Registration Process
Registration is actually 2 parts: 1) “Registering” as a full-time
student in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and 2) “Enrolling”
in specific courses.
The Graduate
School of Arts and Sciences requires a candidate for the Master of Arts
to register as a full-time student for 2 semesters and the candidate
for the Master of Philosophy to register for 6 semesters.
There are 3 registration categories:
- Residence Unit (RU)
- Extended Residence (ER)
- Matriculation and Facilities (M&F)
During
the registration period, you must select one of these categories the
same way you would select a class, and you can find the call number for
these categories on the “Directory of Classes” website, the same as you
would call numbers for specific courses.
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/bulletin/uwb/
Students in the Master’s Only (MAO) Program
must register for 1 RU in the fall semester and 1 RU in the spring
semester to earn the required residence units to receive the degree.
The rules for registering in the PhD program are as follows:
-
RU:
Students register for a Residence Unit in their first 6 semesters
(first 3 years) unless they have been awarded advanced standing. See
note below.
-
ER: Students register for an Extended
Residence Unit AFTER having registered for 6 RUs (or 4 RUs plus 2 units
of advanced standing) but still completing any M.Phil. degree
requirements or serving as a Teaching Fellow.
-
M&F:
Students register for Matriculation and Facilities who have registered
for 6 RUs (or 4 RUs plus 2 units of advanced standing), have completed ALL M.Phil. degree requirements, and are NOT
serving as TAs. Students on the dissertation fellowship (on department
funding but have a semester off from TA duties) register for M&F.
N.B.
Students who have received advanced standing for the MA in Political Science or a related field substitute Extended
Residence (ER) for RU for each point of advanced standing. A typical MA
is granted 2 units of advanced standing. Thus, for the first 4 terms,
the student registers for an RU, and in the 5th and 6th terms the student registers for an ER. This gives the student the 6 units of residency necessary for the M.Phil. degree.
Enrolling
The registration/enrollment dates for GSAS* students for Fall 2008 are:
- Monday, April 14 through Friday, April 18
- Tuesday, August 26 through Thursday, August 28
Classes Begin on Tuesday, September 2.
There are 2 ways to register/enroll:
- Via telephone using the automated service at 212 854 8282
- Via the web, using Student Services On-Line (SSOL) at https://ssol.columbia.edu/.
To register via telephone,
you will need your 4-digit PIN number and your 9-digit student ID
number. Please call or email the Graduate Program Coordinator if you do
not know you PIN number.
To register via the web, you will need to know your UNI and password (usually the same as your email address and email password).
If
for some reason you are not able to register by phone or web, you must
go to the Registrar's Office to register in person. You must bring a
completed Add/Drop form with approval signatures when you register in person.
Each
student is assigned specific appointment times to enroll via the
telephone or web. You may only register/enroll during these times. You
can check your appointment schedule and receive more information on the
registration process at the following web site: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/registrar/docs/students/registration/index.html.
Please visit the Directory of Classes for course offerings, days, times, and locations, prerequisites, eligibility info, course numbers and call numbers.
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/bulletin/uwb/.
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Grading Options
Courses to be counted toward the degree requirements must be taken for "E" credit (examination credit). The Department expects that students will maintain a minimum B+ grade average.
The
grading scale for "E" credit is A, B, C, D, and F. The standard letter
grades A through F will not be issued for courses taken "pass/fail" or
for "R" credit, and courses taken "pass/fail" or for "R" credit will
not be counted towards the degree requirements.
While students
have the freedom to select the pass/fail option when registering for a
course, R credit can only by obtained with the approval of the course
instructor. Once an R is awarded, it may not be changed. If you have taken a course
for R credit, you may not repeat the course in another term for a
letter grade. Courses taken for R credit do not fulfill any degree requirement.
Students who fail to complete coursework by the end of a semester and who take a grade of Incomplete “INC” must complete the course requirements within one year from the end of the semester in which the course was offered. Otherwise, the Office of the Registrar will convert the course grade to “F,” at which point the course cannot be counted toward fulfilling any degree requirement.
N.B.
*The regular enrollment dates for the
School of International and Public Affairs, SIPA, are normally the same
as for GSAS. Note that SIPA students are given preference in their
courses so you should contact instructors as soon as possible if you
are interested in their class, to get on the wait-list.
For
the enrollment dates for the Law School, please contact the Law School
registrar directly at 212 854 2668. Enrolling in Law classes is two
steps, enrolling in the course with the Law School registrar, and
submitting a copy of the cross-registration form you receive from them
to the University Registrar in 205 Kent Hall. If you do not submit the cross-registration form, your enrollment will not be reflected on your GSAS transcript.
For the list of Law classes being offered, use the curriculum guide available from the Law School’s web site: http://www.law.columbia.edu/academics/curriculum.
Classes
from outside the department, including those at SIPA and the Law
School, should be selected in consultation with your advisor. Any
courses you want counted toward the MA or MPhil requirements should be
petitioned in advance to the Director of Graduate Studies.
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Course Approval
There are many other courses taught in other departments – notably
Anthropology, Economics, History, International and Public Affairs,
Law, Philosophy and Sociology – that may be relevant and useful to
political science students, depending on your individual course of
study.
Please consult the:
Graduate School Bulletin : http://www.columbia.edu/cu/gsas/lists/bulletin.html,
Registrar’s Directory of Classes: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/bulletin/uwb/,
School of Law: http://www.law.columbia.edu/academics/curriculum,
School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA): http://www.sipa.columbia.edu/CourseDescriptions/index.html,
to see which courses are offered in these departments, and confer
with your advisor to determine how these courses might fit into your
political science program and requirements.
To have courses from outside the department counted towards your
degree requirements, please seek approval beforehand from the Director
of Graduate Studies, Greg Wawro. Have your advisor approve the course
syllabus and contact Greg Wawro to indicate approval.
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