Paperwork and Forms.xml

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
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<concept id="paperwork">
<title>Paperwork</title>
  <shortdesc></shortdesc>
  <prolog>
    <author type="creator">Graduate Program Committee</author>
    <copyright>
      <copyryear year="2014"/>
      <copyrholder>CS Department</copyrholder>
    </copyright>
  </prolog>
  <conbody>

    <p>There are many forms that you will need to deal with as a graduate student. Often these require the signature of two sets of people: (1) your advisory committee members (including your advisor) and (ii) the GD, the Department Head, the College Dean, or the Graduate School. The fastest way to get these forms signed is to get the signatures of people in set (1), leave them with the GC, who will see that the appropriate signatures from the set (2) are obtained. If appropriate, the GC will have you deliver them in person to the Graduate School once completed, but this is usually not necessary.</p>

    <p>It is almost never appropriate to send a form directly to the Department Head, even if the form indicates the need for the Department Head's signature. Decisions related to plans of study, admissions, transfers, etc. are always made initially by an advisor and/or the GD and then forwarded to the Department Head for approval. If you send a form directly to the Department Head, you can be sure that you have just slowed down the process.</p>

    <p>On occasion you will want to discuss the contents of a form with the GD, in which case a personal meeting or email exchange will be appropriate. If you only need a signature from the GD, it is far more efficient to leave the form with the GC than to try to locate the GD personally.</p>

    <p>While the GC will make every effort to obtain the signatures as quickly as possible, sometimes one of the necessary people will be out of the office for several days. So it is important to turn in forms well in advance of any deadline you may be trying to meet.</p>

    <p>In addition, there are many dependencies in the forms that students must fill out. For example, international students should have a Plan of Study (see 
      <xref href="Plans%20of%20Study.xml"/>) approved before they go on Coop or Internships (see <xref href="Internships%20and%20Co-ops.xml"/>). Also, application for exams require a Plan of Study already on file. It is important that students pay attention to the deadlines and milestones required for their progress. Submitting all forms at once will not get them done any faster and at times it might actually slow down the approval process.</p>

    <note>Throughout this document, we refer to "forms" as paper forms that are required to request exams or apply for graduation and other similar milestones. As of this writing, some of these forms have been completely automated with online web-based submissions. The Graduate School is moving towards an all online management of students records, and as such, soon all forms will be online. Clearly, procedures explained here as "collecting signatures" and "deliver forms to CS office" will soon become outdated metaphors of archaic procedures replaced by much simpler automated steps. We will continue to update this document as more of these forms come online. Students are urged to check with the GC and/or the GD if they have any questions as to which is the most up to date procedure to follow.</note>
  </conbody>

    <related-links>
      <link href="http://www.cs.vt.edu/graduate/current_students/forms" 
        format="html" scope="external">
        <linktext>CS Dept Forms Page</linktext></link>
      <link href="http://graduateschool.vt.edu/academics/forms" 
        format="html" scope="external">
        <linktext>Graduate School Forms Page</linktext></link>

    </related-links>
</concept>