Graduate Student Resources
As a graduate student you have access to a wide range of resources designed to support your success. Dedicated graduate program managers and faculty advisors provide individualized guidance to help you navigate program requirements, plan your curriculum and connect with university services. Our comprehensive collection of resources offers quick solutions to common concerns, helping you troubleshoot challenges and stay on track. Together, these resources ensure that you and every graduate student has the support to thrive academically.
Faculty Advisor
Academic advising is an interactive process with the aim of helping you move smoothly through the academic program you have chosen. This process works best when the advisor and the advisee partner to achieve a mutually agreed upon outcome. Both parties have accountability to assure that this process proceeds smoothly and beneficially. Academic advisors are formally assigned by the Graduate Studies Committee (GSC). More information can be found in your program’s handbook. You can locate your assigned faculty advisor by logging into Buckeye Link and locate the “Program Advisor” box on the right side. Click on their name to view their contact information.
Graduate Program Managers
Graduate Program Managers are staff within the Office of Student Affairs and Success that act as administrative advisors and each supports specific programs in the College. They are experts in the policies and procedures of the College of Nursing and serve as key resources for graduate students throughout their academic journey. They collaborate closely with faculty and students in their assigned programs to provide guidance and support in a variety of areas, including connecting students to resources within the college, the Graduate School and the university, clarifying and confirming institutional rules and procedures, monitoring and assisting with enrollment, supporting students with petitions, updating curriculum plans and managing curriculum change requests. All graduate students are assigned a Graduate Program Manager.
Resources
Beacon
View your curriculum plan, compliance information and College of Nursing updates regarding academic deadlines, special events and leadership opportunities. Download the app. If you have issues accessing Beacon, email Con-S-Help@osu.edu.
Policies and forms
You may need to access forms while a graduate student at the College of Nursing. Visit Beacon for a listing of forms and petitions available from the College of Nursing. The Graduate School also has a variety of Grad Forms that you may need. Some forms are located directly below in the troubleshooting section. If you do not see what you need in any of these resources, contact your faculty advisor.
Virtual admissions packet (VAP)
Important information as you onboard to your program that includes but is not limited to program compliance requirements, course registration information, handbooks, resources, tuition, fees and financial aid. Click on your program below to be taken to the VAP.
Student handbooks
Our student handbooks will provide you with the resources you need for your specific program. For students currently enrolled in a program, you can find the student handbook for the year you were admitted below.
Additional Guidance
Scheduling and adding courses
You are not permitted to enroll in conflicting courses without obtaining special permission. If you need assistance with enrolling or with selecting a different course, or if modifications are needed to your curriculum plan, email your Graduate Program Manager.
If you encounter an error message, contact your Graduate Program Manager and they can help troubleshoot enrollment issues. Include a screenshot or the nature of the error message in your email.
Email the instructor directly to request permission to enroll in their course. You can find the instructor’s name on the schedule of classes and their email address by searching for their name on osu.edu. If you receive permission from the instructor, forward the email to your Graduate Program Manager.
Some sections of a course are reserved for specific student populations. Clicking the “class #” link on the class listing should take you to a “details” page where additional information can be found regarding the class sections. In some instances, the Graduate Program Manager will email students instructions about which course or section a student should enter if the class is offered through the College of Nursing. If the course has specific undergraduate/graduate sections, make sure you are enrolling in the graduate section (designated in the “details” page).
To view your enrollment appointment, log into Buckeye Link and find “enrollment information” on the right-hand side. Under the “details” link you will find the exact date/time you can begin enrolling in classes. If the correct term is not showing, click on “details” and change the term.
There may be a variety of reasons why you cannot locate a course in Buckeye Link:
- The course is not offered in that term.
- The course could be full. To correct this, you can uncheck the “show open classes only” box. If a class on your curriculum plan is full, email your Graduate Program Manager.
- You are not searching correctly for the class. Be sure the class subject is correct when conducting the search process. For example, a DNP student may need to tailor their search by filtering the subject to “Nursing Practice.” DNE students will need to tailor their search by filtering the subject to “Doctor of Nursing Education.”
- Double-check that you are searching correctly using either the course number or the class number. The course number is used to find the course, and the class number is used to enroll.
- The course number is like the title- it never changes.
- The class # is the unique 4- or 5-digit number assigned to a specific class section in a specific semester to let the system know the student is enrolling for a specific section of a class.
You can find more information about the hold on the main page of your Buckeye Link account, on the right side, under “holds.” In most situations, the university places a hold on a student’s account to prevent them from enrolling in courses because a particular action has not been taken by a student. The most common holds are for the completion of the financial responsibility statement or financial holds. It is important to review the hold and instructions to resolve the hold in your Student Center. You must complete the financial responsibility statement each semester, regardless of whether you have completed it in the past.
Registering for variable credit courses (Clinical, Research Residency, Dissertation). Once you have logged into Buckeye Link choose the add a class link. Enter the class number for the clinical section into the “enter class nbr” field and select the enter, then next. This should take you to a screen where you can adjust your credits/units. Ignore the permission number field, if there is one. Choose the appropriate number of credit hours and select the next button. Note- “10” will be found under the “1” for units, not after the number “9.” This will place the course into your shopping cart, along with the related component, which will automatically be added. If you get an error message you do not understand, reach out to your Graduate Program Manager.
You will need to formally apply for the certificate you would like to pursue. Visit the “College of Nursing Certificate Programs” page in your program’s handbook for instructions on how to apply for a certificate.
To petition to transfer a course into your program, you will need to submit the Transfer a Course into the CON Grad Program form in Beacon. An additional step will be required with the Graduate School to complete the transfer if the credit hours are needed to fulfill the requirements of your program. Additional information can be found in the handbook for the program.
If you have completed graduate level coursework that you wish to use as part of your graduate degree at OSU, you can petition to waive the OSU class based on the prior coursework via the Waive a Course in the Graduate Program form in Beacon. MS in Nursing students will use this process instead of the transfer credit process because the credits are not needed to graduate. Additional information can be found in the handbook for the program.
Curriculum planning
You have an assigned curriculum plan in Beacon, which outlines when you are to enroll in each course. You should follow your curriculum plan to ensure timely completion of your degree program and you may not deviate from your plan without first obtaining permission from your faculty advisor.
If changes are needed to your curriculum plan, submit the curriculum plan change form in Beacon. Once the request has been formally approved, your Graduate Program Manager will update your curriculum plan. Changes may be needed for a variety of reasons including when classes are taken out-of-order, you have experienced a progression issue, you are requesting a change from fulltime to part-time, if a course number on the curriculum does not mirror the name of the class in Buckeye Link and/or if you have earned previous credit for a course.
Follow the instructions below based on your program to request a change in specialty:
- If you are an MCR student and wish to change your track or enroll in the dual specialization, submit the “Transfer To/From a Specialization in the MCR Program” form in Beacon.
- If you are a post-master's DNP or DNE student and wish to change your track, you will need to submit the “change DNP/DNE program track” form in Beacon.
- If you are enrolled in the Traditional MS in Nursing, GE, BSN to DNP, or BSN to PhD student, you can petition to transfer specialties by submitting the Transfer To/From a Specialty Track in MS in Nursing, BSN to DNP, or BSN-PhD Program form in Beacon. These requests are reviewed every autumn semester. More detailed instructions can be found here.
Leave of absence or reactivation
A leave of absence is defined as any time away from your academic program and can range from one semester to two years in length. Consult your program handbook here for information about the leave of absence process. To request a leave of absence, you should reach out to your faculty advisor. Once your advisor is aware, visit Beacon to submit the appropriate form. You will need to obtain an updated plan of study from your Graduate Program Manager to submit with the form.
Consult your program handbook here for information about the reactivation process. If you are having trouble accessing Beacon, contact your Graduate Program Manager.
Course specific information
The specialty for each lab section is listed in Buckeye Link in the class detail, found by clicking the “class #” hyperlink in the schedule of classes. An email is also sent out the week prior to Spring enrollment appointments with a list of the class #’s used to enroll. Enroll in the lab corresponding to your specialty and for the correct number of credit hours, and you will automatically be enrolled in the lecture.
If you are an FNP student, you should enroll for 4 credit hours. All other specialties should enroll in 3 credit hours. If you have questions regarding enrollment in Nursing 7410, reach out to your Graduate Program Manager.
If you are enrolled in an on-campus specialty, your lab will be in-person. Lectures will be online and synchronous in nature.
If you need to enroll in an Individual Studies course, submit the Curriculum Change Request form and Individual Studies form in Beacon. You will need to download the paper form from the resources section in Beacon and complete the courses objectives and how success will be measured with the course instructor before submitting the form in Beacon. The paper form must be signed by your advisor prior to submission or the request will be denied. Once the signed form has been submitted in Beacon your Graduate Program Manager will enroll you in the course.
Your Graduate Program Manager will need to enroll you in these courses. Email your Graduate Program Manager once your enrollment window is open and you have completed your financial responsibility statement/cleared any holds on your account.
Approved electives for your certificate program can be found in your Virtual Admissions Packet.
Students cannot earn immersion hours for a project if they are not enrolled in the immersion course. These courses include: NRSPRCT 8405, NRSPRCT 8896, NRSPRCT 8897, NRSPRCT 8898.01 and NRSPRCT 8898.02.
As a PhD student, you cannot enroll in NURSING 8999 or Research Residency (NURSING 8980) yourself. You must submit the appropriate enrollment form in Beacon and once the form has been approved, your enrollment will be completed by your Graduate Program Manager. These forms must be completed each semester you are planning to enroll in one of these courses, regardless of whether the form was completed in a previous semester.
Doctoral examinations and final projects
Students in our PhD, DNP and DNE programs are eligible for these examinations once all required coursework is completed. To review the specific requirements for each program, visit your program handbook.
Scheduling your exam occurs in conjunction with your faculty advisor and committee members. Review the scheduling procedures outlined in your program handbook.
The Dissertation Proposal Defense is a requirement of the College of Nursing and occurs after successful completion of the Candidacy Examination. The proposal defense ensures students are ready to embark on their final dissertation work and have a plan to accomplish their goals. Review the information in your program handbook for more information and how to schedule the proposal defense.
The Graduate School and College of Nursing each have requirements for the scheduling and defense of a student’s dissertation (PhD) or final project (DNP and DNE). Review the information included in your program handbook to ensure you are meeting all requirements. Deadlines for defenses are firm and failure to meet deadlines may result in a delay of your defense, as well as your graduation.
Graduation
The graduation application deadline for all graduate students in the College of Nursing is the second Friday of each semester, and you can find instructions to apply.