Degree Completion Frequently Asked Questions
The Graduate School publishes the online Graduate Catalog which contains information about policies, procedures, and courses pertaining to graduate education at Virginia Tech. It describes all of the graduate programs and requirements, and it lists faculty for each department. The Graduate Catalog also contains the Constitution of the Graduate Honor System.
If you have completed all of the requirements for your undergraduate degree, you should complete a dual to regular master's form.
If you stay in the same graduate program, you may use a change of degree level request form. If you are changing graduate programs, you should contact the graduate committee chairman of the new department to determine what information they will require to consider your admission and then complete the online application.
No, you will not need to request "leave" in order to leave for the summer. However, if you have an assistantship that requires that you work during the summer, you will need to discuss your plans with your department.
The forms used by the Graduate School can be downloaded and filled out.
The plan of study is essentially a contract between the student and their advisory committee detailing the courses the student will take to complete degree requirements. It protects both the integrity of the graduate program and the student because it can only be changed with the mutual consent of the student and the committee. See the Graduate Catalog for specific details.
Students who were unable to schedule an examination time with their committee during the last term they were enrolled and who have completed all requirements for the degree, including preparation and having the final copy of their thesis or dissertation reviewed by the advisory committee, are eligible for Start of Semester Defense Exception. You can download a Start of Semester Defense Exception form.
The examination must take place in the first five weeks of the succeeding academic term. If the thesis or dissertation is still in review or the student is still gathering or analyzing data, he or she is not eligible for Start of Semester Defense Exception and should be enrolled for three hours in order to defend later in the semester.
You should contact your advisor and attempt to find a faculty member who can serve as a replacement. After a replacement has been found, you must submit a Change of Committee/Advisor Request to the Graduate School.
Students who have successfully passed their defense, and whose committee members documented their approval of the defense by the Graduate School's deadline, may participate in the doctoral commencement ceremony even if their finalized ETD has not yet been reviewed and approved by the Graduate School.
Students sometimes make mistakes and find their original program is not what they thought it was going to be. Changing programs requires approval from the Graduate Dean and both the former department and the new department. Students should not enter the university with the intent of using admission to one program as a stepping-stone for transferring to another graduate program. Change of Program Form.
