Choosing an Advisor

Usually the Graduate Director is assigned to serve as the student's advisor for the first term, except in the case of Graduate Assistants, who are assigned to the faculty member who obtained the research grant supporting the assistantship.

For Graduate Fellows, Teaching Assistants and other full-time students, the procedure for finding an advisor is as follows. During the first semester at Rutgers, students should inquire about the research currently being done by the faculty of the department to determine research areas of interest. To do this, first the student has to meet with the Graduate Director and identify a general area of interest. The Graduate Director will then require the student to speak with various faculty members in a specific area to determine possible topics for a thesis. After a faculty member has agreed to guide a thesis/dissertation, the student informs the Graduate Director. The faculty member will then become the student's advisor. Students are required to determine an area of interest and get the consent of an advisor before the end of the first semester.

M.S. students in the Plan B (nonthesis) option have the Graduate Director as their advisor for the duration of their studies.

Selecting Courses

In determining the courses you plan to take please note that only a subset of our graduate courses is taught every year. Other courses are offered on a 3 to 4 semester cycle. Some advanced courses are offered less regularly. The list of courses offered in a particular semester are posted online in the MAE web site and in the Rutgers Schedule of Classes. These courses will be cancelled if the number of students wishing to take the course is below five. Thus, students who are particularly interested in a given course should register in it during the preregistration period.

Click here for the list of courses offered this academic year. For a typical two year course offering click here. This two year course offering list is intended to be a guide for students to make their study plans for the next two years. Click here for descriptions of all courses.

Please make sure that you satisfy the course requirements in the M.S. and Ph.D. programs.

Changing Advisors

A related question that sometimes is asked is: How do I change advisors? The question arises, for example, when a student finds that he/she is more interested in a research topic in an area different from the one initially selected. In such cases, the student should contact the Graduate Director who, after determining the reason for the desired change, will describe the options available to the student. In most cases, all the student has to do is find a faculty member in the desired area who is willing to serve as an advisor. There are some practical problems associated with these changes. One is the time loss. Another is the possible loss of support for GAs. Neither loss is desirable. Students are encouraged to make their initial selections as carefully as possible. If a change does become necessary, contact the Graduate Director as soon as possible for advice and help.

Extra Work

It should be understood by all students who are supported in any way at Rutgers that we view graduate study to be a full-time activity. This means that all students must have the agreement of their research advisors for any work done, and any courses taken, anywhere. Anyone not following these guidelines is subject to dismissal from the graduate program and subject to actions taken by the University in recovery of costs incurred by the University in support of student's studies.

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