Academic Standing & Full-time Status

Students are expected to be in good academic standing at all times. In the Department of Music, "good academic standing" means the following: (1) a grade point average of 3.5 or better; (2) no more than 2 grades lower than B over the course of the student's career, and no grades of F or N; (3) no more than 2 grades of Incomplete over the course of the student's career; (4) passage of the general examination and satisfaction of other degree requirements in a timely manner, as described in the Bulletin and on the Department's web site. Students who fail to meet the criteria for good academic standing may be placed on academic probation for up to 1 semester, during which time they can work with the director of graduate studies and other faculty to resolve their academic difficulties. Students on probation who do not return to good academic standing by the end of the probationary semester risk termination of their fellowship.

All graduate students receiving MacCracken Fellowships are required to maintain full-time status over the duration of their fellowship - in most cases for 5 years. Full-time status means the following:

(1) While enrolled in classes, a student must be registered for 24 points of credit each year. Ordinarily, these 24 points are distributed evenly over the fall and spring semesters. Foreign students holding student visas must register for 12 points each semester; if for some reason they register for fewer, the Department must officially confirm their full-time status to OISS.

(2) Although not encouraged to do so, a student may carry a reduced course load of 8 points of course work during the semester preceding the general examination.

(3) During the student's final year of course work, a student may, if s/he no longer has 24 points of work remaining, take a reduced load equal to the number of points still to be completed for the Ph.D.

(4) A student who has completed all of the course work for the Ph.D. and who is no longer being supported under the MacCracken program must maintain matriculation for each semester in order to retain full-time status. This requires formal registration, as though for a course. Maintenance of matriculation is free for the remainder of the student's MacCracken fellowship and for 6 semesters thereafter. After that, a fee will be charged by the University.

It is crucial that students maintain their full-time status during their MacCracken period, and that thereafter they maintain matriculation until they complete their doctorate. Foreign students in residence on student visas risk losing their visa by not doing so. Students with outstanding student loans risk having their loans recalled. Beyond that, back fees will quickly accumulate, placing a potentially crippling burden on students when they come to graduate, since they will not be permitted to receive their degree until her fees have been paid.  It is the student's responsibility to see that s/he is properly registered as full-time, and later that s/he maintains matriculation.

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The Inter-University Doctoral Consortium

Arts and Science doctoral students in good standing who are beyond their first year of doctoral study are eligible to take graduate courses at the following distinguished universities throughout the greater New York area.

Columbia University, GSAS
CUNY Graduate Center
Fordham University
Graduate Faculty, New School University
Princeton University
Rutgers University, New Brunswick
Stony Brook University
Teacher's College, Columbia University

Outside Work

GSAS does not permit graduate students on MacCrackan fellowships to engage in outside work. This is stated in the fellowship award letter issued by the Graduate School. Students wishing to work must obtain the permission of the Director of Graduate Studies; if this is obtained, the request must be forwarded to Associate Dean Roberta Popik by the department for her approval. The department will try to accommodate student needs in this regard, but it is required to maintain strict oversight of such activity.

Language Examinations

Language Examinations: Students must demonstrate reading competency in one modern language by passing a written examination administered by the department before taking the general examination. Between the general and special examinations, students must demonstrate reading knowledge in a second language (students in composition are exempted from this requirement).  Students are expected to select a second language appropriate to their research topic.  Ordinarily, students will have passed the second language examination by no later than the third year of study.  No student in musicology or ethnomusicology may advance to candidacy without having passed the second language. 

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General Examination

The general examination tests the student's knowledge of all the major aspects of the field. Students are expected to display sophisticated skills in dealing with intellectual problems and should be able to create and support thoughtful lines of argument from a wide range of evidence. Those specializing in historical musicology should demonstrate a thorough general knowledge of Western musical history, of Western music's changing styles, and of current issues in the discipline.  Students are expected to cite and discuss recent musicological writing and to advance and support coherent arguments about major issues in response to the questions posed on the examination.

Those specializing in ethnomusicology should demonstrate an understanding of the history of the discipline, its theories and principal ethnographies, and major musical cultures. 

Students specializing in composition and theory are expected to be familiar with the principal composers and compositional models of the last century and to be able to handle problems of practical analysis. 

Whatever their field of specialization, students are also expected to have a basic knowledge of the other fields of music scholarship and to incorporate this knowledge into their examination responses.  Preparation for the examination should therefore include independent study of both repertoire (with extensive listening and analysis as appropriate) and scholarly writing about music.

There are three possible outcomes of the examination:

(1) A student may pass the exam at a level deemed appropriate for continued studies toward the Ph.D., and in doing so will qualify for the M.A. in Music.

(2) A student may pass the exam at the M.A. level (and qualify for the M.A.) but not at a level considered acceptable for further studies in the department. Students may then retake the examination only once, one year after the original, and may register for further study only provisionally until the examination is passed.

(3) It is also possible for a student to fail the examination outright. Students who fail the examination may repeat it only once, one year after the original, and may register for further study only provisionally until the examination is passed.

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Advisor, Doctoral Committee, and Special Examination

During the third or fourth year of study, students should select a principal advisor for the dissertation and, in consultation with their advisor, should select two other faculty to form a dissertation committee.  One member of the committee may come from outside the department, or, more rarely, from outside the university.  Students should develop a dissertation project in close consultation with the committee they have chosen. 

Ordinarily, this work should be sufficiently developed to allow students to take the special examination by sometime in their fourth year of study.  The special examination requirement may be met in one of two ways, which students should chose after close consultation with their advisor and committee, subject to approval by the director of graduate studies.  Students must satisfy the special examination requirement before they will be advanced to candidacy.

(1) Students may elect to ask their committee to prepare an individualized special examination that tests the student's competence in the planned field of research, in related fields, and in current methodological and theoretical approaches to the dissertation subject.  The examination may consist of written and oral components at the discretion of the committee.  Students who satisfy the special examination requirement in this way will simultaneously develop a dissertation proposal that must be submitted to the departmental faculty for approval.

(2) Students may elect, instead, to develop a dissertation proposal in consultation with their committee and to present it to that committee as the central text on which the committee will conduct an oral examination.  Lasting from one to two hours, this examination will probe the student's competence in the planned field of research, in related fields, and in current methodological and theoretical approaches to the dissertation topic.  Students should expect that the committee may require substantial revisions of their proposal and/or additional work.  Students who pass this oral examination on their dissertation proposal will be approved to begin work immediately on the dissertation.

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Dissertation Proposal

Whether prepared after a special examination or as the central text of a special examination, the dissertation proposal should succinctly state (1) the research question to be studied; (2) how the question relates to existing scholarship; (3) the methods to be used (e.g. approaches to fieldwork, analytical techniques, theoretical framework); (4) how the dissertation will contribute to knowledge of the field; and (5) a working bibliography.  In some cases, a chapter outline will be required.  For students specializing in composition, the principal part of the dissertation will be a composition of significant proportions accompanied by a thesis on a topic in musical analysis or theory.  In their dissertation proposal, composers must include a brief description of the intended composition, and they must discuss scoring, any texts to be set, and the planned structure and size.  Additionally, they should discuss the thesis as described above.

Students who fulfill all the requirements for the Ph.D. and who decline to complete a dissertation may request that the department award the M.Phil. (Master of Philosophy) degree.

Dissertation Defense

The completed dissertation will be defended in a public oral examination administered by a committee of five faculty.   This defense will follow rules established by the Graduate School of Arts and Science.  Ordinarily, the examining committee will consist of the three-member committee that advised the dissertation and two additional faculty who are appointed by the director of graduate studies in consultation with the student and principal advisor.  The examining committee must include at least three members of the GSAS faculty.  At least three committee members must approve of the dissertation prior to the scheduling of the defense.  The dissertation must be distributed to all members of the committee at lease a month before the scheduled defense.  At least four of the five members of the examining committee must vote to approve the dissertation's oral defense.

Dissertation Defense Guidelines

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