Ohio State is in the process of revising websites and program materials to accurately reflect compliance with the law. While this work occurs, language referencing protected class status or other activities prohibited by Ohio Senate Bill 1 may still appear in some places. However, all programs and activities are being administered in compliance with federal and state law.

After You Have Been Admitted

Upon admission, students should:

  1. Formally accept your offer of admission by contacting the Graduate Studies Coordinator at history@osu.edu. You should also accept via your Buckeyelink page. Fellowship recipients must also notify Katherine Eckstrand (eckstrand.1@osu.edu) of their acceptance.
  2. Inform the Graduate Studies Office of any change in your status. Make sure you provide a mailing address, telephone number, and e-mail address where you can be reached during the summer. If you need to defer your enrollment, please notify the office immediately. Your application can be reactivated for two additional sesters without further fees.
  3. Consult with your assigned advisor to discuss your proposed program of study and its requirents. Identify which courses you need to take and when they are available. Consider which Autumn Sester courses you will take.
  4. Register for courses at least a full week (seven days) before the first day of classes. You may register before you arrive on campus. If you have questions about logistics, please contact the Graduate Studies Coordinator.
  5. After arriving on campus, inform the Graduate Studies Coordinator of your local address and telephone number, and keep th current thereafter. After you establish your OSU e-mail account, please check it regularly.
  6. During your first year of study, you should define your major field of concentration and at least one of your minor fields. Students should carefully consider the ways in which their minor fields will reinforce or supplent the major field and lay a foundation for their professional careers.
  7. Be aware that intellectual interests mature and change during the course of study. A student may change advisors, provided another faculty mber agrees to accept him/her as an advisee. Forms for changing advisors are available in the Graduate Studies Office or online from the departmental website.
  8. Keep a copy of this Graduate Handbook throughout your course of study here at OSU. It contains the rules under which you entered—they do change from time to time, but the rules in place when you enrolled will continue to apply to you. For more information, see Section 5 of the <>Graduate School Handbook.

Orientation

New students should attend BOTH the Graduate School’s welcome session and the History Department’s new student orientation. Both take place at the beginning of Autumn Sester. For those students entering the program with Graduate Associateships, there is a mandatory teaching workshop, sponsored by the University Center for the Advancent of Teaching (UCAT), during the week before classes begin.

Faculty will ordinarily be available for advice about programs of study during the weel before classes commence.

Advisor/Advisee Relationship

The advisor/advisee relationship is one of the most widely recognized factors in a successful graduate experience. Some of the more important responsibilities include the following:

Advisors

  • maintain regular communication with advisees while advisors are in residence or on leave,
  • be aware, each sester, of the curricular choices of advisees,
  • articulate and respect established deadlines,
  • check GPAs and other performance measures,
  • mentor advisees, share lessons learned by professional experience, and guide advisees into the profession.

Advisees

  • initiate regular communication with advisor while advisee is at OSU or elsewhere,
  • inform advisor, at the beginning of the sester, of the courses the student has enrolled in,
  • learn and respect established deadlines and Graduate School protocols,
  • arrange for letters of recommendation and signatures with sufficient time in advance (at least 2 weeks)
  • actively explore professional opportunities that lead to achievent and growth.

The program includes multiple opportunities to assess student progress and overall intellectual development. Advisors and advisees should consult regularly throughout the year and graduate students are responsible for completing annual reports yearly. In addition, the following three landmark consultations should be scheduled as indicated:

  1. At the end of each acadic year, the student must complete a report on his/her progress.
  2. During the second sester of study, the student should meet with his/her advisor to discuss progress to date and plans for the coming year. For students entering with a B.A., this meeting typically includes specific discussion of the M.A.
  3. During the second year, the student should meet with his/her advisor and other mbers of his/her Ph.D. general examination committee to discuss progress to date and plans for the coming year.

In consultation with their advisors, students entering with a B.A. will work with three successive committees at OSU: the M.A. committee, the general examination committee, and the dissertation committee. Students entering with an M.A. will work with the latter two. Fields have varying expectations for completion times of the MA and general exams, and students should consult their advisors to learn these expectations.

Change of Advisor

Should a student wish to change advisors, he or she should contact the Graduate Studies Coordinator. A simple consent form will then be sent to the prospective advisor. The student should notify the former advisor of this change.