Your fellow graduate students are often the best resources for answering questions and giving advice about graduate school at UMass Dartmouth!
The GSS has compiled some useful information that other grad students have learned over the years, and helpful university resources to help you navigate common graduate student challenges.
If you have a helpful tip to share, please email us! We would love to hear from you, and add your advice to this webpage. The information contained in this page is accurate to the best of our knowledge but if you encounter inaccuracies please email us so we can update this page.
Your defense must be announced a minimum of 2 weeks in advance of your defense date.
Answer from the Registrar, March 2020: A student’s best bet when it comes to scheduling is to talk to their department chair or graduate program director (GPD). They are the ones who send me the schedules for inputting into COIN. I rarely weigh in on the timing unless it looks very peculiar or falls outside of our standard meeting blocks. Most GPD’s are happy to make changes to the schedule if they receive similar feedback and rationale from multiple students.
UMass Dartmouth Fellowships & Funding Page:
If you have a Distinguished Doctoral Fellowship (DDF):
You will NOT receive a notification that your DDF is expiring! You must check your award letter for the last day of the contract, and set a calendar reminder several months before that date so that you can seek alternative funding!
For detailed information about health, see our separate Health Info webpage (coming soon).
For detailed information about health insurance, see our separate Health Insurance webpage (coming soon).
UMass Dartmouth Health Services Page:
UMass Dartmouth Health Insurance Page:
Health and dental insurance obtained through the university silently auto-expire on July 31st! Set a calendar reminder for July 1st to renew your policies before they lapse.
For detailed information about university tuition and fees, see our separate Tuition & Fees webpage (coming soon).
You may be charged Alumi and Graduation fees if your graduation date is wrong! To check your expected graduation date, log into COIN and then click on My Advising Center. Look at the "Expected Graduation" section to see when the Registrar thinks you are graduating. If your graduation date is wrong, email the Registrar (registrar@umassd.edu) to update it so these fees will be removed from your account.
Key card access for university buildings and labs silently auto-expires every December 31st and May 31st (at the end of each academic semester)! Set calendar reminders 3 weeks in advance to email the appropriate people and ask them to extend your access expiration date BEFORE your key card access expires.
Keep a copy of all signed paperwork that you submit to the university (for instance, take a picture of it before submitting). You need to have a record of what you submitted, just in case!