Summary of Graduate School Rules and Regulations

This is a summary of some of the important rules and regulations of the Graduate School that are applicable to Political Science students. Students should consult with the Graduate School's online Policies and Procedures (http://www.temple.edu/grad/policies/gradpolicies for a more complete statement of these rules as well as for others.

0nly 9 semester hours. of non-matriculated courses can be applied to a graduate degree.

Except by permission of the Graduate Dean, no graduate student who has two or more Incomplete grades, of which one is at least one year old, may register until the total number of Incompletes has been reduced to no more than one..

Students may fail out of the program if they receive two grades of B- or lower (*this is a department and graduate school rule).

Before taking Ph.D. Qualifying exams, students must remove all grades of incompletes. All grades of incomplete are converted to default grades designated by the instructor after one year has elapsed.

Ph.D. qualifying exams cannot be taken more than twice.

Students writing dissertations must maintain continuous enrollment, or request a leave of absence.

A student who does not receive her or his doctoral degree within five years of passing the qualfying examination may be required to take and pass that examination to remain in good academic standing.

At least 6 semester hours of dissertation supervision credits (at least three 6 semester hours of PS9999 dissertation preparation) must be taken during and after the semester in which candidacy is approved.

A doctoral defense must be announced publicly at least ten days in advance. Notice must be sent to all faculty members in the department and to the Graduate School. The announcement of the defense should include an abstract of the dissertation. The defense may not be scheduled until at least two dissertation committee members have indicated in writing that it is ready for defense.

If a dissertation is approved but revisions are required, the revisions must be submitted to the Graduate School in final form within four weeks of the defense. Otherwise, the defense is nullified and a new oral defense must be scheduled.

Students who are not registered for courses must request a leave of absence in advance.

Doctoral programs must be completed within seven years. M.A. programs have a three year limit. Students approaching the time limit MUST request an extension. Applications for an extension must include a clear timetable for completion of the degree.

If a student is dropped from a program because the time limit was exceeded and the student has failed to get a leave of absence or an extension, it may be virtually impossible to get reinstated.

When an incoming student applies to transfer the credits of graduate work taken elsewhere, the credits must have been earned less than five years prior to matriculation at Temple. Transfer credit is not given for grades of B- or lower, and B's and B+'s may constitute no more than one-third of the total transferred credit. The credits must, of course, be relevant to the student's course of study.

Most requests require the completion of a form for processing. (e,g,. leave of absence, application for transfer credits or an extension, etc.) These forms are found on the Graduate School website or can be obtained from the Graduate Secretary. The Graduate Chair as well as the Graduate School and Dean's Office can provide more detailed interpretation of the rules and how they are implemented at: Phone: 215.204.1380 Website: http://www.temple.edu/grad/policies/gradpolicies/htm