Plan of Study FAQ

• What is a Plan of Study?

  A Plan of Study serves as a contract between a student and the university. Graduate education at OSU is highly personalized, and your POS is the blueprint for successful completion of your degree requirements.

• When is the deadline for submitting my plan of study to the Graduate College?

  The original Plan of Study must be submitted to the Graduate College prior to the completion of the second semester (excluding summer sessions) of enrollment for a Master’s degree.

  The original Plan of Study must be submitted to the Graduate College prior to the end of the third semester (excluding summer sessions) of enrollment for a Doctoral degree.

• What happens if my Plan of Study is not submitted by that time?
  A hold will be placed on your future enrollment until a Plan of Study is submitted.
• How soon will the hold be removed so I will be able to enroll once I submit my Plan of Study?
  Once your advisor has approved the plan of study, the hold can be removed. Please contact our office when the advisor approves the plan as we are only notified when everyone has approved the plan.
• Where do I find a Plan of Study?

  Graduate students submitting their first original plan of study should use the Online Plan of Study. The online Plan of Study application (Round-Up) is an interactive web form designed to make the process of completing and submitting a plan of study more transparent and prevent common mistakes. The link to the online Plan of Study can be found here. 

• How do I log into the online Plan of Study? Do I need to create an account?
  The Online Plan of Study is set up so all active graduate students can access it using their O-Key login information.
• Does the Plan of Study have to be signed before I can submit it to the Graduate College?

  A Plan of Study is only valid if it has been approved by the student, advisory committee, and graduate coordinator. The Online Plan of Study has streamlined the approval process, by allowing all required approvals to be done electronically. The Graduate College does not receive notification to review the submitted plan until it has been approved by all required parties.

• What is a graduate advisory committee?

  All graduate students at OSU are required to have a Graduate Advisory Committee. Your committee will approve your proposed plan of study and work with you throughout your graduate program. Masters students must have a minimum of three people on their committee: a chair/advisor and two regular members. Doctoral students must have a minimum of four people on their committee: a chair/advisor, an outside member and two regular members. The outside committee member must be a faculty member at OSU who is in a different department than you. Your advisor or graduate coordinator can assist you in selecting a committee.

• I am trying to create my committee, but I can't find my advisor?

  On the committee page, you can either search for members by last name or department. Be sure you have the last name spelled correctly. Sometimes it is easier to enter a department name, then pick from the generated list. The Online Plan of Study does not recognize department acronyms, so it will not find “IEM” or “HDFS”. You can however simply enter the first part of the name, for example “NREM” will yield no results but “Natural Resource” should pull up every eligible faculty member in Natural Resource Ecology and Management. Please remember that only individuals who are current members of the Graduate Faculty at OSU can serve on graduate advisory committees. The Online Plan of Study pulls faculty information directly from the Graduate Faculty Database.

• I am not sure when I will be done. Why do I need to pick an expected graduation date?

  We understand that the further away from graduation you are the harder it is to predict your later courses and graduation date. You simply need to provide the best estimate you can for the courses as well as your expected graduation date. For purpose of the Online Plan of Study, the expected graduation date is used in establishing a timeframe for calculations. You will not be allowed to enter courses in any semester after your expected graduation date. And you will not be allowed to enter courses in any semester more than ten years earlier than your expected graduation date.

• I am an international student required to take ENGL0003. Do I need to list this class on the Plan of Study?

  Yes. If the successful completion of ENGL 0003 or ENGL 4893 was a condition of your admission, those courses need to be listed on the Plan of Study. ENGL 4893 can be entered like a regular graduate course through the search function. ENGL 0003 will have to be entered manually in the “Transfer / Non-Graduate Courses” section at the bottom of the Update Courses screen. ENGL 0003 must be listed on the plan with 0 credit hours. 

• I am transferring hours from another university. How do I enter those courses?

  Transfer courses should be entered individually in the “Transfer / Non-Graduate Courses” section at the bottom of the Update Courses screen. Be sure to enter all information for the course(s) as it appears on the transcript from the institution where the credits were earned. You do not need to match transfer courses to equivalent courses at Oklahoma State University. Courses with P/F grades are not eligible as transfer credits. All grades listed for transfer must be a "B" or better and meet the standard criteria. 

• What happens if a hold has been placed on my enrollment and I have to enroll immediately before my class if ull, but I can't submit a Plan of Study because...
  . . . I haven’t been able to form a committee yet
  . . . I can’t find everyone to sign my Plan of Study 
  . . . Etc.
  You may request a one-semester waiver of submission of your Plan of Study with permission of your department. To receive the waiver you will need to complete and submit a Request for Extension to Submit a Plan of Study form, which is available in the Graduate Student Canvas Community or at the reception area in our main office. This form will need to be signed by you as well as your advisor or departmental graduate coordinator
• I submitted a waiver form but my enrollment hold is still in place, why?

  Your hold will not be removed until a Plan of Study is submitted. However, the effective semester has been moved forward to the following semester to allow you to enroll for the upcoming semester. Also, a statement explaining that a one-semester waiver has been granted has been added to your enrollment hold information

• Once I submit a Plan of Study, how will I know if it has been approved?

  When submitting your original Plan of Study using the online application, you will receive email confirmations for each step. You will receive an email confirming your online Plan of Study was successfully submitted when you complete the submission process online, Once your committee and coordinator have approved the plan online, it will be moved onto the graduate college for approval. When the Plan of Study is approved you will receive another email. And you can log in to the Online Plan of Study (Round-Up) at any time to see the current status of your plan

• When do I submit a revised Plan of Study to the Graduate College

  At the beginning of the Semester of graduation. The exact deadline for submitting the revise Plan of Study and the Graduation Clearance form for a given semester can be found on the Graduate College Academic Calendar, in the Graduate Student Canvas Community.

• How do I revise my Plan of Study

  If your Plan of Study was submitted and approved in the Online Plan of Study application (Round-Up), you can simply log in and revise the approved plan. The system will load the complete plan that has been approved and allow you to make changes then resubmit. You will need to follow the procedure for submitting the Plan of Study exactly as before. If you wish to revise your plan of study, but you do not have a current plan of study in the online system, you can submit the update plan using the online Plan of Study application but you will need to enter everything from scratch.

  If you need to submit a revised version of an already approved paper plan of study, you may mark out any courses that you no longer need to take to earn your degree, and neatly print (if any). Then all you need is to have your advisor initial next to each change you have made on the Plan. The student and Department Head (or Graduate Coordinator) also has to re-sign or initial by their original signatures. If there are so many changes needed they can not neatly be made on the original form, then you are encouraged to fill out a completely new form. If this happens you will need to secure all the signatures again.

• Do I need to submit a revised Plan of Study if I need to make a change in my committee?
  No. There is another form, the Committee Change Request Form. which is specific for that purpose and which can be submitted anytime a change is need. This form is also available on the Graduate College website as well as in the main office. Even if you submitted your plan of study using the online POS application, you must use the paper committee change request form for any changes to the graduate advisory committee. We are currently working on the development of an electronic process for change of committee
• I am approaching the end of the time limit for completing my degree. Do I just submit a revised Plan of Study with a new expected graduation date?

  No. Masters students have seven years to complete their degree and doctoral students nine. You need to work closely with your advisor to complete your degree program within the appropriate time frame. Graduate Course work is valid for ten years, so when you submit your revised plan of study no courses can be used that were taken more than ten years before your graduating semester. If you will not be able to complete your degree within the time limit, you will need to contact the Graduate College