Carnegie Mellon University

ACADEMIC CONCERNS:

Academic Advising. The academic advising and support for the scholars will be handled by the Associate Dean of the respective college or by a designated departmental administrator where appropriate.  As students are required to complete their degree requirements in the normal period of time, this advising is not expected to involve considerable adjustments in sequencing of courses or other expectations to normal graduation requirements.  It is expected that the scholars will have support in registration for courses, although this will not in any way supersede or interfere with the priority of other students within their home departments.  Scholars may not pursue a graduate degree during the fifth year.  Prior to formally accepting the scholarship offer, students will complete a checklist which includes reviewing their proposed academic schedule with their advisor, making arrangements with either department for access to specific courses, and articulating their community involvement activities.

Class Designation. For Registrar’s Office purposes, the scholars will be listed as 5th year seniors and will continue to receive mailings that the other seniors receive - i.e., commencement information and registration materials.  For alumni purposes, the scholars will be listed with the class they choose: the class they would have graduated with or their fifth year class.

Commencement. Scholars will have the option of participating in the commencement ceremonies with their classmates (those of the four-year program), without receiving their diplomas until the completion of the fifth year.  Scholars may walk in commencement and receive their diplomas at the conclusion of the regular period of study as well; or scholars may choose to participate in the commencement ceremonies at the end of the fifth year, instead of at the end of the fourth year.

QPA and Certification. A scholar will be given the option of receiving his/her actual degree at the completion of the fourth year, or at the completion of the fifth year.  By delaying certification of the degree, a Fifth Year Scholar may work on completing an additional minor or improving his or her QPA in the fifth year.  If a scholar opts to receive degree certification at the end of the fourth year (or fifth year for architecture), his/her cumulative QPA ends at that time although grades and QPA for the fifth year will be listed on the transcript, separate from the scholar’s previous four (or five) years of study.  (For example, if John Scholar receives his degree certification at the of the fifth year, the grade report for his first semester grades in his fifth year would list the semester’s grades, then the semester QPA, then the cumulative QPA, which would include the quality points from that semester’s grades.  If Jane Scholar receives her degree certification at the end of her fourth year, her first semester grade report for the fifth year would list her grades, and the term’s QPA.  The cumulative QPA space would list the QPA from the previous four of five years of study.)

Senior Academic Honors and Awards. Honors for senior research or thesis projects will be conferred at the end of the normal period of study.  Commencement honors, such as university and college honors, will be conferred in the year in which the scholar receives his or her diploma.