All Graduate students must abide by the policies of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in addition to CCT academic policies. If you don't see an item mentioned below in the CCT Student Manual, it is available on the Graduate School's Student Bulletin.
New Student Checklist
Welcome to CCT! Please refer to the checklist below, that corresponds to the term you started CCT, for an overview of the things you need to do to prepare for the start of classes. The checklists will be updated each year.
Summer 2007 New Student Checklist
Fall 2007 New Student Checklist
Registering as a New Student
All new students are expected to attend the CCT orientation session prior to the start of classes. At orientation students will learn how to register online using Student Access+ and will be introduced to student organizations, collaborating departments, faculty, staff, and other students -- as well as learn about opportunities and services available to students in CCT.
Steps to Selecting Courses for the First Time:
Academic Advising and Changing Advisors
When students register for their first semester, they will be assigned a faculty academic advisor. The faculty academic advisor helps the student to assemble a curriculum fitting their intellectual and career objectives.
Students can change advisors if they have the approval of their new advisor. To change advisors, students must complete the Academic Advisor Change Form, obtain the necessary signature, and submit it to the Academic Program Manager. Only CCT core faculty may serve as Academic Advisors.
How to Register for Classes Using Student Access+
Detailed Registration procedures are outlined by the Registrar. The following are highlighted points:
Making Changes to Course Schedules - Add/Drop
Add/drop procedures are detailed on the Registrar's website. The following is a summary of add/drop:
Add/Drop begins the same day classes begin and lasts for a week. Refer to the academic calendar for the exact dates each semester. During this time students can make changes to their course schedules. Students should make every effort to finalize their registration before add/drop begins, as courses taught by adjunct faculty will be canceled by the end of the registration period if they do not reach minimum enrollment levels.
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How Long Do I Have to Complete the Program?
Regardless of enrollment status (full-time or part-time), non-international students are allowed three academic years to complete the M.A. Program. International students on student visas are given two years to complete the CCT Program. Please refer to the Graduate student handbook for additional information on time limits for completing a degree.
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Summer Courses
Summer registration rules:
Graduate School policy states that students may not enroll in more than two courses (or a maximum of six credits) per summer term. Courses must be graduate level, and the same academic rules apply for summer registration as during the regular academic year.
Students may take courses over the summer in a variety of places:
Effective Summer 2007, CCT is offering a study abroad program in Geneva, Switzerland designed specifically for CCT students. The program, entitled "Globalization, Governance and Technology," offers students a unique opportunity to go behind the scenes of international organizations to see global governance and negotiations at work. You'll not only see what you learned in the classroom put to work, but you'll have opportuities to network with professionals in the field. CCT Professor J.P. Singh is the Geneva Program Director, and students will be taking a course with him as well as with faculty at HEI in Geneva - one of the premier schools for international affairs. The program duration is four weeks, and students receive six credits upon successful completion of the program. The program's price is comparable to tuition for summer courses on the Georgetown campus and also includes housing. For more details, please refer to the Geneva program's website.
CCT encourages students interested in study abroad and in international affairs to first consider the Geneva program. If the Geneva program does not meet their interests, students can considerother Georgetown study abroad programs that can cuont for graduate level and are approved by the student's CCT advisor. The programs the Georgetown offers that have been approved in the past are:
The European Union Antwerp Program
Buenos Aires Program
London and Stratford-upon-Avon, England (Shakespeare in Performance)
Trinity College, Oxford England (International Business Management)
Florence, Italy (Reading and Writing Italy)
Geneva, Switzerland (Globalization, Governance and Technology)
If study abroad needs can't be met by Georgetown programs, students may want to look at other schools. Syracuse University and NYU have been popular with students for transfer courses. The Office of International Programs can help students search for programs offered by other schools. Remember that all courses must be approved by a CCT academic advisor, must not be language courses, and must be 350 level or above at Georgetown or graduate level according to the transfer school visited to count for CCT credit.
Students who want to take a language course for other reasons have many alternatives. Georgetown's School for Continuing Studies offers non-credit language courses each semester. Courses last a semester and cost about $300. Continuing Education also offers non-credit art classes and other classes for fun and personal enrichment.
Other options for language classes include the Guy Mason Recreation Center and other DC recreation centers, organizations like Alliance Francais, the Goethe Institute; and various embassies and diplomatic missions in Washington.
If you have already finished Thesis Colloquium, but did not finish your thesis that semester, you must enroll in Thesis Research (courses are below)for subsequent semesters until you finish the thesis and graduate. There is no charge for summer thesis research, and you must complete all your degree requirements by the start of fall classes to avoid a fee. Fall and spring term registration is $2,500 per term. (cost is as of 2005)
Fall/Spring semester: CCTP-999-01
(more fall and spring sections are available depending on your status)
Summer term: CCTP 999-61
Your thesis advisor, reader, and the Graduate School must approve you continuing your thesis work past the Thesis Colloquium semester. You can't assume that it is ok for you to extend into the summer if you don't finish in the spring. If approved, you'll need to change your application for graduate degree form to reflect the new graduation month.
If you're pursuing the coursework option, have finished taking all your courses, but have work pending for one or more courses before you can graduate, then you must register for continuous registration.
More details on thesis research and continuous registration are in the Graduate School's Bulletin.
Keep in mind that all graduate students must complete the M.A. degree in three years. Extensions are available in exceptional circumstances.
Certificate Options
CCT students can pursue certificate options in International Business Diplomacy, Language Technology, Arab Studies, and Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies. The courses required for certificates, with the exception of language courses and undergraduate courses, also fulfill CCT elective class requirements.
Research core course offerings change each semester. The following list outlines which courses have previously counted for core theory and core method courses:
Core Method Courses
CCTP 685 Survey Research Methods
CCTP 696 Social Network Analysis/Introduction to Social Networks: Theory and Practice
CCTP 698 Researching the Visual
CCTP 704 Gender, Sexuality and the Body
CCTP-743 Ethnography of Communication
CCTP-746 Human Centered Design, Conducting User Research
CCTP-770 Statistical Methodology
CCTP-771 Statistical Methodology
CCTP-787 Archival and Field Research Methods/Designing Interdisciplinary Research (only counts as method if taken prior to Fall 2007)
CCTP-804 Advanced Statistical Methodology
CCTP-994 Research Methods: Overview of Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches
CCTP-995 Research Methods
Core Theory Courses
CCTP-626 Introduction to Brainwashing: Conceptualizing Media Effects
CCTP-689 Theories of Culture and Interdisciplinarity
CCTP-702 Communications Campaigns (ONLY section 02)
CCTP 719 Film Theory
CCTP-721 Critical Theory and Contemporary Media
CCTP 724 International Negotiations
CCTP 725 Cultural Hybridity
CCTP-738 Contemporary Visual Art: Theory, Practice and Institutions
CCTP-742 Technology and Society
CCTp-745 Communication Technology and Organizations
CCTP-748 (Foundations in) Media Theory and Visual Culture
CCTP 751 Technology and Critique
CCTP-752 Communication Theory and Frameworks
CCTP-753 The Networked Economy
CCTP 754 Networks and International Development
CCTP 756 Language and Politics
CCTP 757 Media and American Elections
CCTP 760 Construction of National Identity through Communication
CCTP-797 Discourses of Culture, Media and Technology
CCTP-803 Media and Politics
CCTP-813 Technology, Culture and Development
Research Methods Courses (applicable only to those students who enrolled in CCT prior to Summer 2004):
CCTP-685 Survey Research Methods
CCTP-689 Theories of Culture and Interdisciplinarity
CCTP-696 Introduction to Social Networks: Theory and Practice
CCTP-698 Researching the Visual
CCTP-738 Intro to Contemporary Visual Art: Theory, Practice & Institutions
CCTP-746 Human-Centered Design: Conducting User Research
CCTP-748 Media Theory and Visual Culture/Media Theories
CCTP-771 Statistical Methodology
CCTP-787 Archival and Field Research Methods
CCTP-804 Advanced Statistical Methodology
CCTP-995 Research Methods
*The following courses counted as Research Methods courses ONLY during the Fall 2000 and Spring 2001 semesters:
CCTP-719 Internet Opportunity Analysis
CCTP-805 Community Development & Network Technology
*The following courses counted as Research Methods courses ONLY during the Spring 2002 semester:
LING-681 Research Design and Methods
NSST-710 Research Seminar in U.S. National Security Policy
NSST-712 Research Seminar in International Security
*The following course counted as a Research Methods course ONLY during the Fall 2002 semester:
LING-454 Linguistics and Reading
Non-Language courses with course numbers 350-499 have a combination of undergraduates and graduates enrolled in them and will count toward the CCT degree, as long as your CCT advisor approves the course content.
500-level and higher courses are only for graduate students. CCT students are highly encouraged to look only at 500-level and higher courses.
CCT students can't register for MSFS and MBA courses via Student Access+. How to Register for these:
MBA course note: The Business School is on a quarter system rather than a semester system, so most of their courses are 1.5 credits each and last for half a semester. Students should try to find a combination of two Business courses in one semester or in different semesters to fulfill the full 3 credits needed for a full elective course.
The section number of a business course corresponds to the quarter in which it is offered. MGMT 555 is used below as an example to illustrate how course numbers work in MBA:
MGMT 555-10 is offered in the first fall quarter. 1.5 credits
MGMT 555-20 is offered in the second fall quarter. 1.5 credits
MGMT 555-30 is offered in the first spring quarter. 1.5 credits
MGMT 555-40 is offered in the second spring quarter. 1.5 credits
MGMT 555-01 lasts the entire semester. 3 credits.
Taking Other Georgetown Courses (not MSFS or MBA)
Other GU courses: If a non-CCT course has registration restrictions or if the course has prerequisites, the department or professor teaching the class has to approve your registration. Approval is given by the professor or department on a course permission form or via email. Take the course permission form or printed email approval to the Registrar's Office in White Gravenor to register for that course.
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Tuition is paid directly to Georgetown. Consortium classes are considered the same as Georgetown classes in regard to federal financial aid and international student visa concerns. If you take two CCT courses and one consortium course, you are considered full-time for aid and visa purposes.
Registering for Consortium Courses
Our Registrar will work with the consortium school to register you for the course. Submit the registration form before classes start at the school you plan to attend. Make sure to note if their class schedule is different from Georgetown's. Some schools may start a week earlier or later. If the registration is approved (check for the course to appear online in Student Access to see if it's approved), go to the other school for the class, and follow their calendar for class meetings. At the end of the semester, your grade will appear on your Georgetown record once it has been posted by the professor.
For more information, please refer to the GU Consortium website.
If transfering courses from an international school, students must also submit documentation showing the following:
Students usually register as a non-degree student at the visited school to take courses. Students are strongly discouraged from taking transfer courses during their last semester, as this may keep them from graduating. Once the class is complete and the grade is posted, request an official transcript, and bring it to the Academic Program Manager. International students on student visas must submit the transcript before the start of their last semester in the program. If they do not, we can't cerify them for graduation that semester. Thus, they must enroll in an extra class or classes (that the transfer courses would have fulfilled) to complete the CCT degree.
Students can transfer up to 25% of total courses into the CCT Program. This usually means 9 CCT credits.
Additional information is in the Graduate School's Bulletin.
Independent Study/Tutorial
CCT students may on occasion request to do an independent study/tutorial only if they have a specific research or academic interest that cannot be satisfied in a regularly scheduled course. Students must first find a professor with the appropriate academic background who is also willing to do an independent study. Independent studies are done on a case by case basis at the discretion of the professor.
The independent study is a course designed around one student's interests, and the professor and student must complete a tutorial request/registration form outlining the tutorial type, reading list, meeting schedule, course description, exams and papers required, and grading basis. This form must be signed by the professor, Academic Program Manager, and the Graduate School Dean. The form must be submitted to the Graduate School for approval no later than the last day of the registration add/drop period for that semester.
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Internships for Credit
Effective Fall 2004, CCT offers an internship course, CCTP- 533-01 for one credit.
Coursework option students who matriculated in Summer and Fall 2005 can take a three-credit capstone internship course in the last semester of the program.
Tuition and Fees, Scholarships, Federal Financial Aid, and Employment
Tuition and Fees
University tuition and fees are set each year in March, and details on the tuition and fees for CCT students are on the Financial Aid page of the CCT Web site.
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Scholarships given to new students can only renewed for one year after the original award year. If students matriculated prior to Summer 2006, the cumulative GPA from the first year of studies must be 3.5 or higher to have the award renewed. If students matriculated effective Summer 2006 or afterwards, the cumulative GPA from the first year of studies must be 3.9 or higher to have the award renewed. No application is required for renewal of funding.
The award amounts for the second year are dependent on the first year award amount:
All current CCT students who did not receive funding their first year are automatically considered for merit-based scholarships the second year, pending availability of funds. No application is required as these scholarships are awarded to current students based on highest cumulative CCT GPA. These scholarships, when available, are funded by CCT and the Graduate School, and academic merit is the only measure used to award these scholarships.
CCT occasionally offers scholarships that are merit-based but targeted for specific students. This type of scholarship is dependent on external grant funding, thus funding may not always be available. When external grant funding for scholarships is available, CCT adheres to the guidelines specified in the grant for selecting scholarship recipients.
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Georgetown University Student Financial Aid Counselors
Counselors from the Office of Student Financial Services are available to assist you Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST. Visitors are seen on a walk-in basis whenever possible, and appointments are also available. The counselors see students based upon their last names. Check the contact list for your particular counselor.
Thesis Option
Overview of the Thesis Project
The Master's thesis project serves as a capstone experience which integrates and extends the knowledge acquired during studies in the program. In addition, the thesis can serve as a representation of students' analytical abilities for professional purposes or for further graduate studies.
The thesis is not traditionally subject to a specific page length standard especially given that many theses have multimedia components. As a general guideline, traditional written theses should be a minimum of 70 pages in length, inclusive of formatting, cover page, notes and bibliography.
The Graduate School's Thesis and Dissertation Guidelines provide details on the thesis requirements.
Electronic Theses are an option, in lieu of paper theses. Submitting a thesis electronically allows you to conceive of the thesis diferently and incorporate more multimedia components into the work.
To see examples of CCT theses, visit the Thesis Database. You can search by keyword to find theses in your interest area.
Selecting a Thesis Topic, Advisor and Reader
Students writing theses develop their topics over the course of the first year and a half of the program in consultation with their academic advisors and professors. Students should narrow their thesis topics and begin looking for appropriate faculty members to serve as Thesis Advisors and Readers the semester prior to thesis writing.
The Thesis Advisor will serve as the principal intellectual mentor and will head the student's Thesis Committee. He/She will lead the Thesis Colloquium class and will meet with students regularly to discuss their progress, read drafts, and provide written comments on students' work. The Thesis Advisor should be a CCT faculty member. However, with permission of the Director, non-CCT Georgetown faculty or CCT adjunct faculty members may serve as Thesis Advisors. To request this, please ask the professor in question to send a written or email request to the Academic Program Manager.
The Thesis Reader serves on the student's committee and reads drafts of the thesis, providing written comments on students' work. Both the Advisor and Reader must attend the thesis presentation and approve the thesis. The Reader may be any of the above kinds of faculty members. In rare cases, it may be desirable for a student to select someone outside the University to serve as a Reader. If students would like to do this, please send a written request to the Academic Program Manager. This must be approved by the Director.
Prospectus for the Thesis
Those students who intend to apply to write a thesis should write a prospectus in the semester before they register for the Thesis Colloquium. The prospectus is intended to identify a topic, describe the theoretical, historical, analytical and methodological frameworks for the thesis, and include an extended bibliography. It is highly recommended that students be finalizing a draft of the prospectus in the first month of the semester prior to enrolling in the Thesis Colloquium and be discussing the topic with possible faculty mentors and second readers. (For example, students who intend to write a thesis in the spring semester should be drafting the prospectus no later than early October of the previous semester).
The topic must be approved, and the thesis prospectus form must signed by the thesis advisor by Nov. 1 for spring-semester thesis writers, April 1 for fall-semester thesis writers. Students planning on working with human subjects in their thesis project (conducting surveys, experiments, interviews, and focus groups, as well as, filming and photographing subjects) must apply for approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB). The intent of this policy is to ensure that students have invented a topic for M.A. thesis research and received approval from a CCT thesis advisor before pre-registration. Approval of the second reader can follow via email to the Academic Program Manager no later than the first month of the thesis writing process. This deadline is established by the CCT program in order to help students take seriously the need to devise a topic for thesis research in a timely and effective manner. Further, in some cases, topics for thesis research may change over the course of the semester in which the prospectus is written, most notably in relation to research undertaken in students’ seminars, and such changes should be discussed with the relevant faculty (i.e. prospective mentors).
In many instances, this means that students are well-served to be drafting a prospectus prior to the semester they meet with faculty to discuss it; thus, in the example above, students who are finalizing the prospectus in the fall semester for completion of the degree in the spring should consider drafting the prospectus over the course of the summer. Further, students who are considering writing a thesis are well-served to consider seminar research papers as inaugural efforts towards the finalizing of a topic for completion.
It should be noted that the option of writing a thesis in order to complete the M.A. degree is also contingent upon completion of the Core Methods and Core Theory requirements with a final grade of A- in each required course. Students failing to fulfill these required courses are not guaranteed enrollment in the Thesis Colloquium, even if they have written a prospectus.
Select the semester below in which you are working on your thesis, to view the required and suggested deadlines for the thesis process:
Georgetown's electronic thesis website provides information on electronic theses and copyright. Electronic thesis submission is encouraged by the Graduate School.
Please refer to the Curriculum section of the CCT website for details on the coursework option.
All students must declare their intent to graduate in January (if spring graduates) or by the first working day of the month in which students want to graduate (if fall or summer graduates) by completing the Application for Graduate Degree form and submitting it to the Graduate School.
A graduation ceremony is held each May, and students graduating any time during the year are invited to attend the May ceremony for that year.
CCT hosts a graduation celebration separate from the Graduate School's Commencement ceremony. The date for the CCT celebration will be announced in the spring of each year. Students who graduate in the summer following May graduation are welcome to attend the CCT celebration, but summer graduates are not eligible to walk in the May Graduate School commencement ceremony.
After the first semester of the program, students will pre-register for the next semester's courses. Pre-registration for spring courses is held in early November. Pre-registration for summer and fall courses is held in early April. Specific dates are announced each year.How to pre-register: Graduate studies demand a strong commitment of time and attention. Thus, the CCT Program strongly . CCT students declare their enrollment intention on their application for admission. A student's enrollment status will not be changed after that except in exceptional circumstances. Students wishing to change their enrollment status must submit a written request to the Academic Program Manager well before the start of the semester and must receive permission from CCT to change status. Students must resolve any incomplete (I) course grades within a semester after the incomplete grade was given, or by an earlier date set by the faculty member. Students will not be allowed to proceed into the Thesis Colloquium class with more than one incomplete grade pending. International students on student visas must enroll full-time each semester while they are at Georgetown. International students are given two years to complete their CCT studies. Students must plan accordingly, so they are not enrolled less than full-time in any given semester. Exceptions can be made in certain cases in the last semester. Refer to the for more details. Summer registration rules: Courses must be graduate level, and the same academic rules apply for summer registration as during the regular academic year. Students may take courses over the summer in a variety of places: CCT students who need a language to facilitate research for coursework or theses may audit a language class offered through a Georgetown language department for no charge as long as the class is: Students may audit a language class for free to prepare them for a language proficiency exam.If you wish to take a language course through CCT, you need to do the following:While writing your thesis and taking Thesis Colloquium, enroll in for free. It keep you eligible for student health insurance and maintains your full-time enrollment status. CCT Students must review the detailed on the CCT Web site. Students should first take and look outside of CCT only if they cannot find a comparable course on the CCT class listing. If students do not find a course in CCT that fulfills their academic and professional interests, they may, with approval of their CCT academic advisors, look for courses offered in: The " refers to a cross-listing arrangement with schools in the DC area. The agreement allows degree-seeking students to take courses at another consortium school. The benefit is ease of registration and payment, and preferred access into classes. There are some , so please check these before seelcting courses. CCT offers competitive, academic merit-based scholarships to particularly outstanding applicants (both U.S. and international students) who apply for admission by the scholarship admission deadline. Full-time students are given preference for funding.
After the first semester of the program, students will pre-register for the next semester's courses. Pre-registration for spring courses is held in early November. Pre-registration for summer and fall courses is held in early April. Specific dates are announced each year.How to pre-register: Graduate studies demand a strong commitment of time and attention. Thus, the CCT Program strongly . CCT students declare their enrollment intention on their application for admission. A student's enrollment status will not be changed after that except in exceptional circumstances. Students wishing to change their enrollment status must submit a written request to the Academic Program Manager well before the start of the semester and must receive permission from CCT to change status. Students must resolve any incomplete (I) course grades within a semester after the incomplete grade was given, or by an earlier date set by the faculty member. Students will not be allowed to proceed into the Thesis Colloquium class with more than one incomplete grade pending. International students on student visas must enroll full-time each semester while they are at Georgetown. International students are given two years to complete their CCT studies. Students must plan accordingly, so they are not enrolled less than full-time in any given semester. Exceptions can be made in certain cases in the last semester. Refer to the for more details. Summer registration rules: Courses must be graduate level, and the same academic rules apply for registration as during the regular academic year. Students may take courses over the summer in a variety of places: CCT students who need a language to facilitate research for coursework or theses may audit a language class offered through a Georgetown language department for no charge as long as the class is: Students may audit a language class for free to prepare them for a language proficiency exam.If you wish to take a language course through CCT, you need to do the following:While writing your thesis and taking Thesis Colloquium, enroll in for free. It keep you eligible for student health insurance and maintains your full-time enrollment status. CCT Students must review the detailed on the CCT Web site. Students should first take and look outside of CCT only if they cannot find a comparable course on the CCT class listing. If students do not find a course in CCT that fulfills their academic and professional interests, they may, with approval of their CCT academic advisors, look for courses offered in: The " refers to a cross-listing arrangement with schools in the DC area. The agreement allows degree-seeking students to take courses at another consortium school. The benefit is ease of registration and payment, and preferred access into classes. There are some , so please check these before seelcting courses. Effective Fall 2004, CCT offers an for one credit. Coursework option students who matriculated in Summer and Fall 2005 can take a in the last semester of the program. CCT offers competitive, academic merit-based scholarships to particularly outstanding applicants (both U.S. and international students) who apply for admission by the scholarship admission deadline. Full-time students are given preference for funding.