Progressing Through the AEE Grad Program

Acceptance Notification - As soon as you are admitted into the graduate program, you will receive notification from the Graduate School notifying you of your acceptance into the Graduate Program. You will also receive  your Unity ID and password. This information is critical. You need to tattoo it on your arm (not really but you will use this information often).  The NCSU student computer system is known as Unity. So your Unity ID will be needed when you access private information on the computer system. The password will also be needed. This information will not change during your academic career. 

Temporary Adviser - Shortly after being notified of your acceptance by the Graduate School, you will receive correspondence from the Department of Agricultural and Extension Education. In this correspondence you will  be assigned a temporary adviser. You will need to contact the temporary advisor.  He or she will help you in selecting what courses to initially take. Before talking with your adviser, it might be wise to look and see what courses are available. If you click on the Graduate Courses link to the right (or here), there should be a link to the course offerings for the semester. After you and your adviser determine the course load, he or she will give you a pin number. You will need this in addition to your Unity ID and password to register for classes. Your pin number changes every semester. Therefore, you will have to contact your adviser for advising every semester before registering for classes. 

Registering for Class - All registration is done electronically. When you are ready to register, go online to the Department of Records and Registration (http://www.ncsu.edu/registrar/). At this site you will click on the Pack Tracks logo to log into the registration screen. You will have to provide your Unity ID, password and pin number. The process for registering is fairly straight forward. However, there is an online video you can view if you want a tutorial on how to use the system. You should realize that there is a time period for registering for classes. This is typically several months before the next semester. For example, registration for spring semester occurs in mid-October. Registration for summer school and the fall semester occurs in mid-March. The university requires you to register "early" so that instructors can be arranged for classes. If you wait and register only a few weeks before classes start, you may have to pay a stiff "late registration" fee. The registration calendar dates can be found at the link near the first of this paragraph.

Taking the Class - Often the instructor of the class will send all the students registered for a class an e-mail before the class starts with instructions on how to access the class materials. If the instructor doesn't, you can always go the Department of Agricultural and Extension Education Courses web site and click on the link to the class. This will take you to the class web site. Of course it is always possible to send the instructor an e-mail requesting information if needed. Most of the courses are very logically arranged and it is easy to find the course assignments and requirements and the lessons. 

Most of our courses are arranged so that there is a specific lesson to be completed each week. In a typical graduate class on campus you are expected to spend 3 hours studying and doing assignments for each each hour you are registered. So if you were signed up for a 3 hour class on campus, you would be expected to spend 3 hours in class and 9 hours outside of class studying and completing assignments. We use the same general formula for distance education courses. So, for each 3 hours class in which you are registered, you can expect to spend about 12 hours a week engaged in the class. 

It is well documented that students in distance education classes are more likely to not complete a course than students in on-campus classes. The reason is that it takes discipline to sit down at the computer and complete the lessons. There is a temptation to procrastinate on doing the lessons. We recommend that you have a set time each week to work on the distance education class and treat that time just like you had to physically attend a class. 

If you have any questions about your course, feel free to contact the instructor by phone or e-mail. We are here to help you learn.

Establishing a Graduate Committee - By the time you reach 12 hours of graduate credit, you are to establish a graduate committee. This committee will be responsible for conducting your exit exam, reviewing your professional portfolio and guiding you through your graduate program. The Master's graduate commmittee is to be composed of three (3) faculty members; doctoral committees have four (4). At least two of the Master's committee and three of the doctoral committee members must be from the Department of Agricultural and Extension Education. The other committee member can be from the Department or can be from a minor area of study.

You have full freedom to select the facutly whom you want to serve on your committee. When you are ready to establish your committee, you will simply ask the faculty members whom you want on your committee if they are willing to serve on your committee. But first, you should identify one of the committee members to serve as your graduate chair. It would be wise to discuss your committee plans with this individual after he or she agrees to serve as your chair. Unlike many departments, we do not assign a permanent adviser or committee to you.  You should select faculty who have the experiences and expertise that match up with your career aspirations and goals. The person you select to chair the committee will be responsible for filing the appropriate paperwork at various times during your graduate program. After your committee is established, the committee chair must record that information with the Graduate School.

Establishing a Plan of Study - Immediately after the Graduate Committee is established, the Graduate School requires that a Plan of Study (also known as a Plan of Work) be established. This is simply a listing of the courses you plan to take in your degree program and when you plan to take them. Your committee chair will help you develop this plan and then your graduate committee has to approve the plan. We have a simple paper form that is used for this purpose. This document then serves as the "roadmap" to your graduate program. However, it is permissable to make changes as your graduate career progresses. 

The Exit Exam - If you are a Master's student, you will have an exit exam after you complete the courses in your plan of study. This will occur in your final semester of graduate study. You are responsible for letting your adviser know when you plan to graduate. A typical adviser could have 20 or more graduate advisees and it is hard to keep tabs on all of them. Your adviser must file paperwork with the Graduate School to schedule the exam. One of your responsibilities is to contact all your committee members to set up a date for the exam.  The exam typically must be completed at least one month before the semester is over. 

The exam has two parts. The first part of the exam will consist of general questions over your course work. The questions will focus on your conceptual understanding of the materials taught and the application of those materials. This part of the exam typically will be an hour or so. During the second part of the exam, you will present a professional portfolio to the committee. This portolio will contain examples of your work showing that you have applied the knowledge that you have been taught. Detailed information about the portfolio requirements can be found in the online student handbook.
At then end of the exam, the student has to complete a diploma request form. This form is used to print the name on the diploma and for listing your name in the graduation program. 

Doctoral students have a comprehensive general exam at the completion of the major courses. This exam is a 16 hour written exam followed by a two hour oral exam. The graduate adviser is responsible for advising students on how to prepare for the exam. After successful completion of the exam, the doctoral student then conducts a major research study and prepares a dissertation (which is a report of the research) and then experiences a final exam (dissertation defense) that focuses on the research project. 

Graduation - The University has one graduation ceremony in May for spring graduates and one in December for summer and fall graduates. At these times, there is a huge university wide graduation progam in the RBC Center for all students. The Department then holds a smaller graduation program later in the day where students actually receive their diplomas. You will receive correspondence from the university regarding these ceremonies. 

After graduation, if you are applying for a North Carolina "M" teaching license, you are responsible for completing the paper work requesting this. It doesn't automatically happen.