You will need to follow these steps along the path to the Ph.D.
Throughout this process, feedback from your advisor and from the faculty as a whole will be very important to you. The GSC meets at the beginning of each semester. At those meetings, Research Qualification proposals will be reviewed and approved and the overall progress of each Ph.D. student will be evaluated. Students will be informed if their performance is not satisfactory. Any student whose progress is deemed unsatisfactory for two consecutive semesters will be terminated from the Ph.D. program.
A Ph.D. student is eligible to receive the MSCS degree upon completion of all Graduate School requirements for the Master's degree. Check the MSCS degree requirements if you wish to pursue this option.
| Milestone | Time Since Admission |
| Completion of diversity program | 1.5 - 2 years |
| Submission of Research Qualification proposal | 2 - 2.5 years |
| Admission to candidacy | 2.5 - 3.5 years |
| Dissertation defense | 3 - 5 years |
Please Note:
Graduate students are limited to 14 long semesters of employment as TA/AI/GRA's.
http://www.utexas.edu/ogs/employment/conditions.html
Petitions may be submitted for exceptions to the fourteen-semester limit on student academic employment under the following conditions:
1. The student's dissertation committee reviews the status of the dissertation at the end of the twelfth semester of employment and reports that status in writing to the GSC. Please see http://www.cs.utexas.edu/academics/graduate/forms/ for the necessary departmental form.
Before a student begins a 13th semester of employment a report written by the student and faculty adviser, which was circulated and approved by the student's committee, should be sent to the graduate advisor. The graduate adviser also needs to receive evidence all members of the committee approved the report. As the requirement is to 'report the status in writing to the GSC' the report should be sent prior to the GSC meetings in January and August. Please observe deadlines sent in the Graduate Newsletter.
2. During the fourteenth semester of employment, the dissertation committee, on behalf of the GSC, hears a presentation by the student, reviews the progress made by the student since the twelfth semester report, and determines via recorded vote whether a petition will be submitted.
3. The petition for exception to the fourteen semester limit will include the twelfth semester status report, a fourteenth semester progress report, a plan for completion not to exceed two long semesters into the future, the vote of the dissertation committee, and an explanation for any dissenting votes. Please see http://www.cs.utexas.edu/academics/graduate/forms/ for the necessary departmental form.
4. The petition is submitted to the Graduate School jointly by the GSC Chair and the Graduate Adviser.
5. The Graduate School will approve petitions only under extraordinary academic circumstances.
The 99 Hour Rule
The "99 hour rule" refers to the implementation of Senate Bill 961, passed by the Seventy-fifth Legislature. It is the rule that students at UT Austin with over 99 doctoral hours may be subject to the payment of nonresident tuition.
http://www.utexas.edu/ogs/publications/policies/99in99.html
Ph.D. students may apply for travel grants from a departmental fund allocated to support their travel to present papers at conferences. To apply for such a grant: