Graduate Study Manual

Satisfactory Academic Progress

The Department requires all students to make satisfactory academic progress in their graduate studies. The most important criteria for gauging satisfactory academic progress are stated in the section titled General Requirements Applying to All Students and require students to earn at least 8 hours of credit each semester and 16 hours each calendar year, and to maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0. In any academic term, credit is not earned in ECE 599 unless the thesis is completed and submitted to the Head of the Department no later than the tenth day of instruction of the following term. Students in the third stage of the Ph.D. program have completed their course requirements and are not required to earn additional hours to satisfy this credit requirement. Repeated failure to meet these requirements is cause for dismissal from the ECE Graduate Program.

The following additional criteria for satisfactory academic progress apply to all fellows and assistants:

  1. M.S. students are encouraged to submit the Thesis Adviser Agreement before the end of the first semester in residence and, in any case, must submit the Agreement before the end of the second semester in residence.
  2. At least one of the 500-level ECE courses required in the M.S. degree program must be completed by the end of the second semester in residence.
  3. A student who enters with a Bachelor's degree and wishes to pursue a Ph.D. degree must satisfy the necessary requirements and take the Qualifying Examination no later than the fourth semester in residence. A student who enters with a Master's degree must satisfy the necessary requirements and take the Qualifying Examination no later than the third semester in residence.
  4. A Ph.D. candidate must take the Preliminary Examination no later than two calendar years after the date of admission to Ph.D. candidacy.

Students who fail to meet the progress requirements stated above may have their appointments and awards reduced or terminated. In extreme cases, students may be dismissed from the ECE Graduate Program.