Guidelines
Scheduling for Students in Doctoral Programs
| Year 1 | |
| First semester | 3.20, 3.23 |
| Second semester | 3.21, 3.22 |
| May/June | General Written Exam / DCGS review for Thesis Area Examination Qualification |
| Year 2 | Three Post-core Electives |
| February | Thesis Area Examination |
| Years 3 and 4 | Complete subjects for Minor Requirement, Year 3 Update Meeting |
| Year 4+ | Plan to Finish meeting (6-12 months before the final thesis defense), Thesis Defense |
Students are advised to keep in mind that the months of May and August tend to be the months where scheduling a presentation may be difficult because of faculty unavailability and availability of presentation rooms.
Registration Limits
Students holding research assistantships may register for no more than39 units each semester; this limitation will nevertheless allow them to take the two core subjects and one restricted elective subject in each of the first two semesters. Research assistants must, however, obtain the permission of their advisors to register for more than two core subjects each semester. Students holding fellowships are not bound by either restriction.
Teaching assistants register for 3.693-3.699 Teaching Materials Science and Engineering (12 units), for which they are graded based on their teaching performance, and are further restricted to 27 units of additional coursework each term the teaching assistantship is held.
Foreign Language
There is no foreign language requirement for the doctorate in this Department. Students who wish to study a foreign language may use appropriate classes to satisfy the Minor Requirement. Degree Candidates for whom English is a second language should take great care to ensure that their thesis is written with acceptable English grammar. Thesis supervisors and committee members should not have to take significant time to correct pervasive grammatical errors, but rather focus their attention on thesis content.