Students must consult with their faculty advisors about course and credit registration prior to the start of each semester. In order to clear their mandatory advising stamps, students may send an email to bioe-grad@umd.edu and cc their faculty advisor with a list of courses agreed upon. The office will then enter the advising stamp, and students may register. All students must maintain continuous registration each fall and spring until graduation.

Students should consult academic and financial deadlines posted on Testudo’s Schedule of Classes. Students are responsible for adhering to schedule adjustment (drop/add) policies and financial penalties associated with late changes.

The Graduate School uses a unit system in making calculations to determine full-time or part-time student status. Please note that graduate units are different from credit hours. The number of graduate units per credit hour is calculated in the following manner:

• Courses in the series: 000-399 carry 2 units per credit hour.
• Courses in the series: 400-499 carry 4 units per credit hour.
• Courses in the series: 500-599 carry 5 units per credit hour.
• Courses in the series: 600-897 carry 6 units per credit hour.
• Master's Research course: 799 carries 12 units per credit hour.
• Pre-candidacy Doctoral Research courses: 898 carries 18 units per credit hour.
• Doctoral Dissertation Research: 899 carries 18 units per credit hour. All doctoral candidates must pay candidacy tuition for which they will be registered for six (6) credit hours of 899; this defines all currently registered doctoral candidates as full-time.

To be certified as full time, a graduate student must be officially registered for a combination of courses equivalent to 48 units per semester. Graduate assistants holding regular appointments have full-time status if they are registered for at least 24 units in addition to the assistantship; holders of half-time assistantships are considered full-time if registered for 36 units. Audited courses do not generate graduate units and cannot be used in calculating full-time or part-time status.