Graduate Student Registration Guidelines

Students should consult the curriculum guidelines for their concentration for information about required courses.

M.S. Students

• Laboratory research prior to unconditional pass of Comprehensive Examination
• Laboratory research after unconditional pass of Comprehensive Examination
• BISC 869 Master's Thesis (1-6 credit hours, Standard Letter Grade) under advisor's section number.
• M.S. students must have at least six credit hours of BISC 869 to graduate. These six hours need not be taken all in one semester. Students should continue to enroll in BISC 869 if they are taking any other course for credit.
• After completion of all required course work (including 6 credit hours of BISC 869), students involved only in thesis research should register for
• UNIV 899 Masters Sustaining: Thesis (0 credit hours, no grade) under section 011. Students registered under sustaining status are not permitted to enroll in any other course for credit. Sustaining status satisfies the UD requirement that students be registered in the semester in which they graduate.

Ph.D. Students

• Laboratory rotations ("Tutorials")
• BISC 864 Research Tutorial (2 credit hours, Standard Letter Grade) under the instructor's section number. If students perform two tutorials in a single semester, they should register for two sections (one under each research advisor's section number) of two credit hours each (four credit hours total).
• Laboratory research after tutorials but prior to unconditional pass of Candidacy Examination
• BISC 868 Research (1-12 credit hours, Standard Letter Grade) under advisor's section number. Since the credit for this course is variable, students should enroll in enough credit hours to match their research efforts that semester (typically 2-4 credit hours) while not exceeding UD limits.
• Laboratory research after unconditional pass of Comprehensive Examination
• BISC 964 Pre-Candidacy Study (3-12 credit hours, Pass/Fail) under advisor's section number. Since the credit for this course is variable, students should enroll in enough credit hours to match their research efforts that semester (typically 2-4 credit hours) while not exceeding UD limits.
• Laboratory research after unconditional pass of Candidacy Examination
• BISC 969 Doctoral Dissertation (1-9 credit hours, Pass/Fail) under advisor's section number. Students should continue to enroll in BISC 969 if they are taking any other course for credit.
• Ph.D. students must have at least nine credit hours of BISC 969 to graduate. These nine hours need not be taken all in one semester.
• After completion of all required course work (including nine credit hours of BISC 969), students involved only in dissertation research should register for
• UNIV 999 Doctoral Sustaining (0 credit hours, no grade) under section 011. Students registered under sustaining status are not permitted to enroll in any other course for credit. Sustaining status satisfies the UD requirement that students be registered in the semester in which they graduate.

General Information

Fall/Spring

Each student must register for BISC 827 Graduate Research Seminars (0-1 credit hours, Pass/Fail). Students register for one credit hour of BISC 827 unless they are in sustaining status when they register for 0 credit hours.

Summer

1. Doctoral students doing summer tutorials must register for two credit hours of BISC 864 Research Tutorial under the instructor's section number.
2. All other biology graduate students register in either
   1. BISC 868 Research (3 credit hours) under the generic 800 section number, or
   2. UNIV 899 Masters Sustaining: Thesis (0 credit hours) under section 011, or
   3. UNIV 999 Doctoral Sustaining (0 credit hours) under section 011, as appropriate for their academic stage.