Texas A&M University Graduate Catalog

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Degree Information

The Degree of Master of Science

Thesis Defense/Final Examination

The candidate must pass a final examination by dates announced each semester or summer term in the Office of Graduate Studies Calendar. To be eligible to take the final examination, a student's GPR must be at least 3.000 for courses on the degree plan and for all courses completed at Texas A&M which are eligible to be applied to a graduate degree, and there must be no unabsolved grades of D, F or U for any course listed on the degree plan . To absolve a deficient grade, the student must have repeated the course at Texas A&M University and have achieved a grade of C or better. All course work on the degree plan must have been completed with the exception of those hours for which the student is registered. Additionally, all English Language Proficiency requirements must be satisfied prior to scheduling the examination. An approved thesis proposal must be on file in the Office of Graduate Studies according to published deadlines.

The final examination covers the thesis and all work taken on the degree plan and at the option of the committee may be written or oral or both. The final examination may not be administered before the thesis is available to all members of the student's advisory committee in substantially final form, and all members have had adequate time to review the document. The examination is conducted by the student's advisory committee as finally constituted. Thesis option students must be registered in the University in the semester or summer term in which the final examination is taken. Persons other than members of the graduate faculty may, with mutual consent of the candidate and the major professor, attend final examinations for advanced degrees. Upon completion of the questioning of the candidate, all visitors must excuse themselves from the proceedings. A positive vote by all members of the graduate committee with at most one dissension is required to pass a student on his or her exam. A department, or interdisciplinary degree program, may have a stricter requirement provided there is consistency within all degree programs within a department or interdisciplinary program.

A request for permission to hold and announce the final examination must be submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies a minimum of 10 working days in advance of the scheduled date for the examination. Examinations which are not completed and reported as satisfactory to the Office of Graduate Studies within 10 working days of the scheduled examination date will be recorded as failures. A student may be given only one opportunity to repeat the final examination for the master's degree and that must be within a time period that does not extend beyond the end of the next regular semester (summer terms are excluded).

Thesis option candidates may petition to be exempt from their final examination provided their degree plan GPR is 3.500 or greater and they have the approval of the advisory committee, the head of the student's major department, or intercollegiate faculty, if appropriate, and the Office of Graduate Studies. It is recommended that the petition for exemption be submitted the same semester the student intends to submit the thesis. Non-thesis option students cannot be exempted from their final examination. The Master of Science in Educational Human Resource Development, HRD option, and the Master of Science Program in the Mays Business School do not have final examination requirements.