Graduate Students

Students pursuing a course-type master's (no thesis) must complete the following university and college requirements. Please see your departmental advisor for additional departmental requirements.

Total hours: Minimum 30, of which at least 21 must be taken on a letter-graded basis.

Time limit: Master's students must complete all requirements for the degree within seven years of beginning coursework. (A student starting Fall 2012 would have until the end of Fall 2019 to complete the master's degree.) Students supported on graduate assistantships in their final term must be supported for the entire semester and enrolled full-time unless they have been granted approval for an underload by The Graduate School. Approval for an underload requires that all degree requirements be completed, all paperwork submitted and the assistantship terminated by the 30th day of the term.

G.P.A.: A graduate student must have a minimum 3.0 cumulative graduate GPA in order to be eligible for the degree.

Comprehensive exam: If a comprehensive exam is required by the department, the student must register for the appropriate section and have a “P” grade submitted before clearance.

Special Master of Arts (M.A.) requirements: In addition to the requirements listed above, candidates for the Master of Arts degree must meet the following requirements:

1. Proficiency in a foreign language demonstrated by satisfactory performance on the Graduate Reading Knowledge exam, or certification by the appropriate language department as proficient, or completion of twelve semester hours in a foreign language with an average grade of “B," or four years of a single language in high school.

Six or more semester hours of graduate credit in the following fields: art; classical language, literature, and civilization; English; history; humanities; modern languages and linguistics; music; philosophy; religion; and theatre.

Students pursuing a thesis-type master’s degree must complete the following university and college requirements. Please see your departmental advisor for additional departmental requirements.

Total hours: Minimum 30, of which at least 18 must be taken on a letter-graded basis.

Time limit: Master’s students must complete all requirements for the degree within 7 years of beginning coursework. (A student starting in Fall 2012 would have until the end of Fall 2019 to complete the master’s degree.) Students supported on graduate assistantships in their final term must be supported for the entire semester and enrolled full-time unless they have been granted approval for an underload by The Graduate School. Approval for an underload requires that all degree requirements be completed, all paperwork submitted and the assistantship terminated by the 30th day of the term.

G.P.A.: A graduate student must have a minimum 3.0 cumulative graduate grade-point average (GPA) to be eligible for the degree.

Thesis hours/ final term registration: Students must successfully complete a minimum of 6 hours of thesis credit and must be enrolled in a minimum of 2 hours of thesis credit during the term in which they graduate.

Thesis defense: Students writing a thesis must register for the Thesis Defense course and receive a grade of “P” during the term in which they actually defend their thesis.  Students should only register for thesis defense once.

Special Master of Arts (M.A.) requirements: In addition to the requirements listed above, candidates for the Master of Arts degree must meet the following requirements:

1. Proficiency in a foreign language demonstrated by satisfactory performance on the Graduate Reading Knowledge exam, or certification by the appropriate language department as proficient, or completion of 12 semester hours in a foreign language with an average grade of “B," or four years of a single language in high school.
2. Six or more semester hours of graduate credit in the following fields: art; classical language, literature, and civilization; English; history; humanities; modern languages and linguistics; music; philosophy; religion; and theatre.

Required forms: There are a number of forms required by the Graduate School prior to being cleared by the manuscript advisor. For a complete listing of these forms, please look at the Grad Space section of Blackboard. 

You should have the following forms with you at the time of your thesis/dissertation defense in order to get the signatures that are required:

• Final Term Degree Clearance Form
• FSU ETD Access Agreement Form
• Manuscript Signature Form (The College of Arts and Sciences does not require that the dean's signature be included on this form.)

Any other departmental forms that may require signatures from your committee members

All Ph.D. students must complete the following university and college requirements. Please see your departmental advisor for additional departmental requirements.

Time limit: Doctoral students must complete all requirements for the Ph.D. degree within five years of passing the Preliminary Examination (but at least six months after passing the prelims).

G.P.A.: A graduate student must have a minimum 3.0 cumulative graduate grade-point average (GPA) to be eligible for the degree.

Scholarly Engagement: The purpose of the Scholarly Engagement requirement is to ensure that doctoral students are active participants in the scholarly community. Each department/program will define the program-specific requirements that will satisfy this university requirement.

Dissertation hours/final term registration: Students must successfully complete a minimum of 24 hours of Dissertation. In addition, students writing a dissertation must be registered for at least two hours of dissertation credit every term in which they are working on their dissertation, including the term they wish to graduate (even if they have already completed the minimum of 24 hours). Students supported on graduate assistantships in their final term must be supported for the entire semester and enrolled full-time unless they have been granted approval for an underload by The Graduate School. Approval for an underload requires that all degree requirements be completed, all paperwork submitted and the assistantship terminated by the 30th day of the term.

Dissertation defense: Students writing a dissertation must register for the Dissertation Defense course and receive a grade of “P” during the term in which they actually defend their dissertation. Students should only register for dissertation defense once.

Title page: The dean's signature is not required on the title page of students in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Required forms: There are a number of forms required by the Graduate School prior to being cleared by the manuscript advisor. For a complete listing of these forms, please look at the Grad Space section of Blackboard.

You should have the following forms with you at the time of your thesis/dissertation defense in order to get the signatures that are required:

• Final Term Degree Clearance Form
• FSU ETD Access Agreement Form
• Manuscript Signature Form(The College of Arts and Sciences does not require that the dean's signature be included on this form.)

Any other departmental forms that may require signatures from your committee members