Enrollment for defenses and exams held between terms

Defenses and exams should be held during regular academic terms, i.e., not between terms. However, if it is necessary to hold a thesis/dissertation proposal or final defense, a final project presentation, or comprehensive/preliminary exams in the period between terms, and all faculty involved in the defense or exam have agreed to participate at this time, graduate programs are allowed to schedule defenses and exams between terms provided the following registration requirements are met by the student. Per the Minimum Enrollment policy, required registration for a defense or exam is a minimum of 1 graduate credit applicable to the degree.

• For defenses and exams held between the end of fall term and the beginning of winter term, the student must be registered in the immediately preceding fall term.

• For defenses and exams held between the end of winter term and the beginning of spring term, the student must be registered in the immediately preceding winter term.

• For defenses and exams held between the end of spring term and the beginning of summer term, the student must be registered in the immediately preceding spring term.

• For defenses and exams held between the end of summer term and the beginning of fall term, the student must be registered in the immediately succeeding fall term.

• The Graduate School identifies summer term as the 8-week summer session defined by the university’s Academic Calendar. For defenses/exams held during summer term, the student must be registered in one of the summer term sessions. Students should be aware that most faculty are not on contract over the summer and may not be available for defenses and exams in summer.