Graduate Student Forms and Procedures

Forms can be found on the Registrar’s Website or the Graduate School’s Website. Please make sure to note deadlines on each website.

When sending forms to Degree Certification (degreecert@syr.edu), please make sure the subject line is formatted as [Your name] [Form you are sending]. Do NOT send forms to Kristina Ashley’s email.

Please double check with M’Tia Williams and CC her on emails when completing forms.

Registration, Tuition, and Auditing

Graduate students must be advised before registering, and should register as soon as possible thereafter. Decisions to cancel upper-level courses, when necessary, are based on enrollments. In addition, teaching assignments are based on registration figures. SU rules on adding and dropping courses, summarized on the teaching page, apply to graduate students as well.

Registration problems

  • In advance of registration, click View Holds on MySlice to make sure you can resolve them on time. The Registrar’s Holds page explains how to resolve them. It is common for graduate students to encounter DBT (no Degree-Bearing Transcript) hold when registering. To avoid this, request the official transcript from your undergraduate school to be sent to Graduate School admissions as soon as the degree is posted to the transcript.
  • If you cannot enroll in a class because it is full, Ms. Kelly Jarvi may be able to help.

Zero-credit registration

All graduate students holding a fellowship, assistantship, or a full-tuition scholarship in a given semester will be considered full-time students for that semester by virtue of their holding that award. There is no minimum number of credits for which they must register in order to attain full-time status; however, those not registering for credit-bearing courses or thesis/dissertation credits must register for GRD 998 (“degree in progress”) for zero credits.

You might want to register for zero credits if either (1) you are already at the total needed for your program, so have no tuition credits left, or (2) there are no courses offered in a given semester that you want to take. In this case you should register for GRD 998.

You could also register for MAT 999 (Dissertation Research) if you are engaged in your dissertation research with your advisor, but should not register for more than a total of 24 credits over the course of your studies here.

Using tuition credits

The Graduate School awards you tuition credit that supplements the Teaching Assistantship awarded by the Mathematics Department. For most Teaching Assistants with a full year assistantship, the tuition award is good for 24 credit hours of course work. If you are within 24 credits of the total needed for your program (currently 72), you will only be issued the number required to get to that total.

You should read your assistantship letter to determine the size of your credit hour award and any restriction on its use. Enrolling in more credits than you are issued can result in huge tuition bills. If there is a class you want/need to take for your program that would put you over the credits you are issued, you can request additional credits. The graduate director can help you write a petition to the Senior Associate Dean.

Credits can be used at the rate of 9 credit hours in each of the fall and spring semesters and 6 credit hours in the summer. (Caution: there are not usually very many graduate courses offered in the summer.)

  • If you wish to register for more than 9 credit hours of course work in either the fall or spring semester, you must petition to move credits between semesters. To do so, see M’Tia Williams as early as practical. If you do not do this by the financial deadline, you will be billed for the additional credits.
  • Credits cannot be moved from the past semesters.
  • Math Education students may be required to take a 4 credit class at some point. Please plan your tuition credits accordingly.

Awarded credits can also be used for courses outside the College of Arts and Sciences (e.g. an engineering class at ECS). However, you must speak with your advisor and the graduate director before registering for those courses to see if they are applicable to the degree and your research area.

Courses and tuition credits for summer

  • Once you have filed a diploma request on MySlice, you lose any tuition credits that remain after the listed graduation date. For example, if you plan to take a summer course (or courses) and do not wish to pay the tuition for them yourself, do not list a graduation date that is before the end of the session in which the course is offered.
  • Although teaching in summer gives you extra salary, it does not give you any additional tuition credits.

Special circumstances

If you carry fewer than 12 credit hours without holding an assistantship and need to be certified as a full-time student, please see Julie O’Connor.

Important: If you have completed all your degree requirements but wish to take a course after that completion date, be sure to speak with Julie O’Connor before completing your Diploma Request on MySlice.

Independent study

If you are interested in a topic not covered by the regular courses, consider Independent Study (MAT 690). The format varies, but usually involves you reading a book or a paper on your own and discussing it with the professor in charge of the course. The first step is to find a professor willing supervise your course. Together with the professor you fill out the Proposal for Independent Study (see Graduate Student Forms and Procedures) and submit it to the Registrar’s office by the Add deadline. After a little while MAT 690 will appear on your MySlice schedule. The course carries elective credit, typically 1-3 credits.

Caution: since the total number of credits covered by Teaching Assistantship is limited, taking too many MAT 690 courses may limit your ability to take courses for credit in the future. Taking 690 for just 1 credit is one way to avoid this.

Audit

Graduate students supported by either Fellowship or TAship are eligible to audit courses during Fall and Spring (not summer) at no additional charge (see here, page 4 on the bottom right). Audit earns no credit and fulfills no requirements. It may be a useful option for students who would like to participate in a course on a topics course but are out of tuitions credits or do not have enough time or background knowledge to do all homework and exams. Students who audit a course appear on the roster, which means they receive class roster email, have access to Blackboard materials, etc.

Petitions

Petitions use the ‘Petition to Faculty Form’ found on the Registrar’s Office website.

Transferring A Master’s Degree

To transfer a Master’s, you first need to speak with the graduate director to see if you are eligible to transfer it. Once they approve, you fill out a petition to faculty and write “Transfer my Master’s degree from [university name] for 30 credits”. You will receive a set 30 credits and have the Master’s requirement for the PhD completed. You cannot receive more or less than 30 credits when transferring a Master’s. You need the graduate director’s signature and to send it to Degree Certification.

Transferring Credits

Transfer credit petitions can be done at any point in your program before you earn the degree, but the Graduate School prefers that it be done in the first semester of your program in order to give it time to process and be accepted. You can transfer 10 credits towards your Master’s (30% of the degree) and 36 credits towards your PhD (50%). The credits must be graduate credits (dual undergrad/grad credits may be accepted with a note from the grad director) and have received a B or better in the course (pass/fail courses are not transferable).

If you are transferring individual credits, you must talk with the chair of the graduate committee.

What to write to transfer credit as an elective:
“Transfer [amount of credits] credits from [university you are transferring credit from] to be applied to my [degree type] degree at SU as electives:
[Course prefix and number] [Course title], [semester you took the course], Grade [grade you received], [amount of credits]”

What to write to transfer credits and substitute it for required course work:
“Transfer [amount of credits] credits from [university you are transferring credit from] to be applied to my [degree type] degree at SU:
[Course prefix and number] [Course title], [semester you took the course], Grade [grade you received], [amount of credits] – SU equivalent to MAT [course number]”

Ex: “Transfer 3 credits from the University of Toronto to be applied to my Master’s degree at Syracuse University: MAT 7500 Real Analysis I, Fall 2018, Grade A, 3 Credits – SU equivalent to MAT 701″

You will need the graduate committee chair’s signature and send it to Degree Certification. For some courses, you may also need the signature of the professor who teaches the course. For example, if you want to transfer a Graph Theory course to substitute for MAT 645, you may need Prof. Graver’s signature.

Substituting Coursework

You may substitute a course you took at SU for a core requirement for your degree. For example, substituting MAT 701 Real Variables I for MAT 601 Fundamentals of Analysis I.

Write “Substitute [course offered at SU] for [core requirement] for my [degree type] degree” on your petition form. Get the grad director’s signature, your advisor’s signature, and send it to Degree Certification.

Petitioning the Graduate Committee

Besides transferring individual credit, students also petition the graduate committee in order to postpone or get an extension on their exams. You must have an extenuating reason as to why you want to postpone or extend your exams. You should speak with your advisor or the grad director first in order to discuss why you need the extension, what your timeline for the program would look like, etc. Use the petition form to ask to postpone/extend your exams and explain why you need to. The graduate committee will review it and let you know what their decision is.

Forms for Earning Your Master’s

Degree Works/Program of Study

At the beginning of the semester that you will earn your degree, M’Tia will send you the pdf of the courses that will be listed for your degree. It is your responsibility to get that form signed by your advisor and the graduate director. Once signed, you must send it to Degree Certification (degreecert@syr.edu).

The form M’Tia will send to you is from Degree Works. Degree Works can be found on MySlice and lists the courses you have taken towards that degree, ones you are currently taking, and any credits you have transferred.

If there is a course that is not listed towards your Master’s that you would like to be, you must do a petition. For example, if you took MAT 525 (which cannot be counted towards your PhD), but it is not listed towards your Master’s and you would like it to be. Fill out the petition and state that you want to “have [MAT courses you want on your Program of Study] fulfill the MS elective requirements”. The grad director is the only one who needs to sign it. Send it to degree certification.

Diploma Request

You must file your Diploma Request on MySlice during the semester you are graduating. The deadline for filing can be found on the Grad School’s website. You must fill out an Internal Admission Form or Graduate Program/Plan Transfer Form before filing a Diploma Request; otherwise, the Master’s option for the Diploma Request will not appear.

Graduate Program/Plan Transfer Form

If you plan on just receiving your Master’s, you must fill out a Graduate Program/Plan Transfer Form. When you are enrolled into the Math Grad program, you are enrolled into the PhD program and must be switched to the Master’s program. You must get the grad director’s signature and send it to Student Records in Steele Hall.

Internal Admission Form

If you plan on continuing with the PhD program, you must complete an Internal Admission Form. Please contact M’Tia for this form. You must fill out the left side of the form and the grad director fills out the right side. Email the form to Enrollment Processing at grad@syr.edu.

Please note: Internal Admit and Graduate Program/Plan Transfer Forms are usually done the August after your first year unless you have decided to postpone your prelim exams. If you have submitted an Internal Admit form and then decide to discontinue from the PhD program, you must send a petition to the Registrar’s office stating so.

Forms for Earning Your PhD

Dissertation Advisor

Students normally take independent studies with potential dissertation advisors starting their third year. Once you and your advisor have decided to work together, fill out the Advising Form found on the ‘Forms’ section of this website. Send it to the grad director and CC M’Tia. She will switch your advisor on MySlice.

Degree Works/Program of Study

See above in the ‘Forms for Earning Your Master’s’ section

Diploma Request

See above in the ‘Forms for Earning Your Master’s’ section

Milestone Forms

There are two milestone forms you must complete: one after you complete your preliminary exams and one after you complete your qualifying exams. The prelim milestone form should be completed shortly after you’ve passed all four exams and the qual milestone form should be completed after you pass both exams.

M’Tia should email you shortly after exam results are emailed to you with the forms you need to review and get signatures for. Your advisor and the grad director must sign them.

ABD (All But Dissertation) Status Form

The ABD Status Form is completed during the semester you are graduating/defending along with your program of study/degree works, any petitions you have, etc. ABD forms are not processed unless a program of study is on file.

Your ABD date is the last day of the semester in which you took classes that you want counted towards your degree. For example, if you took a course in the Fall 2020 semester and that’s the final course you want to count towards your degree, your ABD date would be the last day of the Fall 2020 semester. ABD cannot be achieved until you pass both sets of exams, have completed at least 48 credit hours, have completed or transferred a Master’s degree, and have completed the core requirements of the program (e.g. taken MAT 701, etc.).

Class you took after the ABD date will not count towards your degree. The only credits that count are dissertation credits. Please make sure you have at least 48 credits (either taken here or transferred in) counted towards the degree (the 30 credits from your Master’s counts towards the 48 credits).

As you prepare to defend, please email M’Tia for the form and get your advisor’s signature and the grad director’s signature. Email it to degree certification.

Request for Examination

The form is found on the Graduate School website. This form is to send information about your defense to the Grad School. Complete this form once you have your committee formed, a day and time set, and your dissertation title.

You must get your advisor’s signature and the Academic Unit Chair (Department Chair)’s signature. If you have more than one advisor, you only need to get one of their signatures. The Grad School allows one committee member to be outside of the university (the chair must be from Syracuse University) without needing to petition them. More than one committee member must be petitioned. Non tenure track faculty can be on your committee, but they are considered outside university committee members.

Once all the signatures have been gathered, you need to send it to the Grad School at 304 Lyman Hall or through the degree certification email.

Forms for Coursework and Credits

GRD 998

GRD 998 is a course that you must sign up for in the fall/spring if you are NOT taking courses for credit. Do NOT sign up for GRD 998 if you are registered for courses. GRD 998 is ‘Degree in Progress’ and let’s the university know that you are still a student, you just are not currently taking course work for some reason.

If you are a grader, clinic worker, or under a Professor’s grant for the summer, you should also sign up for GRD 998 since the policy at the grad school is unclear for the summer semesters. If you are not working for the department or taking courses, then you don’t need to register for the course.

If you do not sign up for GRD 998 when you need to, you will be discontinued from the program. This requires petitioning the Registrar’s Office and there is no guarantee they will accept your petition and readmit you into the program. Sign up for GRD 998 when you are required to.

Independent Studies

There are two independent study courses: MAT 690 and MAT 990. Students usually do MAT 690. MAT 990 is usually done to fulfill the upper level requirement and done for doctoral candidates (those who have passed all exams).

You must email Kelly Jarvi that you are doing an independent study (include the professor you are working with) so that she can create a section for it. The Registrar’s Office registers you for the course when you submit a form, but they will not register you if the section does not exist.

You should discuss with their professor what their requirements are and the course structure. Fill out the Proposal for Independent Study found on the Registrar’s website. The Faculty Sponsor is the professor you are taking the course with. The graduate director (under Dept. Chair) and the professor (faculty sponsor) sign at the bottom. Send it to the Registrar’s Office for processing.

Auditing a Course

Students can audit a course for free as long as they hold a TA/fellowship or are registered for at least 9 credits. Students who do not meet these requirements are charged 60% of the tuition rate. During the summer sessions, all students, regardless of the amount of credits they are taking or if they are a TA/fellow, are charged the 60% rate.  The policy can be found here (bottom right on page 4).

You must contact the professor of the course you want to audit to make sure it is allowed and to know what is expected of you throughout the semester. You need to fill out the Grading Option Audit Form found on the Registrar’s website. You need their instructor’s signature and to send it to the Registrar’s Office (CC M’Tia).

Credit Reconfiguration

If you would like to reconfigure your credits, please email M’Tia stating how many credits you would like to move to the semester and what semester you are taking the credits from. For example: “Move 6 credits from the summer semester to the fall semester”. Do NOT stop by the office to tell her this; CAS needs an email from the student in order to process the request.

Please keep in mind that you cannot move credits from past semesters to the current or future ones, even if you did not use all the credits from that past semester. For example, if you need to move 3 credits to the spring semester, you cannot take them from the fall semester since it already passed. Once the semester ends, you lose those credits.

You must reconfigure your credits before the drop/financial deadline or you will be charged for those extra credits to your Bursar account. Please make sure to double check your grad award letter to see how many credits you are allotted each semester to see if you need to reconfigure your credits.

Miscellaneous Forms And Procedures

Gradebooks

Every semester, graduate students (both teaching assistants and graders) and post doctoral researchers must submit the grades they kept track of throughout the semester. It’s important to have a record of this in order to settle grade disputes with students if they arise.

You will receive a Qualtrics form asking for information (such as the course you taught) and you will submit a gradebook using that form (either .pdf or Excel). If you have trouble with the form or have questions, please email Kim Canino.

Full Time Certification Form

The Graduate School may contact you to submit a ‘Full Time Certification’ form. This is usually because you do not hold a TA/fellowship/grader assignment and are not registered for course or dissertation credit. This form is needed for a variety of reasons, including grating your grad award, being able to receive insurance offered by the University, loan eligibility, etc.

These are usually handled by Gabby Chapman (ghchapma@syr.edu). Any questions about this form should be directed towards the grad director or her. The form can be found on the Grad School’s website.

Leave of Absence/Readmittance Form

Students need to speak with their advisor and the graduate director if they want to take a leave of absence. You must fill out the Graduate Leave of Absence form on the Registrar’s website. You should fill it out and get the graduate director’s signature. The form must be sent to the Registrar’s Office and you should CC M’Tia or stop by the office so she can make a copy.

To be readmitted, you need to fill out the Application for Readmission/Termination of Leave of Absence Form, also found on the Registrar’s website. You should talk with the graduate director about being readmitted before submitting the form, especially if you want to be a TA/Fellow again. Students are not readmitted until the desired effective semester of readmittance that is listed. You need the graduate director’s signature (under the Accepted Primary College field) and should send it to the Registrar’s Office. Again, M’Tia needs a copy of this.

If you are an international student considering a leave of absence or want to return, please consult this page on how to do so as well as how to maintain status.

Direct Deposit

Everyone must sign up for Direct Deposit as soon as possible. Information for signing up can be found here.