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Political Science >

Degree Requirements

MA Plan A Degree Requirements
MA Plan B Degree Requirements
PhD Degree Requirements

Advancement

The Department of Political Science at the University of Hawaii has three different graduate degree programs:  Master's Degree Plan A (MA-A), for which a Master's thesis is required, Master's Degree Plan B (MA-B), for which a Master's thesis is not required, and the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) program.  To help students, advisors, the Department, and the University keep track of the student's progress in our graduate programs, the Department uses Advising Forms and Student Progress Forms.  The forms are available, on a self-service basis, on the shelf near the entry door to the Department's office in the Social Sciences Building, Room 640.  Students and faculty are invited to review all of these forms but are asked to return any form(s) that they do not use.

Both Advising Forms and Student Progress Forms are to be handled at the initiative of the student.  Completed forms should be turned in to the Secretary in the Department office.

The Student Progress Forms were designed by the University to serve the entire University.  They are required by the University's Graduate Records Office for the MA-A and Ph.D. programs but not for the MA-B program.  Both sets of forms are explained further in the following sections.  After the Graduate Chairperson signs these forms, the Graduate Secretary will forward them to the University's Graduate Records Office and retain copies for the student's files in the Department office.

The Advising Forms were designed by and for the Department to reflect the Department's policies.  They are required only within the Department.  The signed Advising Form needs to be submitted to the Graduate Secretary to work on your degree check during the semester you plan to graduate.

Advising Forms   

There is a different advising form for each degree program:

The advising forms are used to keep track of the degree requirements and the ways in which they are being fulfilled.  They are designed to assist students and faculty in the advising and registration process and to assist the Graduate Secretary and the Graduate Chairperson of the graduate programs in the degree check process, which takes place when students near completion of their degree programs. When the Department is asked by the University's Graduate Records Office to certify that the student has met the requirements for graduation, the completed Advising Forms show when and how the requirements have been fulfilled.