Fall 2025 Deadlines

All Graduate Students
2025 activity report, updated CV, annual advisor assessment - Due by January 9, 2026

Spring 2026 Course Registration - Begins Monday, October 20

Students taking Comprehensive Exams

Comparative Exam - August 11-13
International Relations Exam - August 16-18
American Exam - August 16-18
Policy Exam - August 16-18
**Results will be communicated to students by the DGS on Wednesday, September 17.

Methods Paper - Due by September 19, 2025
**Results will be communicated to students by the DGS on Wednesday, October 15

Students submitting their Major Field Research Paper
Complete form and submit paper.
Form is due by September 26, 2025.
Paper is due by October 10, 2025.
**Results will be communicated to students by the DGS on Wednesday, November 5

Students Taking their Preliminary Oral Examination
Held during semester when last Comp Exam is passed - Exam is due by December 5, 2025
Student schedules with Committee.
Complete Form 8 in myPurdue at least 2 weeks in advance of the exam date.
**Results are communicated by Committee at end of Exam.
Students who have passed their Preliminary Oral Examination must complete their Dissertation Defense within 4 years (8 regular semesters) or they will be required to re-take the Preliminary Written Comprehensive Exams.

Students defending their Prospectus
Work with Major Professor and Committee to schedule - Due by end of seventh semester
Advisor gives student permission to circulate prospectus before it is sent to the rest of the committee for review.
Committee receives prospectus at least two weeks before defense date.

Complete top portion of PDF form and submit a copy Grad Coordinator for announcing/scheduling room.
This is an open seminar; the date/room of Prospectus Defense is announced to faculty/graduate students.At the end of the Prospectus Defense, return form to Committee for completion of the bottom portion.

Students earning Master's Degrees
Ensure the Master's Plan of Study is complete and approved by August 24, 2025.
Register CAND991.
Complete steps in the Commencement tab in myPurdue.
Commencement is on December 21, 2025.

Ph.D. CAND991 students graduating in December, 2025

Preliminary Oral Exam - December 14, 2024

PhD Plan of Study Approved by Committee - August 24, 2025

Dept or Student can register as CAND991 - August 29, 2025
** or Student can register as CAND991 as late as September 19, 2025

Schedule Defense via form 8 in myPurdue - 3 weeks in advance (no later than November 11)

Dissertation Format Review via Thesis Office - November 7, 2025

Dissertation Defense - No later than December 3, 2025
** The Doctoral Exit Questionnaire, Survey of Earned Doctorates and Electronic Thesis Acceptance Form must be completed immediately after the defense

Last day to order cap and gown - December 5

Dissertation Approved by Committee, Deposited and Accepted in Hammer RR - December 10, 2025

Commencement - December 21, 7:00 p.m.

Degrees are posted to academic records by January 5, 2026

Graduate Records Office Guidelines:

After your defense, complete both the Doctoral Exit Questionnaire and the Survey of Earned Doctorates (both are found in your online student Plan of Study account in myPurdue). These must be completed prior to final deposit approval.
Form 9: Electronic Thesis Acceptance Form must be electronically signed & approved by all committee members & your department’s thesis form head before the deposit deadline. After they electronically approve & sign your Form 9, you will receive an automated email with instructions on how to submit your final thesis/dissertation to HammerRR. Follow those email instructions to submit your final deposit. Please note that some internet browsers do not always work well with HammerRR (most students report that Google Chrome works best), & your submission must have a status of “Under Review” for us to see it.
Your final deposit submission must be made before the deposit deadline. After you submit your final deposit, the Thesis & Dissertation Office will review it. If revisions are needed from you, they must be completed no more than 24 hours of when we requested the revisions from you. When your final deposit is acceptable, we will approve both your final deposit and your Form 9 (we are the last signature on that form).
After your final deposit is approved, we will initiate standard billing for the dissertation deposit fee with the Bursar’s Office. The only thing left for you to do (relating to the deposit process) is to pay the deposit fee.

Since the Bursar’s Office runs batch billing only once per week, they have advised that it can take up to 10 business days from the date we approved your final deposit for the deposit fee to appear.

Registration

Graduate students in the Department of Political Science are expected to enroll in 9 cr of coursework/research during the Fall and Spring semesters. Additional stipulations apply for students completing research off-site, international students, students completing CPT, students working for the Department during the summer, students completing research in absentia, students auditing courses, students using courses to fulfill their Plan of Study, and students in their last semester. Please refer to the Policies and Procedures for Administering Graduate Student Programs.

This document is updated and reissued every academic year.