Welcome! We are so glad you are here, and we know our graduate students are looking forward to working with you. Below are some helpful resources and information for advisinggraduate students at MSU. 

Your department likely has a graduate coordinator—a faculty member assigned to be the central contact for grad programs in your department—and an administrative assistant/academic coordinator—a staff member—and both are amazing resources.  

General student timeline (master’s and doctoral): 

  • Student is admitted; attends GradCat Kickoff first week of term (fall and spring). 
  • Student submits committee request in MyInfo by end of second term (master’s) or third term (doctoral) of attendance. You receive an email notification when you're added to a graduate committee and can accept or decline participation in MyInfo (Faculty tab). Committee Instructions for Faculty pdf.
    • Doctoral committees require 4 members. Thesis master's committees require 3 members. Non-thesis master's require 1 member (chair/advisor).
    • See Master's Committee and Doctoral Committee policies.
  • Student submits program of study request in MyInfo (routes to on-campus committee members and department head; Faculty tab). Program of Study Instructions for Faculty pdf.
    • You approve the plan in MyInfo Faculty tab.  
    • If it’s overdue, the student gets a registration hold. 
    • Revisions to the plan can happen at any time and are submitted by editing the same form in MyInfo. 
  • Master’s: apply to graduate by the deadline in the intended term of graduation; usually complete comprehensive exam and defense in final term (if required for degree). 
  • Doctoral: complete comprehensive exams usually around years 2-3. 
  • Doctoral: apply to graduate by the deadline in the intended term of graduation; usually complete defense in final term. 
  • There are Graduate School formatting requirements for the thesis/dissertation document (and a formatting approval deadline) that must be met. See: Electronic Thesis & Dissertation Formating. We have templates. Encourage them to use the template early on. 

Resources for you and your students: 

  • GradCat 360, holistic professional development, lots of resources, and a curated calendar. 
  • GradCat Wellness, basic needs resources, Wellness Champions program, and more. 
  • Forms webpage(exam/defense reports and submission portal are there). 
  • Worried about a student? MSU has the CARE program to submit a referral to services.  

Common situations that students need your advising to avoid:

  • Students taking courses not approved for use on the program of study and then being “short” on credits. Often: 
    • Too many 592/independent study credits, 
    • 400-level credits that aren’t allowed (e.g., 492, 494, 498), and 
    • Too many pass/fail courses (limit is 3cr, excluding research credits). 
  • Students not enrolled when they take their comps or defend. Three credits are required during the comp/defense/graduation term (summer, fall, spring). See Enrollment. 
  • All committee members must attend comprehensive exams and defenses. Videoconferencing is OK. 
  • Students start working on formatting requirements late and then end up stressed because they are not Word or LaTeX experts. If they start earlier, they can work out the bugs earlier.