HOW DO I REGISTER FOR CLASSES?

Continuing students may register via telephone (RTTRS) or computer (WEBREG, available on- line at: https://sims.rutgers.edu/webreg). Once registered, students can use either method to drop and/or add courses. Students registering after the deadline (usually the Friday before classes begin each term) will be charged a $50.00 late registration fee. Instructions for registration via RTTRS or WEBREG are included with all registration materials and on-line. This information is also available on-line: http://scheduling.rutgers.edu/.

WHAT IS THE PROCESS FOR TRANSFERING CREDITS?

Admitted students who come to Rutgers from another institution may transfer up to 24 credits of their previous work towards the Ph.D., after they have successfully completed one semester (12 credits) at Rutgers. However, there is no prior guarantee of the number of credits which will be transferred. Credits will normally be transferred only for courses comparable in length, quality and content to those offered in the political science program in New Brunswick. Credits are usually not transferred for undergraduate courses or independent study programs. Applications for transfer credits, available at the Graduate School and the Department, must be submitted along with grade. Students should consult with the Director of Graduate Studies and their adviser before submitting this form.

WHAT IS THE REQUIREMENT FOR A FULL TIME STATUS?

The official university definition of full-time enrollment for graduate students is 9 credits per term.

WHAT IS THE PROCESS FOR READMISSION?

This form is to be filed any time a graduate student misses one or more semesters of registration and wants to continue matriculating in the same program. The form is to be filled out by the student and forwarded to the graduate director. Upon the director's approval, the form  is to be  sent to the Office of the Dean. For doctoral students who have passed the qualifying examinations, a Restoration of Active Status form will also need to be completed.

Students should file a new application through Graduate Admissions if they have not been registered for more than two years and/or their program  no longer has their original application.

The form can be found on this website http://gsnb.rutgers.edu/forms/readmission.doc.

WHAT IS THE PROCESS FOR RESTORATION OF ACTIVE STATUS?

Any student who has passed the Ph.D. qualifying examination and has not been registered for one or more semesters must file this form. This form is to be submitted with a minimum of 1 credit of in-state tuition at the current rate per semester missed, up to a maximum of five semesters. Payment is made at the time the Application for Readmission form is filed. Both forms are available at http://gsnb.rutgers.edu/forms.

WHAT IS THE ASSISTANSHIP REGISTRATION PROCESS?

All students awarded Teaching or Graduate Assistantships must register their assistantship appointments each semester for the appropriate number of credits. The GA registration is 16:xxx:866. The TA registration is 16:xxx:877. Students who are awarded a full assistantship should register for 6 E credits while those who receive one-half of a GA or TA should register for 3 E credits

Please note: Students who hold full-time appointments for the academic year are entitled to tuition remission for up to 6 credits during the summer following their appointment.

WHAT IS THE FELLOWHIP REGISTRATION PROCESS?

All students awarded Fellowships must register their fellowship appointments. The fellowship registration is 16790811 for 0 credits.  Please note: Fellows are not normally eligible for summer tuition remission. But this is the only way to record your fellowship.

WHAT IS THE EXCHANGE PROGRAM REGISTRATION PROCESS?

Students wishing to enroll in a course at Princeton, UMDNJ, the New Brunswick Theological Seminary or Drew must complete the appropriate form which can be found on the GSNB website (http://gsnb.rutgers.edu/forms/exchange_forms.php3). It must be approved and signed by the program director, chair or advisor, then sent to the Graduate School – New Brunswick coordinator for approval, signature and registration. They will then need to obtain the signature of the instructor of the course and the host institution’s coordinator where the form is left. Both Master’s and Doctoral students are in a course through the Inter-University Doctoral consortium follow the procedure above except that only 2nd eligible to apply.

Students wishing to enroll year doctoral students in the arts and sciences are eligible and, once all signatures have been obtained, the form is returned to the Graduate School – New Brunswick coordinator. The student then submits the form to the Registrar

CAN I TAKE MORE THAN 16 CREDITS?

Any student wishing to take more than 16 credits in a given semester must get the approval of the graduate director and the Office of the Dean. Teaching assistantship and graduate assistantship credits are included in this count, so a student with a full TA or GA (6 credits) is entitled to 10 credits of course work for a total of 16 credits. Excess credits will not normally be approved when research credits are included.

WHAT IS THE PROCESS FOR AUDITING COURSES?

If a student wishes to take a course on an audit basis, the appropriate letter prefix must

be entered when registering. If the decision is to take the class as a formal auditor, the prefix "N"should be entered. This means that the student will do all work short of taking the final exam (all reports and other exams must be taken), and based on the work submitted, the Professor will issue an S or U (Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory) grade. N credit courses are not counted towards the student's graduate degree.

WHAT IS THE PROCESS FOR AN EXCLUDED COURSE?

If a course is to be excluded from graduate credit, the prefix "E" should be added. In this case,the student must do all the work (including the final examination) and the student will receive aletter grade (A, B, C, etc.). Neither of these registration choices will award graduate degreecredit.

WHAT IS THE PROCESS FOR AN “INFORMAL” AUDITOR?

If a student wishes to sit in on a class as an "informal" auditor, the student should not register for the class, but ask the instructor's permission to "sit in".

WHAT IS THR PROCESS FOR ADD/DROP OF CLASSES?

The add-drop dates have been changing over the past several semesters. Please consult the Graduate School-New Brunswick Academic Calendar (http://gsnb.rutgers.edu/AcademicCalendar.pdf)  for the current term. After the add deadline, courses may only be added to a student's transcript with permission of the graduate program and the Office of the Dean. After the withdrawal deadline, and through the 7th week of the term, students may withdraw without permission, but will have a "W" posted on their transcript and will be charged tuition for any dropped courses. From the 7th-11th weeks of the term all requests for course withdrawals and changes to "audit" status (N credit) during this period must be approved by the Office of the Dean and must be accompanied by a letter from the instructor of the course indicating grade and/or academic status of the student as of that date.

WHAT IS THE PROCESS FOR INCOMPLETE GRADES?

Any student incurring grades of Incomplete will be held to the limit of one year for completion of the course. Requests for waiver of this one year limit must be made by the student, recommended by the course instructor and graduate director, and approved by the Office of the Dean. This waiver should be sought prior to the one year expiration date. It will not be routinely granted. Students who have more than one Incomplete will be allowed one semester to reduce the number to one (or none), after which they will not be allowed to register for additional courses until these are completed or "abandoned." ("Abandoned" refers to a situation in which students have agreed that the course may no longer be completed and the program has agreed to allow them to continue with Permanent Incompletes on their records.)

WHAT IS THE PROCESS FOR BLANK OR MISSING GRADES?

Grades left blank on a roster will be given the code "NG" for no grade by the Graduate Registrar. If these grades are left blank for two semesters they will be converted to an F by the registrar. Final grades or grades of Incomplete should be submitted on the Incomplete rosters for all students.

WHAT IS THE PROCESS FOR PERMANENT INCOMPLETE GRADES?

Students are restricted in the number of incompletes they may carry. In order to continue to register, a student may choose to "abandon" a course by waiving the privilege of completing it. In such a case the student requests a change from IN to PIN. The PIN is not regarded as an outstanding incomplete and does not hinder further registration, unless it represents part of a pattern which the faculty interprets as warranting a warning or dismissal for unsatisfactory progress.

Incompletes are to be made up within one year. Those not removed in favor of a letter grade may be converted to a PIN to indicate that the option to complete the course has expired.

Requests for conversion of Incompletes (IN's) to Permanent Incompletes (PIN's) may be recommended with reasons stated by the graduate program director either by forwarding a letter or submitting a Change of Grade form to at the Office of the Dean. The request for this action should originate from the student. PIN's are not to be assigned to final grade rosters.

WHAT IS THE PROCESS FOR COMPLETE WITHDRAWALS?

Complete withdrawals from all courses in a given term may entitle students to refunds, depending on the date the forms are received at either the Office  of the Graduate Registrar or the Office of the Dean. Before classes begin, a 100% tuition refund  will be issued; as of the first day of classes, an 80% refund will be issued, and every two weeks  after that date the refund drops another 20%, until the end of the sixth week of classes, at which  time no further refunds will be issued. There are no refunds for dropping just one or two courses  when there are other courses on the same registration.