Grades

Candidates for the Ph.D. are required, in each year, to receive more A’s than B’s; no grade lower than B- can be counted toward the degree. More than one grade below B- clearly indicates unsatisfactory progress in the program. It is highly unusual for graduate students to receive grades below a B at UMass Amherst. If you find yourself receiving low grades in a particular course, you should speak with the GPD right away.

Incompletes 

Students should avoid taking any Incompletes (INC). Incompletes damage your chances of receiving university and outside fellowships. Even worse, Incompletes often cause students to fall further behind in their coursework and other requirements in the following semester.

Unless they experience serious medical, family, or other emergencies, students in Comparative Literature are not permitted to take more than one Incomplete per semester. Students who take two or more Incompletes in any given semester will automatically be put on Probation, which will render them ineligible for a teaching assistantship in the following semester. Such students will lose their teaching fellowships and other grants while on Probation.  Students who are carrying two or more Incompletes at any given time will face the same penalties. They also risk being required to take a leave of absence or to withdraw from the program.

If confronted by medical or family emergencies or other extraordinary circumstances that prevent you from completing your coursework in the semester in which the course is taken, you are expected, before the end of the semester, to inform the GPD that you need additional time; the GPD will work with such students on a schedule for resolving INC that can be modified as circumstances warrant.

Incompletes must be completed before the end of the semester that follows the one in which the Incomplete was taken, unless the professor sets an earlier deadline. In the absence of extenuating circumstances, students who do not resolve their INC within this timeframe will be placed on Probation. See the section on Probation below.

Students will not be permitted to take the Comprehensive Examinations if they have INC in courses being used to fulfill requirements. As in all cases, students having academic difficulties should see the GPD at the earliest opportunity.

Note: Often students take Incompletes because they believe the extra time will allow them to write better seminar papers. Paradoxically, this is usually not the case; sometimes an extra week or two may be necessary to produce higher quality work, but any more time than that quickly becomes counterproductive. Perfectionism often hinders academic progress. Balancing several papers (deadlines) and exams per semester is excellent training for the academic life, where you will find yourself juggling far more responsibilities at once.

Credit for Prior Graduate Work

Students entering the Ph.D. Program with M.A. degrees from other programs or institutions may petition the Graduate Studies Committee for exemption from particular M.A. course requirements. The correspondence between coursework done elsewhere and the department’s curricular requirements must be close; credit is not awarded automatically. A student interested in receiving transfer credit should submit to the GPD and the Graduate Studies Committee a transcript with the courses in question and a copy of each course’s syllabus. A copy of the papers written in the course may be required as well. These materials are reviewed by the GPD and Graduate Studies Committee. 

The maximum number of outside courses to count toward the Ph.D. is two (six credits). Please note that the program does not give transfer credit for language work done elsewhere.

Credit for Independent Study

Up to six credits of independent study courses (two courses) may be counted toward the fulfillment of the requirements, provided that the student has obtained formal written permission from the Graduate Program Director prior to the end of the add-drop period for the courses in question. Students seeking to take an Independent Study should prepare a syllabus and rationale to be submitted to the GPD, which is then vetted by the GPD and Graduate Studies Committee.

Credit for Literature in Translation

Literature in translation courses may not be counted towards the literature components of the Distribution Requirements unless special arrangements are made to complete required readings in the original language.

Language Requirements for the Ph.D. Degree

In their primary and secondary languages, students must successfully complete two graduate literature courses in which works are read in the original. In their third language of concentration, students must successfully complete one graduate literature course in which works are read in the original. Students are expected to be able to read and address complex ideas in their three languages, with (at a minimum) advanced proficient reading knowledge in their second language and good reading knowledge in their third. Students are also encouraged to work actively to acquire facility in written and oral expression in their three languages of concentration. English can be the first language of concentration (and this is the case for many students).