Full Time Status of Ph.D. Students

For academic purposes, at least nine credits (not counting any audit credits) of course registration in the Fall and Spring semesters are required to maintain full-time (FT) status. However, students may be certified FT with less than nine credits of registration in the following cases (note: the minimum number of credits is shown in each case since the academic program may have additional requirements):

• Students who enrolled for the first time in the Ph.D. program after August 2015:
       → May be certified FT with three credits of pre-doctoral research if they have completed all required courses and have passed the qualifying exam.
       → May be certified FT with 3 credits in the second, third, or fourth semester if they have not passed the qualifying exam but have successfully completed the required courses with a CGPA greater than or equal to 3.5.
       → May be certified FT with six credits (including three credits of pre-doctoral research with GSO approval) if they have successfully completed all required courses, have not passed the qualifying exam, and have a CGPA below 3.5.
       → May be certified FT with one credit of dissertation research if they have completed all required courses, have passed the qualifying exam and have defended successfully the dissertation proposal.

PhD students registered for less than 9 credits who are either domestic students receiving financial support or are international students (F1/J1) must apply online for full-time certification for that semester here 

A course registration hold is automatically placed after approval.

Any further course registration changes will require permission from the Graduate Studies Office.   

For Ph.D. credit requirements for students entering a Ph.D. program after August 2015, go here