During the academic year (Autumn, Winter, and Spring quarters) all supported graduate students must register for at least 10 credits. This is a University requirement, and cannot be waived except by petition to the Graduate School. In addition, there are specific registration requirements imposed by the Mathematics Department, as described below. For PhD students, the requirements change when students reach precandidate status: this means they have passed prelims and chosen a doctoral supervisory committee (thesis advisor and two other faculty members). Students who have not yet reached this status are officially classified as premaster or post-master.

• Supported premaster or post-master PhD students must register for three graded courses applicable to the PhD degree requirements. With the advisor's approval, any student who has passed at least one prelim may substitute three graded credits of Math 600 (Independent Study) for one of the three graded courses; and a first-year student whose background is weak may substitute at most one graded 400-level course. Other exceptions require the approval of the Graduate Program Coordinator.

 
• Supported precandidate or candidate PhD students ordinarily are expected to register for at least one regular 500-level mathematics course, one seminar for credit, and ten credits of some combination of Doctoral Dissertation (Math 800), Independent Study (Math 600), and other courses or seminars. Exceptions must be approved by the student's advisor.

Courses can be added or dropped freely through the end of the first week of classes in a quarter. After the end of the first week, fees will be charged for any adds or drops. Courses may still be added during the second and third weeks, by obtaining an entry code from the Student Services Office, Padelford C-36. Courses may be dropped during the second week of classes; after the end of the second week, each student may drop only one course per year, up to the end of the seventh week of classes. For more information, see the University's Web pages on Registration Eligibility, Registration Restrictions, Academic Calendar, Course Drop Periods, and Course Add Periods.

Every student must meet with his or her advisor each quarter to discuss his or her course schedule for the quarter and to obtain the advisor's signature on the form entitled Quarterly Plan. Copies of this form are available in the Student Services Office, Padelford C-36; it must be turned in to the same office, with the advisor's signature, by the end of the fifth class day of the quarter.

The designated core graduate courses (currently 504/5/6, 524/5/6, 534/5/6, 544/5/6, and 554/5/6) are worth 5 credits, and all other regular Math courses are worth 3 credits.  Thus any student taking three courses including at least one core course already has the required 10 credits. Students taking three 3-credit courses will need to sign up for at least one extra credit to bring the total up to 10.  PhD students may register for any of the following to obtain the additional credit:

• Math 800 (Doctoral Dissertation). Permission of the PhD advisor must be obtained in advance of registration.
• Math 700 (Master's Thesis). Permission of the advisor must be obtained in advance of registration. Note that 9 credits of 700 are required to obtain a Master's degree with thesis.
• Math 600A (Supervised Independent Study and Research). Permission of the instructor must be obtained in advance of registration. If you wish to take a reading course with a faculty member, this is the course for which to register.
• Math 600B (Supplemental Reading and Research in Connection with a Mathematics Course). Permission of the instructor must be obtained.
• Math 600C (Independent Study). You should see your advisor before signing up for this in order to discuss a plan of independent study, which may include regular visits to the library to check out books and journal articles in your field of interest. Credit/no credit only. You will be asked to submit a short report (no more than a page) describing the activities you engaged in.
• Credit-bearing seminars.  These usually carry numbers of the form 5x0, and are offered credit/no credit only.  If you sign up for a credit seminar, be sure to contact the seminar organizer at the beginning of the quarter to find out what will be required for credit.  Typical requirements include regular attendance, writing up one or more seminar reports, and/or giving a seminar talk.  A list of currently-offered seminars will be publicized each quarter.