The Graduate Student Portal (https://gradforms.ucsd.edu) is the Graduate Division's repository for student information and petitions forms, such as financial support letters, annual evaluations, and request for a leave of absence. Login with your single-sign-on to view your information or submit a form.
Contact the MFA graduate coordinator if you have questions about items in the Student Portal.
Good academic standing is a requirement for holding an academic appointment; receiving support in the form of teaching assistantships, fellowships, or grants; advancing to candidacy for a graduate degree; taking a leave of absence; and receiving a graduate degree from UCSD.
To be in good academic standing a student must meet departmental and graduate studies standards, as follows:
Graduate students who are not in good academic standing for any reason are subject to probation and/or disqualification from further graduate study.
A student must be enrolled full-time to receive support in the form of grants and fellowships and to be eligible for student loans, health insurance, housing, and teaching assistantships at 50% time.
To be considered full-time, a student must be registered for at least 12 units of graduate level or upper-division coursework each quarter until the degree is completed. Lower-division units do not count.
MFA in Writing students must be continuously registered from the first quarter of enrollment to completion of the degree requirements. The program's academic year consists of Fall, Winter and Spring quarters; the program goes on hiatus during the summer months. Failure to register without an approved petition for Leave of Absence or Withdrawal constitutes evidence of withdrawal from the program and UCSD.
The MFA must be completed within 9 quarters. All quarters of full-time or part-time enrollment count toward the time limit. The time limit is affected by the following:
Students in good academic standing are eligible for a maximum of 9 quarters of financial support. Summer funding, when available, does not count toward the nine-quarter limit.
Generally, the University of California allows its graduate students a maximum of 18 quarters to complete all graduate degrees. Many doctoral programs are designed to be completed in 18 quarters of time/support; therefore, if you pursue a PhD at UC after you complete the MFA, you may have to complete it in 9 quarters instead of 18.
Also note that an MFA is a terminal degree. There is no overlap between an MFA and a progressive academic degree such as an MA-PhD. Course credit used for an MFA cannot also fulfill the requirements for a PhD.
The MFA in Writing can be completed in 6 quarters. If you opt to complete it in 9 quarters you will have extra units that will not have been used for the degree and that may be transferable to a PhD program. You must petition the other program to accept the transfer units.