Instructions for Graduating and Scheduling PhD and MS Exams

Instructions for Graduating and Scheduling PhD and MS Exams

A student must be enrolled in the semester in which he/she receives a degree or takes a PhD or MS exam.

PhD Degree Audit (a.k.a. General Exam)

• Submit the completed General Exam Syllabus Proposal Form to the Director of Graduate Studies in Mathematics (and not to the Graduate School) before submitting the Request form (described below) to the Graduate School. Your dissertation advisor serves as the chair of your advisory committee.

• Obtain the Request for Doctoral General Defense and Degree Audit from the Forms website of the Graduate School by clicking on the link called Request for Doctoral Degree Audit & Defense. Submit that completed form (including signatures of all committee members) to the Director of Graduate Studies in Mathematics for review and signature.

  At least three weeks before the scheduled date of the exam, submit the fully signed Request for Doctoral General Defense and Degree Audit form to the LSU Graduate School at the e-mail stated at the top of that form, and copy your e-mail to the Director of Graduate Studies in Mathematics and the Graduate Secretary Ms. Charlotte Senn.

• The Graduate School will secure a Dean's Representative from a different department to serve on your committee.

• Reserve the scheduled space-time volume of your exam with the Graduate Secretary.

PhD Graduation

• Forms. At the very beginning of the semester in which you obtain your PhD and graduate, you must submit two forms to the Graduate School, the Request for Final Defense and the Application for Degree: Doctoral Degree. Both of these are obtainable from the Forms website of the Graduate School.

  Deadlines for submitting these forms are early (around one week after classes start) and strict. You may find these deadlines on the Graduate Calendars.

  The Application for Degree Diploma is filled and submitted online. Where it says “Degree Only Registration”, put "No". You will receive a confirmation by e-mail from the Graduate School; please forward that e-mail to the Director of Graduate Studies.

  Have the Request for Final Defense signed by your Dissertation Advisor and the Director of Graduate Studies. Submit the completed and signed form to the Graduate School's e-mail address printed on the form, and copy the message to the Graduate Secretary in Mathematics, Ms. Charlotte Senn, and the Director of Graduate Studies.

• Your Defense Advisory Committee is the same as that of your Degree Audit (a.k.a. General Exam), including the Dean's Representative; keep this in mind when scheduling your defense.


• Your defense should be scheduled well enough in advance of the uploading deadline in order to allow sufficient time to submit a document that is acceptable by your committee.

  Pay attention to two deadlines near the end of the semester, one for Uploading thesis or dissertation and one for Resolution of editorial requests to thesis or dissertation, which are found in the Graduate Calendar.

• Reserve the scheduled space-time volume of your exam with the Graduate Secretary.

• Provide your committee members with your thesis two weeks before the defense.


• Information on formatting and submitting a thesis is at this link. You should read the Thesis and Dissertation Handbook linked to from that page.

Thesis MS Graduation

• Forms. At the very beginning of the semester in which you obtain your MS and graduate, you must submit two forms to the Graduate School, the Request for Masters Degree Audit & Defense and the Application for Degree: Masters Degree. Both of these are obtainable from the Forms website of the Graduate School.

  Deadlines for submitting these forms are early (around one week after classes start) and strict. You may find these deadlines on the Graduate Calendars.

  The Application for Degree Diploma is filled and submitted online. Where it says “Degree Only Registration”, put "No". You will receive a confirmation by e-mail from the Graduate School; please forward that e-mail to the Director of Graduate Studies.

  Have the Request for Final Defense signed by your committee members and the Director of Graduate Studies. Submit the completed and signed form to the Graduate School's e-mail address printed on the form, and copy the message to the Graduate Secretary in Mathematics, Ms. Charlotte Senn, and the Director of Graduate Studies.

• Your defense should be scheduled well enough in advance of the uploading deadline in order to allow sufficient time to submit a document that is acceptable by your committee.

  Pay attention to two deadlines near the end of the semester, one for Uploading thesis or dissertation and one for Resolution of editorial requests to thesis or dissertation, which are found in the Graduate Calendar.

• Provide your committee members with your thesis two weeks before the defense.


• Information on formatting and submitting a thesis is at this link.

Non-Thesis MS Graduation

• The Mathematics Department uses the qualifier exams as the final exam; nevertheless, the Request for Final Defense must be submitted, with a committee and defense date, as described next.

• Forms. At the very beginning of the semester in which you obtain your MS and graduate, you must submit two forms to the Graduate School, the Request for Masters Degree Audit & Defense and the Application for Degree: Masters Degree. Both of these are obtainable from the Forms website of the Graduate School.

  Deadlines for submitting these forms are early (around one week after classes start) and strict. You may find these deadlines on the Graduate Calendars.

  The Application for Degree Diploma is filled and submitted online. Where it says “Degree Only Registration”, put "No". You will receive a confirmation by e-mail from the Graduate School; please forward that e-mail to the Director of Graduate Studies.

  On the Request for Master’s Defense, your committee will consist of three people. Please put Prof. Stephen Shipman for the Major Professor and Prof. Anton Zeitlin and Prof. Arnab Ganguly for the other two committee members. Put Stephen Shipman for "Department Chair or Grad Advisor". You can leave the official minor stuff empty. For Location/Room, you can put Lockett Hall Room 381. Mark "Non-thesis" and for the defense date/time put the last weekday in September (for Fall graduation) or February (for Spring graduation) or June (for Summer graduation) at 2:00 PM. Fill out the Coursework Information.

  Have the Request for Final Defense signed by the Director of Graduate Studies (as both Major Professor and Grad Advisor). Submit the completed and signed form to the Graduate School's e-mail address printed on the form, and copy the message to the Graduate Secretary in Mathematics, Ms. Charlotte Senn, and the Director of Graduate Studies.