Department of Psychology
Florida State University
REQUIREMENTS CHECKLIST FOR DOCTORAL DEGREE
A. Doctoral Supervisory Committee: Form a Supervisory Committee and submit a signed and dated Doctoral Supervisory Committee Form to the Psychology Department's Graduate Studies Office in A203G PDB. The form should be submitted by the end of the first semester following admission to the doctoral program, i.e., after obtaining your master’s degree. The committee must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies before the preliminary examination. Because the preliminary exam for clinical students is offered by an exam committee (not the doctoral supervisory committee), clinical students may submit the Doctoral Supervisory Committee Form by the end of the spring semester after prelims are passed (but before the dissertation prospectus defense).
A doctoral committee will consist of at least five persons (at least three of these members must have doctoral directive status), including the major professor, one member from the program area of the student, one member from another departmental program area (this member may not be formally affiliated with the student's home program), and one member from outside the department who will serve as the university representative (College of Medicine faculty who hold doctoral directive status through the Psychology Department are not eligible to serve as outside members of psychology students' doctoral committees. For Neuroscience students, the outside person must not be a member of the Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience). The latter person must have doctoral directive status. To verify doctoral directive status, see http://gradstudies.fsu.edu/forms.html (see Quick Links; Graduate Faculty Status Information System) for a list of university faculty with masters or doctoral directive status and the department through which they hold the status.
The representative-at-large must observe the final defense so they can complete the Outside Committee Member Dissertation Defense Report. If it is impossible for the representative-at-large to be present at the final defense, other options include having the representative-at-large participate in the defense via a conference call or observe a recording of the defense.
B. Program of Studies: As soon as possible after the formation of the doctoral committee (and no later than passage of prelims), complete a Doctoral Program of Studies Form and have it approved and signed by committee members. Submit the signed copy to the department’s Graduate Studies Office. Clinical students may submit the Program of Studies with the Doctoral Supervisory Committee Form by the end of the spring semester after prelims are passed.
C. Core Curriclum: Complete two of the departmental core courses with a 2.75 GPA or higher prior to graduation. See the department’s Graduate Guidelines for a list of core courses.
D. Doctoral Preliminary Examination
2. Register for Preliminary Examination Preparation, PSY 6656, for a minimum of three credit hours.
3. Register for Preliminary Doctoral Examination, PSY 8964, during the semester in which the Doctoral Preliminary Exam will be taken. Do not register for PSY 8964 a second time if the defense does not occur in the semester in which it was initially planned.
4. If the critical review paper option is chosen:
· Submit the Defense Announcement Form to the department’s Graduate Office at least two weeks prior to the defense. At that time the Graduate Secretary will announce the defense to the department.
b. At the end of the defense:
· have committee members sign one copy of the signature page of the critical review paper using any color ink.
· have the committee sign the Defense Report Form and submit it to the department’s Graduate Office.
5. If the written exam option is chosen:
· students in all areas other than clinical should have the committee sign the Defense Report Form and submit it to the department’s Graduate Office.
· students in the clinical program will be issued a certificate from the Graduate Studies Office specifying the successful completion of the preliminary exam. The Director of Clinical Training and the members of the Exam Administration Committee will sign the certificate.
6. After all of the above paperwork has been submitted, you may want to verify with the Graduate Secretary that an Admission to Candidacy form has been submitted to the Registrar's Office. Once this form is processed, you will be considered a Candidate for the Doctoral Degree and may register for dissertation credits, including retroactively adding dissertation hours for the semester in which the preliminary exam was completed (note that the retroactive adding of dissertation credits will not be done unless all paperwork required up to this point has been submitted). A student must be admitted to candidacy at least six months prior to the granting of the degree.
E. Dissertation
1. Register for at least 24 credit hours of dissertation (PSY 6980) prior to graduation. During each semester in which a substantial amount of dissertation work is being done, you should register for at least two credit hours of dissertation. You must register for a minimum of 2 hours of dissertation the term in which you graduate (this helps cover the university’s costs for processing the manuscript).
2. Obtain the FSU Guidelines & Requirements for Electronic Theses, Treatises, and Dissertations from http://www.gradstudies.fsu.edu/forms/guidelinesETD.pdf and carefully review it before writing the dissertation prospectus and the final defense manuscript.
3. Prospectus:
a. Prior to the defense
· give all members of the Supervisory Committee a copy of the prospectus At least 14 days prior to the defense.
b. At the end of the defense
· have committee members sign the Dissertation Prospectus/Topic Approval Form. Submit 1 copy to the FSU Office of Graduate Studies and 1 copy to the department’s Graduate Office.
a. Register for Dissertation Defense, PSY 8985, during the semester in which your dissertation will be defended. Do not register for PSY 8985 a second time if the defense does not occur in the semester in which it was initially planned.
b. Prior to the defense
· give all members of the Supervisory Committee a copy of the dissertation at least 14 days prior to the defense.
· Submit the Defense Announcement Form to the department’s Graduate Office at least two weeks prior to the defense. At that time the Graduate Secretary will announce the defense to the department and will send a copy of the defense announcement to the Office of the Dean of Graduate Studies (408 Westcott).
c. At the end of the defense
· have committee members sign the Defense Report Form and submit it to the department’s Graduate Office.
· have the committee members sign the signature page using black ink. The department chair and college dean are not required to sign. Submit to the FSU Office of Graduate Studies.
· give the university representative-at-large the Outside Committee Member Dissertation Defense Report, which he/she will complete and submit to the College of Arts & Sciences and the Office of the Dean of Graduate Studies.
F. Graduation
1. Register for at least two credit hours of PSY 6980 during the term of graduation.
2. Apply for graduation at the Graduation Section of the Registrar's Office during the first two weeks of the term (see FSU Registration Guide at http://registrar.fsu.edu/ for specific deadline) in which you expect to receive your degree. If you previously filed for graduation but did not receive the degree, you need to remove your name from the graduation list and apply for next semester’s graduation.
3. If you are a clinical student, verify with the Graduate Secretary that a letter confirming completion of the one-year clinical internship has been received from the internship site.
4. Have all incompletes changed to letter grades or, where appropriate, to a grade of S prior to graduation.
5. Have dissertation manuscript approved by the Manuscript and Final Clearance Advisor in 408 Westcott (see FSU Registration Guide for deadlines for manuscript approval and submission).
6. Electronically submit the dissertation manuscript and required additional paperwork to the Office of the Dean of Graduate Studies. See http://www.gradstudies.fsu.edu/thesis.html for instructions.
7. Obtain a Final Term Degree Clearance Form from the Graduation Section of the Registrar's Office or http://www.gradstudies.fsu.edu/forms/final_clearance_form.pdf
and have it approved in the following order: signature of major professor, signature of department's Director of Graduate Studies, stamp from Cashier's office showing all fees (i.e., outstanding fees owed to the university, binding fees for the manuscript, a microfilming fee and, if desired, a copyright fee) have been paid, and the signature of the Office of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (010 LON). Submit the completed form to the FSU Office of Graduate Studies in 408 WES.
8. Complete and submit the Contact Information Form to the department’s Graduate Office.
NOTES:
Please see the department's Guidelines for the Operation of the Graduate Program, the FSU Graduate Bulletin, and the Guidelines & Requirements for Electronic Theses, Treatises, and Dissertations for further details about requirements. This document is not meant as a replacement for those materials.
Students who do not register for two or more consecutive terms (including the summer term) must submit an application for readmission to the Readmissions Section of the Office of the University Registrar at least 60 days prior to the beginning of the term for which readmission is desired. It is important to note that students seeking readmission must re-establish their eligibility for classification as a Florida resident for tuition purposes. Students completing an internship in another state can maintain their Florida residency if they enroll for one or more credit hours at least once every second semester.
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