Graduate Student Handbook
Chapter 5
Registration Requirements
The Department conducts mass preregistration for graduate students twice during the academic year - once in the Fall semester for Spring semester courses and once in the Spring semester for Summer and Fall semester courses. All students in the program are notified in advance about the times and locations of the preregistration sessions, and are expected to attend. Students should consult their Advisor about the proposed course work prior to attending the mass preregistration session with the GPD. All financially supported students are required to preregister in order to maintain their financial assistantship status. The Unfunded Tuition Scholarship (tuition waiver) forms for GTA's and GRA's are issued based on this mass preregistration process.
It is the student's responsibility to ensure that he or she has the valid prerequisites or co-requisites before they register for a graduate-level course in the Department. While minimum course work requirements are given in the preceding sections, it is anticipated that graduate students should take advantage of their stay at ODU by taking as many courses as possible. By so doing, these students will broaden their academic background and further strengthen their area of concentration. Ph.D. students in particular will be strongly encouraged to take additional course work beyond that required for their program of study. All financially supported students of the Department are required to register for the one-credit-hour seminar course (AE 690) during the Fall and Spring semesters.
Students should note that University definitions of full-time status for Master's and Doctoral GRA students may not meet the credit-hour requirement for full-time status by some lending agencies for the student loan deferments. Students should consult with the Office of Financial Aid for clarification.
5.1. Master's Students
All financially supported Master's students register for a minimum of seven credit hours, including a one-credit-hour graduate seminar course. Preferably these students enroll in two or three courses each semester early in their program until their course work is nearly completed. Research credits should be used in the latter part of their tenure at ODU or during the summer. Student's receiving a University Tuition Grant must register for at least nine credit hours during the semesters the Tuition Grant is used and for at least six credit hours if used during the summer session.
5.2. Doctoral Students
Financially supported doctoral students must register for a minimum of 10 credit hours including a one-credit-hour graduate seminar course. During their first semester, Ph.D. students generally take the Preliminary Diagnostic Examination (see Section 6.5) and a program of study is developed.
Financially supported doctoral students in their first semester register for at least 10 credit hours, including a one-credit-hour graduate seminar course. During the early part of their program, students should take at least two courses for grade, three credit hours of research and the seminar course. It is strongly encouraged that students take three courses each semester during this part of their program.
Prior to taking the Candidacy Qualifying Exam, Ph.D. students should be focusing on completing course work, completing the research skill requirement (see Section 4.2.5), and identifying the dissertation topic (literature review, basic formulation, objectives/scope, preliminary results). The Department generally does not endorse taking more than six credit hours of research per semester, until after the Candidacy Qualifying Exam has been passed. After passing the Candidacy Qualifying Exam, Ph.D. students should continue to take additional course work, at least under the audit grade option.
Tuition waivers (or UTS funds) will be provided to cover all course work requirements (minimum of 8 courses) and up to 24 credit hours of research. Tuition waivers for course and research hours beyond those required need the approval of the Chair. However, students need to be enrolled full-time (at least 10 credit hours) for the Fall and Spring semesters and at least 6 credit hours for the Summer to receive financial aid. Distributing course work and research hours throughout the program of study is needed. Tuition waivers for courses taken for grade beyond those on the program of study will be considered by the Chair. Written request should be submitted to the Chair prior to the mass preregistration dates.