Graduate Student Forms

Independent Study Form Process

Students interested in an independent study are required to discuss their proposed independent study with a computer science faculty member prior to submitting the form. An outside faculty member may only be added as a secondary evaluator. After a faculty member agrees to the independent study project, the student is required to complete the graduate independent study form, which can be found here.

We recommend you submit your independent study application three business days before the add/drop deadline. If the independent study form is submitted after the add/drop deadline, it may take up to 10 days to be enrolled. Independent study submissions received after the "last day to drop with DR" according to the academic calendar, will be enrolled in the following semester.

Check out the Independent Study FAQ created for MS students by PhD students with help and input from MS Advising and the graduate programs office. 

Course Add/Drop Form

The deadlines to add/drop a course, including late drop, can be found here, while the add/drop form can be found here. If it is after the final add/drop date, students will need to fill out and obtain a faculty instructor signature on this form, then email the form to the graduate school at gradrec [at] grad [dot] umass [dot] edu (gradrec[at]grad[dot]umass[dot]edu). If you have any questions, please contact the graduate programs assistant, Kyle Skemer, at ehamel [at] cs [dot] umass [dot] edu (k)kskemer [at] cs [dot] umass [dot] edu (skemer[at]umass[dot]edu).

Dissertation Credits

Enrollment in dissertation credits is by permission only. During the fall and spring semesters, doctoral students should request enrollment. Students do not need to request more than 18 dissertation credits throughout their program. Your grade will automatically be recorded by the Graduate School as "IP" until you successfully defend your thesis, then it will change to SAT. A doctoral candidate must spend the equivalent of at least one continuous academic year of full-time graduate work (nine credits per semester) in residence at the university. The residency year must be either in a Fall/Spring or Spring/Fall sequence; during this year, the student must spend some part of each week physically on campus. 

Waiver of Core Requirements

Students who have taken courses that are nearly identical to those used to satisfy core requirements may request waivers of those core requirements using this form. The minimum grade required for a core waiver is a B in the course previously taken. Download and complete the PDF form below. Complete a form for each waiver request. If you are making multiple requests at the same time, the form must reflect the other requests. Once all sections of this form have been completed, email the form, the syllabus and your transcript to a faculty member who typically teaches the course corresponding to the core(s) you wish to have waived. Once the faculty member has signed the form, route your waiver form to Kyle Skemer at kskemer [at] umass [dot] edu (kskemer[at]umass[dot]edu) for processing.

• Waiver of Core Requirements Form

Master's Project and/or Synthesis Proposal

For a stand-alone Master's Project, a stand-alone Synthesis Proposal, or a combined Master's Project and Synthesis Proposal, please submit this online form.

Portfolio Report (MS/PhD or PhD only)

If you are submitting your portfolio, you will need to submit this document as part of your portfolio.

Travel Grant Application

Funds may be awarded to students only if they are presenting work done at UMass at a conference or meeting. "Presenting" refers to either delivering an oral presentation or serving as the primary presenter of a poster for a full paper (not an extended abstract or workshop paper) at a conference. Merely attending, even as a co-author, does not qualify for funding. The amount of funding varies from year to year and there is no guarantee of funding. The program director determines the amount of each travel grant.

Applications for PhD students must be initialed by your faculty advisor on page 3, and include a brief justification in the field below if advisor is not providing funding.  It is normally expected that grant-funded research has travel paid from the grant. MS-only students are not required to include advisor funding information.

Completed applications are to be submitted to the graduate programs assistant Kyle Skemer at kskemer [at] umass [dot] edu (subject: Travel%20Grant%20Application) (kskemer[at]umass[dot]edu) prior to travel. Forms can be submitted electronically and must include an employee ID number (if you have one). Decisions are sent to the student, the grant administrator for the student's faculty advisor, and the CICS business manager via email with instructions on how to receive the award. 

If a travel grant is approved, the student must also register their travel via Concur (https://www.umassp.edu/travel-and-expense/travel-registration), entering their faculty advisor as an approver. MS students should enter their MS advisor as an approver. All travel must be approved via Concur prior to travel dates. These instructions are also included in travel grant approval emails, along with the appropriate contacts.

Students should arrange travel themselves and save all receipts and boarding passes for reimbursement. All receipts must be in your name - travel expenses paid for by anyone other than the student approved for a travel grant are ineligible for reimbursement. Students may also need a visa to travel outside the U.S. Please allow extra time for visa processing. 

Reimbursement is handed by your faculty advisor's grant administrator, or the CICS business manager for MS-only students. All receipts should be submitted to grant administrator or business manager listed in your travel grant approval email for reimbursement. Once reimbursements are processed, the funds are added to a paycheck and deposited into a bank account on file. Reimbursement cannot be issued prior to travel.

• Travel Grant Application Form

Transfer Course Credit Form

Completed transfer of credit forms should be sent to kskemer [at] umass [dot] edu (subject: Travel%20Grant%20Application) (kskemer[at]umass[dot]edu).

We strongly encourage students to submit any transfers required for graduation at least one term before their expected graduation. For example, students planning on graduating at the end of the Spring semester should submit any necessary transfers during the prior Fall semester. Transfers often require multiple signatures and verifications from departments outside CICS; this process can take multiple weeks, and we cannot guarantee that transfer forms submitted during a student's expected graduation term will be processed in time for graduation.

1. Please select the form that is appropriate for the transfer. The Graduate School transfer policy can be viewed here, and various forms can be accessed here.
2. If the student is transferring courses from the Computer Science undergraduate program or other UMass Amherst program, they need to contact their undergraduate program manager to save the courses PRIOR to graduation. This cannot be changed after graduation.
3. If the student is transferring course credit from outside the University of Massachusetts Amherst, they should request that an official transcript be sent to the UMass Amherst Graduate School Records Department from the institution where the original course was taken. If the transcript does not clearly indicate that the credits being transferred were not used towards a degree, students may also be required to submit a letter from that institution verifying this.
4. Non-University of Massachusetts Amherst transfer credits may be used to fulfill elective or departmental course requirements. These courses may not, however, be used to satisfy the 600-800 level requirement, nor can the grade received in a course taken at another institution be used to satisfy the university's requirement for letter-graded credits.
5. Students should not request signatures/approvals for transfer forms. Completed forms should be sent to the graduate programs assistant, Kyle Skemer (kskemer [at] umass [dot] edu (kskemer[at]umass[dot]edu)), who will verify forms and route them for the necessary approvals.
6. Please allow up to six weeks for the form to be circulated for signatures and sent to the Graduate School Registrar. In some cases, this may take longer

UMass Amherst undergraduates may only transfer a graduate course into the master's program if it was not applied to the undergraduate degree. Undergraduates must contact the undergraduate program manager prior to the end of their last semester in order to request the course(s) be set aside for transfer. An UMass Amherst undergraduate may transfer such a graduate course assigned a "pass" if the underlying grade is a C or better. The graduate transfer form must be submitted according to the deadlines above.