If students desire to apply up to nine semester hours of transfer credit to their degree program, the Tentative Program of Work must be filed during their first semester whether or not they are engaged in full-time graduate work. In all degree plans, the entire degree program must be approved by the appropriate Committee on Graduate Studies and the Dean of Graduate Studies. Candidacy Students will be admitted to candidacy for the master's degree only when the requirements listed previously have been met. In addition, students must submit an Application for Graduation by the same deadline. Final Master's Examination A final program examination is required for all master's degree candidates.
Most programs limit to two the number of repeats of the final master's examination.
Additional repeats require specific advanced written approval by the Dean of Graduate Studies. For thesis degree plan candidates, the examination will be an oral defense of the thesis. The examination will be conducted by all members of the student's supervising committee but will be open to all members of the faculty. The thesis examining committee must have copies of the thesis at least two weeks prior to the thesis defense. For thesis substitute or non-thesis degree plan candidates, the final examination will be a comprehensive examination that is written, oral or both.