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Joint Doctoral Program SE77

Joint Doctoral Program San Diego State University:

The University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University have a Joint Doctoral Program (JDP).

For questions regarding the SE UCSD JDP contact Graduate Academic Advisor by filling out our Contact Form.

For questions regarding the SE SDSU JDP contact Donovan Geiger at: dgeiger@sdsu.edu. 

 

Note: Admission into the SE JDP are processed by SDSU.

Information about SDSU Admissions: https://www.engineering.sdsu.edu/admissions/jointdocprogram.aspx

Registration

JDP students should be enrolled at both institutions every quarter, but with SDSU as their "home base."

Students should be enrolled in 6 units at SDSU, and 1-12 units at UCSD. For JDP International students, their visa is issued through SDSU;  thus, they will need to be enrolled at SDSU and abide by ISPO visa regulations. 

Ensure to enroll at UCSD by the Registration deadline or you will be assessed late fees. 

A 3.0 GPA at UCSD is considered Good Standing. A 3.5 GPA at SDSU is considered Good Standing. JDP students must maintain a 3.5 GPA. 

Committee Membership

Students will contact UCSD Ph.D. Advisor to constitute or reconstitute their Ph.D. committee for the Senate Advancement and Final Defense.

JDP Committee should consist of:

  • 2 members from SDSU
  • 2 members from UCSD 
  • 1 tenured member from outside of SE within UCSD

Within those 5:

  • At lease two specialities that are different from the students.
  • And co-chair -- one from UCSD, one from SDSU
Teaching Assistant

JDP students are allowed to work as a Teaching Assistant (TA) at UCSD. However, if you’re an International student please check with the SDSU International office as you may need to apply for CPT to be allowed to work at UCSD. I-20 is with SDSU so working at UCSD is considered out of campus. Spring is considered part of summer at SDSU, so JDP international students can’t be a TA in Spring. Winter and Fall are the recommended quarters for JDP students to be TAs at UCSD. 

International JDP students are also advised to wait to work at UCSD while in MS to PhD transition to avoid issues with International Center policies about I-20 and OPT vs CPT. 

JDP Ph.D. Exams:

Students are required to take the same three exams as UCSD SE students. However, there are different exam forms for JDP students to fill out.

1. Department Qualifying Exam

DQE Committee:

  • UCSD Faculty Advisor
  • SDSU Faculty Advisor
  • UCSD SE Faculty
  • SDSU or UCSD Faculty (Optional)

Download the Department Qualifying Exam Guide

Please see the Ph.D. page for the DQE course requirements.

2. Advancement to Candidacy Senate Exam

Student fill out JDP Form 3 (provided by SDSU Coordinator).

Please see Ph.D. page for the Senate Exam requirements (https://structures.ucsd.edu/academics/graduate-program/doctoral-program/doctoral-studies).

Download the Advancement to Candidacy Exam Guide

Note: The faculty committee is different for JDP students.
Please see Committee Membership section above.

3. Dissertation and Final Defense Examination

Note: JDP students are required to complete 1 quarter of TA before their Final Defense Exam

Students fill out to JDP Form 5 (Provided by SDSU Coordinator).

Please see Ph.D. page for Final Defense requirements (https://structures.ucsd.edu/academics/graduate-program/doctoral-program/doctoral-studies).

Download the PhD Final Defense Exam Guide

For more information about the JDP program please see SDSU's website: https://www.engineering.sdsu.edu/admissions/jointdoc_structural.aspx


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