Last Semester Timeline
Please read the Last Semester Timeline in full and address questions to your graduate administrator if anything is unclear for your particular situation.
Use the links below to jump down to the information you're looking for.
A. Pre-defense process
A candidate must be enrolled in the semester they defend or through Friday of the first week of the class of the following semester.
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Confirm that a "Petition for Approval of Candidacy for a doctoral degree" ('Approval of Candidacy') form is submitted
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Ph.D. - before the ninth semester
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Master's - before the fifth semester
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Confirm with your adviser that you are ready to defend approximately 6+ months before your defense.
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Notify OISS (International Students)
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Make an appointment with OISS 4-6 months before your defense.
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If you need to, apply for OPT. OPT gives F-1 students 12 months of "temporary employment (work or volunteer) for practical training," directly related to the student's major area of study. A person can only have 90 days of unemployment in the whole year of OPT. It can take 90+ days to obtain OPT status.
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Notify your committee 3+ months before your defense
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Notify your graduate coordinator 3+ months before your defense to begin scheduling
B. Revision in committee members
The thesis committee which hears the oral defense must be the same as the committee on the Candidacy Approval form. If a change to your thesis committee is needed, please confer with your graduate program administrator as soon as possible prior to your defense, and fill out the form here. All changes must be approved by the DGS, Department Chair or Chair of the Graduate Committee, and Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies prior to the oral defense. We will need to generate a completely new approval of candidacy form and thesis title page form to be completed via AdobeSign.
If the student requires a change in the thesis committee:
- Fill out the Request for Committee Revision form.
- have the Chair of the department, the Chair of the graduate committee, or the Director of Graduate Studies sign the form, which indicates approval of the department for this change.
- The graduate program administrator should then submit the revision to Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies via the GPS OnBase Workflow.
- Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies will revise the thesis committee, generate a new Approval of Candidacy and Thesis Title Page form, and send it via Adobe Sign again for completion.
Please note that until further notice, students may defend either in person, by Zoom, or both.
C. Set defense date
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Approve the date for defense with your committee 2-3 months before you want to defend
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Reserve the room (date and time) after you set the date and time with your committee.
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Email your committee members with the final defense date, time, location after the location is reserved.
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Email your graduate administrator with the final defense date, time, location after the location is reserved.
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Apply Blogs about applying to grad school for your degree online as appropriate.
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Mark your personal calendar for six-months after your defense. To avoid a requirement to defend, your thesis must be submitted by this date, regardless of your degree conferral date.
D. Confirm last stipend payment
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2-3 months before you defend, discuss with your adviser when the last day for your stipend will be (ends on 15th or 30/31st).
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2-3 months before you defend, tell your graduate administrator what the last day for your stipend will be. They will confirm with your adviser.
E. Submit copies of your thesis
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Submit a copy of thesis to your defense committee and ask if an electronic or hard copy is preferred.
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Ph.D. - 14 days prior to your defense
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Master's - 7 days prior to your defense
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Submit a copy of thesis to your graduate administrator and ask if an electronic or hard copy is preferred.
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Ph.D. - 14 days prior to your defense
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Master's - 7 days prior to your defense
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F. Register your thesis defense
Register your defense with GPS at events.rice.edu/rgs. The announcement will then be posted on events.rice.edu by GPS. Defense announcements need to have either a room location and/or a Zoom link. For tips on how to approach an online thesis defense, click here.
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Ph.D. - Submit the registration at least 14 days before your defense
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Master's - Submit the registration at least 7 days before your defense
G. Approval of Candidacy form
Once the defense is registered, the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies will confirm the thesis committee with your department chair, DGS or administrator, and then:
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GPS will generate an electronic Approval of Candidacy form and Thesis Title Page through Adobe Sign. This form will initially go to you, the student, who will fill it out first. Be aware that the form will come to you via email a couple of days before so be on the lookout.
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Every time there is a change in committee, a new form will be needed.
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Both you, the student, and your graduate program administrator will be notified when this is ready.
H. Day of defense (or day after)
Once you defend:
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Celebrate!
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Finish filling out the first parts of the electronic Original Approval of Candidacy form confirming their successful defense as discussed in section G above.
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Once you sign this form, it will go to your committee to sign and verify that the defense was passed. They can sign in parallel. We have limited reports that some faculty don't get the form. Please reach out to them if they have not signed it. This is a potential cause for the disconnect.
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Once all committee members have confirmed the defense was passed, then the student will complete the thesis title page through Adobe Sign, ideally after all thesis corrections have been completed.
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Once complete, it will go back to the committee for signature, approving the final thesis.
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Once all of the committee members have signed gradenrollment@rice.edu will get a final copy to be validated when the student finalizes their thesis defense.
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You, the student, will get notifications in each phase. Once all of the committee members have signed, the student will print the .pdf of the form. They will separate the two pages and upload them as before - (A) the Original Approval of Candidacy as an administrative file and (B) the thesis title page (with the electronic signatures) combined with the manuscript and uploaded as the “Manuscript in PDF”.
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GPS will also sign the Original Approval of Candidacy. You and your graduate program administrator will get a copy of this.
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Within one week of your defense, log in to thesis.rice.edu and upload a PDF of the defended version of your thesis and the signed "Approval of Candidacy" form. More information here.
I. Post-defense
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Within one week of your defense, log in to thesis.rice.edu and upload a PDF of the defended version of your thesis and the signed "Approval of Candidacy" form. More information here.
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Unless you defend in the first week of a semester, your registration will remain active following your defense. However, there is no academic requirement to register following your defense if you are not receiving a graduate student payment and it is allowable with visa status, even if you have thesis changes to make.
If you do not register but still need access to campus resources after your defense but before you submit your thesis, you can enroll in DSRT 999 before the semester begins. Please contact the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies by e-mail to register for the zero credit hour DSRT 999 course*. Include your name, SID, Department, and reason for the request.-
Registering for this course will allow you to maintain your active student status for this purpose. There will be a $100 fee associated with this course. You will also be charged the Health Service Fee during the semester. Students in this course are required to have health insurance that meets Rice's health insurance requirements.
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Enrolling in DSRT 999 will keep your student status “active”, allowing you to enroll in the student health insurance plan. Students enrolled in DSRT 999 are not eligible for the doctoral medical insurance subsidy unless they are otherwise registered as a full-time student. If you do not enroll in DSRT 999, and you are not enrolled in any other courses, you will not be eligible for the student health insurance plan. Please email studentinsurance@rice.edu for details.
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J. Final thesis submission
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You must submit your thesis online at thesis.rice.edu within six months of your defense. To have your degree conferred for a particular graduation date, please review the academic calendar.
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Final version of thesis w/ signed electronic title page (PDF format)
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Signed electronic Approval of Candidacy Form (the same form you previously uploaded)
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Survey of Earned Doctorate Certificate (Ph.D., DMA only)
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Online Thesis Submission Form (this is where your thesis gets final approval)
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More information on thesis submission here.
K. Degree conferral and deadlines
Please see the academic calendar for all deadlines and commencement.rice.edu for information related to doctoral or advanced degrees convocation.
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During the semester of your defense, submit your application for degree to the registrar by the deadline stated in the academic calendar.
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Typically this is in September for December conferral, in January for May conferral, and June for August degree conferral.
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In this same time frame you must also file the following in the GPS office: candidacy petitions.
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The thesis must be submitted to the GPS office via the thesis portal (thesis.rice.edu) and the online thesis submision form by the deadline for the appropriate degree conferral. This is always the last day of classes for each full term. Check the academic calendar.
L. Leaving Rice
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Return your keys to your department.
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Please check with OISS if you are an international student.
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Check that you have a zero (0) balance in your student account.
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Be mindful of when your student health insurance benefits will end.
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Rice email accounts are deactivated six months after graduation. You are encouraged to set up an alumni email address by going here
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Rice alumni are provided a Gmail address with the custom @alumni.rice.edu domain. To sign up for one, please Log in to the Rice Portal at riceconnect.rice.edu and complete the setup.
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Have questions about resources available to you as an alum? Check out some FAQs here
M. Post-doc position
If you are being hired as a postdoc, you can be hired any time after your final thesis submission. Please work with your graduate administrator for this process.
N. Staff position
If you are being hired for a staff position, the hire date relative to your thesis submission is not crucial. However, your student payments must be terminated at least one day before the staff job begins. Please work with your graduate administrator to use dates that correspond with pay periods.
Updated November 2023