Doctoral
Program Frequently Asked Questions
General
(Program)
I have an administrative question about the Ph.D. program.
Whom do I ask about it?
For administrative issues, always check with Barbara Binder first. She is the administrative
manager for the PhD Program.
What's the story on these 7999, 8902, and 9000 courses?
Right now there are 3 courses on our books that apply to
some part of the dissertation process: CS 7999, 8902 and
9000. The first one is audit only, and the last two are
P/F. Here's an explanation about when and how to take these
courses.
- CS
7999 - Prep for qualifying exam (audit)
- CS
8902 - Prep for qualifying exam (P/F)
- CS
9000 - Dissertation (P/F)
These
ALL require permission before signing up. This will help
us make sure that they're being used correctly and will
help us track the program better. The Graduate Coordinator
will be the instructor for the first two. Your advisor should
be the instructor for the last one.
Some notes:
- The
8902 is a specially designated section of that for Qualifier
prep. You can take up to 6 hours.
So here's
the algorithm you should follow:
-
If you are preparing for your Qualifier you can
-- Take 7999 if audit credit is OK for you (3 hours
preferred)
-- Take 8902 if you need real grade credits
Both require signed permission of the Graduate Coordinator.
-
Once you have passed your Qualifier you should
-- Take as many hours of 9000 as you want. They are
pass/fail hours. This requires signed permission of
your advisor.
Do
I have to take CS 9000 to graduate?
Yes, you need at least 6 semester hours of CS 9000 credit
to graduate with your Ph.D. Ph.D. students should enroll
in CS 9000 after their qualifier. This requires advisor
approval. The intent is for CS 9000 hours to reflect actual
dissertation research. More information
I was admitted prior to 1997, but I'd like to change to
the Breadth requirements that the 97-98 and beyond students
have to do rather than the ones I started with. Can I do
that?
No. You must work on the program rules that you started
the program under. One exception to this is that "older"
students can use the new part 2 of the Qualifier (research
portfolio) rather than the 3-day take home creativity question,
if they would like.
Can I retake a course for credit that I did poorly in the
first time?
The following are registrar rules: You may retake any class
that you've taken on an audit basis. You may retake any
class if you've received a C or lower. Both grades count
in your GPA. Hours only count once. Note: If you retake
something under semesters that you first took under quarters
and it has a different number from the quarter system, the
hours will count for both because the course should also
contain new material different from the quarter offering.
You cannot retake a class if you've received an A or B.
You may retake any class that you've taken on a P/F basis.
Same hours rule as above.
Minor
What
do I have to do to get my minor approved?
The minor form needs to be completed and submitted to the
Graduate Studies office via the CoC Ph.D. program coordinator.
You can count courses taken at other schools in other departments
(not computer science) but they must be graduate courses.
You can probably get approval for one 4000-level Tech course
from another unit.
More information
Ph.D. Defense
When
do I have to do my Defense of Research?
You must do your defense of research 3 months prior to graduating.
Graduation is the time when you submit your final dissertation
hardcopy. At the defense of research time, all of your research
should be complete, and you should have at least some written
documents describing the work, but the final dissertation
need not be complete yet.
Do
all of my committee members have to be present at my proposal
and defense?
We would like all of your commitee members to be there,
but in hardship cases, measures such as conference calls
can be used as well.
Must
I advertise my defense (of research)?
Yes. At least three weeks prior to your defense date, you
must tell Barbara
Binder about your committee, title, abstract and the
time and place of the defense talk. She forwards this information
to the GT Graduate School. The Graduate Studies office asks
that you post an announcement of the defense to the git.cc.general
and git.annouce newsgroups.
What
must the committee make-up of my thesis committee be?
The rules are
-
At least 5 people.
-
At least one must not be a CoC faculty member (can be
other unit at Tech or outsider, but should have Ph.D.)
-
The majority must have some CoC faculty appointment.
Note
that you only need to have three people at the time of your
proposal, but we recommend having all five then too.
Graduation
What
are the enrollment requirements for the terms right before
graduation?
Georgia Tech's current policy requires that a graduate student
be enrolled during the quarter in which he or she will graduate.
The minimum number of credit hours is three.
Two problems may cause inconvenience and worse for graduate
students attempting to graduate.
1. The Enrollment Waiver -- Thesis students must be finished
with the thesis by the end of registration for the quarter
in which they intend to graduate. If they have not completed
the final written version of the thesis, they must enroll
for thesis hours (a minimum of three). Thesis students must
also have been enrolled the prior quarter. Any questions
should be discussed and exceptions granted before
the end of registration, so that the student may still enroll
if the waiver is not appropriate.
2. Minimum Credit Hours of Enrollment -- The minimum load
for part-time students is 3 credit hours. A student may
register for only one hour of Doctoral Thesis (CS 9000)
during the semester of graduation. This exception may be
used once for each degree.
3. More information is at the
Graduate Studies office web site.
Student Travel
Will
the College help support my travel to a conference?
Yes, once every fiscal year (July->June) as long as funds
are available, the College can help with conference travel
support. You do not need to have a paper in the conference
to get funding.
Instructions and more information
You should seek support from other sources such as your
advisor and the
Institute Grad Council as well.