During the regular academic year students with assistantships must register for the appropriate number of credit hours as indicated above. Credit hours may be distributed among courses, research, and dissertation or thesis. Doctoral candidates who have passed the Candidacy Examination and who are working on research or the dissertation, either in residence or away from campus, must register for a minimum of 1 credit hour of BIOL 700V per semester and 1 credit hour for 1 summer term. If the thesis option is elected and after a thesis proposal is approved, students working towards a Master's degree must register for a minimum of 1 hour of BIOL 600V for each semester of the academic year and summer. The University policy with respect to academic honesty applies to programs in Biological Sciences.
Academic dishonesty is considered unsatisfactory performance.
Candidates for M.S. or Ph.D. degrees are required to present a research seminar prior to the oral thesis or dissertation defense. Additional seminar requirements may be specified by the major professor in conjunction with the graduate committee. All requirements must be completed within a 6 year period. The Graduate School has a plan for conditional admission, whereby regular status may be attained after a 12-hour program is successfully completed. To remove conditional status, a minimum GPA of 3.0 or better must be attained for 12 hours of graduate credit.