Before Your First Term

• Be sure to visit Newly Admitted Students page as it will be helpful in preparing to come to Texas Tech University.
• Read the University Catalog - The University Catalog is a wealth of information during your time at TTU. Please familiarize yourself with the Graduate school section of the catalog. The catalog can be found here: http://catalog.ttu.edu/. The graduate school section can be found here.
• Transfer Coursework and Degree Plan - During your first year at TTU, you will be expected to complete a Degree Plan form. This form is a tentative road map towards your degree. Your department and advisor will help you choose the courses for your degree plan, and determine which courses can transfer and be used towards your degree. Be sure to submit official transcripts and list what courses you will use according to these guidelines.
  
  A certified line-by-line credential evaluation must be provided for international coursework you wish to transfer towards your degree. Please visit https://www.naces.org/members for a list of accredited credential evaluation providers.

During Your Program

• Degree Plan - 
  • Your degree plan should be completed within the first year at Texas Tech. The degree plan is a tentative outline of the courses you will take during your degree and lists any transfer work that will count towards your degree. Similarly, this should list your committee and thesis title if known. Your advisor should submit your degree plan to the graduate school directly.

• Dates and Deadlines
  • Students are expected to be familiar with dates and deadlines. The TTU academic calendar can be found here: https://www.depts.ttu.edu/officialpublications/calendar/
  • For graduating students, please refer to the Graduation Deadlines tab on this website as well as the "Completing your degree" section.
• Continuous Enrollment
  • The continuous enrollment requirement is a Texas Tech University policy regarding how many hours a student should enroll in each term. Full-time for a Doctoral student is typically between 9 and 13 hours and for other graduate students, 9 and 16 hours.
  • The continuous enrollment requirement varies from each student based on a number of factors. The details of this requirement can be viewed here. But for most students, if you are receiving University funding, you must be enrolled full time. If you have begun Thesis or Dissertation hours, you must enroll in 6000 or 8000-level courses each term, including summer, until you graduate. In your final term, you should enroll in 3 hours.
  • Qualifying Exam for Doctoral Students and Admission to Candidacy.
• Changing or Adding Programs
  • Texas Tech University offers a number of different certificates and majors. If you wish to change programs or add another program to your degree, you must submit a new application through our Admissions portal here. This includes but is not limited to adding new levels of study and enrolling in certificate programs offered at Texas Tech. This includes but is not limited to adding new levels of study and enrolling in certificate programs offered at Texas Tech. https://catalog.ttu.edu/content.php?catoid=2&navoid=188#about-the-graduate-school
• Registration Changes
  • Adding or dropping a course: Open registration for a given term begins in the prior semester and stays open until about the first week of classes. Beyond this date, your advisor can add or drop courses by requesting them in Sharepoint.
  • If a student has sat out for a semester, either on an approved leave of absence or due to withdrawing from the university, students must be readmitted to the graduate school. Complete and follow the instructions on this form.
  • Time Ticket errors may occur when a student's graduation date is not updated in the system. If you are having this error, please change your graduation date in Raiderlink or request your advisor to Submit a Change of Graduation Date request.

Completing Your Degree

• Apply to Graduate
  • The application to graduate is mandatory for all students intending to graduate. You can apply up to one year in advance. The application to graduate initiates the audit process at the graduate school, and the deadline is strict. Failure to apply by the given semester's deadline will result in extending your graduation to the next term. You can Apply Here to graduate.
  • If you receive an error message that you have no terms available, you have either already applied or your graduation date needs to be updated. You can do this in your Raiderlink MyTech tab in the Current Term section.
• Master's Non-Thesis Comprehensive Evaluation
  • The Comprehensive Evaluation can be administered in a number of ways that the department feels most appropriate to the student's field of study. Regardless of how the comprehensive evaluation is administered, the Report on Comprehensive Evaluation should be submitted to the graduate school by the student's advisor via the Sharepoint portal.
  • The comprehensive Evaluation must be successfully passed in order to graduate. Please refer to the TTU Catalog for more information on the Comprehensive Evaluation.

FAQs