Graduate Degrees from the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies

The Frank J. Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies awards all of Dartmouth’s PhD, M.S. and M.A. degrees across a broad range of programs, including several interdisciplinary programs and doctoral programs connected to the professional schools at Dartmouth. The requirements for the degrees awarded by the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies and the types of fellowship support available to graduate students in these programs are described below. Inquiries regarding graduate study should be addressed to the department to which admission is sought. Visit our website at:  https://graduate.dartmouth.edu/

Graduate Special Students: Under special circumstances holders of the Bachelor’s degree may be admitted to College courses and register as Graduate Special Students. Permission to register must be secured from the Dean of the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies. Students in this category are not candidates for any Dartmouth degree.

Grades: Course work and grades are only one component of graduate education, and the grading system is designed to reflect this. The following grades will be used in courses acceptable for credit toward a graduate degree:

HP: High Pass, indicating work of quality which is distinctly superior to that normally expected of a graduate student.

P: Pass, indicating work of good quality, worthy of graduate credit. This would be the most common grade denoting satisfactory graduate performance.

LP: Low Pass, indicating work which is acceptable for graduate credit, but in which the student exhibited one or more serious deficiencies. Graduate programs may limit the number of LP grades acceptable for a degree.

CT: Credit, indicating satisfactory work in certain courses, such as research courses, in which assignment of a grade of HP, P, or LP is considered inappropriate. The grade CT is not intended as a routine alternative to the HP, P, and LP system, and CT is the only passing grade in a course in which it is used. Approval of the use of CT in any course must be obtained from the Council on Graduate Studies by the graduate department offering the course.

NC: No Credit, indicating work which is not acceptable for graduate credit.

When it is not possible to assign a grade in a course at the end of the term, the instructor may request permission to record the temporary status of Incomplete. Use of Incomplete will require approval of the Graduate Registrar and the request must include an agreed upon completion date. All Incompletes for any term must be removed by the end of the following term and may be extended only upon approval of the Dean of Guarini School. Incomplete grades which have not been resolved by submission of a permanent grade will revert to No Credit after the stated deadline.

The designation ON (On-going) may be used when the work of a course extends beyond the limit of a single term, such as in Research Rotation. All ON grades must be resolved before the degree is awarded.

Graduate students enrolled in courses for which they are not receiving graduate credit will be graded using the undergraduate grading system.

Transfer of Credit: Upon recommendation of the department accepting the student for graduate work, credit for graduate courses (not research) taken may be granted by the Dean of the Guarini School. No more than three of the courses required for the Master’s degree or more than six for the PhD degree may be fulfilled in this way.

Course Changes: Courses may be added, dropped, or exchanged with no charge at any time during the first two weeks of the term. The dropping of courses after the first two weeks of a term requires permission of the adviser and the Graduate Registrar. Appropriate forms for adding or dropping a course are available from the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies and from departmental and program offices.

It is expected that the requirements for the PhD degree will be completed no later than seven years after initial enrollment, unless the student enters with a Master’s Degree in his or her field of proposed study, in which case the student is expected to complete the doctorate in five years. Failure to complete the work in the time periods specified or failure to meet the academic standards of the student’s graduate program shall necessitate revaluation of the student’s progress and may result in a notice of termination.