of Study for the Dual Master’s Degree (DM1) form if the student is enrolled in a dual master’s degree program) with the advisor’s assistance. The form is forwarded through the program’s director of graduate

Scheduling Exams

Exams (e.g., qualifying, comprehensive, thesis/dissertation defenses) are to be administered only when MU is officially in session. If an exam requires a written and oral section, both can only be administered during a regular semester session, i.e., the period between start and end date (including exam week) of Fall, Spring, and Summer sessions, excluding holidays