PhD Milestones and Academic Progress

To remain within the ECE PhD Program, students must continue to make acceptable academic progress. Acceptable progress includes meeting certain milestones within the program, including the following:

1. Find a PhD advisor: find and maintain a PhD supervisor by the end of the first year, and the latest in the first long semester after a student has attempted 33 hours. For example, if you enter graduate school in Fall 2021 and you reach 33 hours attempted in the Spring 2023 semester, you are expected to normally have found a PhD supervisor by the beginning of the Fall 2022 semester, and the Fall 2023 semester the latest. 
2. Candidacy: advance to Candidacy typically by the end of the second year, and within one year of attempting 33 hours of academic coursework the latest.
3. Progress Review: complete the Progress Review typically within 4 years, and prior to the 9th long semester after attempting 33 hours the latest.
4. Defense: write the dissertation, complete the dissertation defense and graduate typically withing 5 years, and prior to 11th long semester after attempting 33 hours the latest.

Toward defining these expectations, “course hours” and “attempted course hours” includes any hours of coursework attempted, completed or not, while within the Graduate Program at The University of Texas at Austin—which includes graduate and undergraduate classroom courses taken for a grade or credit/no credit and individual instruction courses such as MS Report, MS Thesis, internship, research problems, and PhD Dissertation courses—and any hours of coursework to be used toward a graduate degree at The University of Texas at Austin that were taken while not within the graduate program at The University of Texas at Austin—which may include graduate coursework from another institution not used toward an undergraduate degree and graduate coursework reserved for graduate credit while still an undergraduate at The University of Texas at Austin. (Note that the 33 hours of attempted coursework discussed here with regard to the expectations for acceptable academic progress on research is not to be confused with the 30 hours of graduate level regular classroom coursework to be used for the PhD program of work, although there will be overlap.)

Academic Watch

Failure to meet milestones will result in the student being placed automatically on Academic Watch for that long semester. While under Academic Watch, a holistic review will be performed by the ECE GSC. This review will judge if the student is making acceptable academic progress, and if they are not making progress, if additional semesters of Academic Watch is warranted. There are four outcomes for students on Academic Watch.

1. The student will meet the itemized set of expectations for acceptable academic progress prior to the next long semester, and, thus, be allowed to continue within the ECE PhD Program during the next long semester. The student will be removed from Academic Watch for the next long semester, unless the student then fails to meet the itemized set of expectations for acceptable academic progress at the beginning of that next long semester.
2. The student will not meet the itemized set of expectations for academic progress prior to the next long semester but will be found by holistic review to be making acceptable academic progress already or prior to the next long semester and, thus, be allowed to continue within the ECE PhD Program. However, the student necessarily will remain on Academic Watch through the next long semester at least because of the continuing need for holistic review to judge academic progress.
3. The student will not meet the itemized set of expectations for academic progress nor be found by holistic review to be making acceptable academic prior to the next long semester, but will be granted one or more additional semesters of Academic Watch to achieve acceptable academic progress by representatives of the ECE or by the ECE GSC as a whole based on the holistic review.
4. Or the student will not meet the itemized set of expectations for academic progress nor be found by holistic review to be making acceptable academic prior to the next long semester, and will not be granted additional semesters of Academic Watch to achieve acceptable academic progress by representatives of the ECE GSC nor by the ECE GSC as a whole based on the holistic review, which will result in a recommendation for dismissal of the student from the PhD Program to the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin.

A student admitted as MSE + PhD seeking who is dismissed from the PhD Program for lack of acceptable academic progress prior to obtaining their MSE will be recommended to the Graduate School for the MSE (only) Program, providing that he/she is in good standing with respect to the MSE Program in ECE. A student admitted as PhD‐seeking only who is dismissed from the PhD Program may be recommended to the Graduate School for the MSE Program as appropriate and providing that he/she is in good standing with respect to the MSE Program in ECE.

Unless stated otherwise in a specific case, a student who has been dismissed from the ECE PhD Program, whether remaining in the MSE Program or having left the Graduate Program entirely, may be able to reapply and be admitted to the PhD Program under certain conditions if and when circumstances that lead to their dismissal change sufficiently.