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:
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:
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.
The registration/enrollment dates for GSAS* students for Fall 2008 are:
Classes Begin on Tuesday, September 2.
There are 2 ways to register/enroll:
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/.
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.
*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.
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.