Steps to the M.Ed.
STEPS FOR SPSY STUDENTS TO GET THEIR M.ED
- The first thing you need to do is change your major and degree! You will do this my visiting the OGS website and completing the Petition for Change of Major/Degree /Department. Please see the attached sheet for information on what this sheet should look like. You can access the form directly here: http://ogs.tamu.edu/forms/current/maj_deg.pdf
*Please note that these forms may only be processed within the first 12 class days of the semester. Therefore I have to turn these in by the 4th or 5th class day in a semester in order to guarantee processing by the 12th class day!
**At this point you likely have not gotten a committee yet – so leave this information on the petition blank! If you do have a committee that has been solidified by an approved degree plan you will input your committee’s information here.
- Complete your degree plan! You need to visit https://ogsdpss.tamu.edu and electronically complete your degree plan
Section 1 - This is your contact information and should be pretty straight forward.
Section 2 - Input the 37 credits on the attached degree plan sheet. Your degree plan should have these exact 37 credits. If you have questions about this; let me know.
Section 3 - Ignore this section and pretend it doesn’t exist!
Section 4 - This is where you list your committee out. You must have 3 members. One member must be outside of the EPSY department. If you have questions about getting an outside member check with your chair as they often have excellent suggestions!
The degree plan approval process can be lengthy or not just depending on how quickly approvals are made. Keep this in mind along with the relevant dates and deadlines for approvals. You can check these dates and deadlines here: http://ogs.tamu.edu/calendar.
- After all of this is done you will need to register for graduation in the appropriate semester. You will register via the HOWDY Portal at howdy.tamu.edu. Please note that at the beginning of each semester there is a window for registering for graduation on time. If you miss the window you can almost always register late for an additional $50.00 fee. Therefore it is important to keep the dates and deadlines above in mind and to start this process at least 1 semester in advance of when you actually want to graduate!!
- You will need to exempt out of your final exam! The good news here is that this is something that I will do for you and you are completely off the hook here J! It is however important to note that this cannot be done until steps 1 and 2 are fully complete and approved!
- Now you need to complete the Letter of Intent. Contrary to the title of this form it is not a letter - but yet another form, which is located here: http://ogs.tamu.edu/forms/current/letterofintent.pdf. Please see the attached sample so that you will know what the form should look like. This form is VITALLY IMPORTANT. You must complete it in order to continue on with the PHD the next semester! Please note that this form cannot be processed until after you actually graduate. However, I still suggest getting the form in as early as possible!
Now, all the paperwork is complete! But here is some extra information you will likely find helpful.
- You won’t be able to register for the next semester’s classes until after you actually graduate on the commencement date AND you letter of intent is processed! So get that LOI in early so it will be processed early.
- Financial Aid is not going to know that you are continuing with another degree. Even if we tell them they tend to ignore this information until you register. Therefore your aid for the following semester may be cancelled. Don’t worry - it should be reinstated as soon as you get registered. But - I always suggest working directly with FA to verify everything is set up as you want it!
- As always this process may be confusing and a big shuffle of paperwork, but I am here to help you. I hope this hand out is easy for you to understand, but if it isn’t or you have questions or you just want to double, triple, quadruple check let me know. It’s what I am here for!
