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When does a PhD student officially stop being a PhD student? To be more specific, are you no longer a PhD student when:

  1. you have submitted your PhD (and thus stopped working on it),
  2. been approved for the degree, or
  3. graduated?

I have looked on the Internet and on Stack Exchange and I cannot find a clear answer to this question. On Academia Stack Exchange, one question asks something similar but from such a different perspective that it provides no help. While I know I can ask some administrative body in the university (and have), I remain sufficiently confused about the general consensus on this matter that I would appreciate answers from experts here.

I have a personal interest in knowing the answer to this question as I am involved in a society which is only open to current students and unsure as to when I will become ineligible.

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Peter Slattery
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    Are you asking about "PhD student" or just "student"? – Nobody Feb 05 '16 at 05:25
  • I went with PhD student as PhD students go through a different completion process to undergraduate students. Do you think I should pose this as a more general question about the student to non-student transition? – Peter Slattery Feb 05 '16 at 05:40
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    I'm not sure what "officially a student" could mean other than that the part of the institution which is responsible for determining student status -- usually, the registrar -- says that you are officially a student. If that's what you mean, the answer is what the registrar tells you. Seems disappointing, but what else? (But I will say that option (i) cannot be right: if your thesis is not accepted, you will need to work on it again. You are still a student on Saturdays too...) – Pete L. Clark Feb 05 '16 at 05:47
  • See also when can you call yourself doctor – Jeromy Anglim Feb 05 '16 at 06:19
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    @David: Not necessarily. Some institutions only graduate students once a year, so people can spend some months having earned a PhD but not received it. Are they officially students at that time? Ask the institution. In fact, now that I think about it, I skipped my PhD graduation so in some sense I never graduated. Some silly sense, of course, but still... – Pete L. Clark Feb 05 '16 at 06:32
  • @DavidKetcheson Once you have completed all requirements to be eligible to graduate, you become a graduand, not a student. At graduation you become a graduate. – Jessica B Feb 05 '16 at 07:35
  • In the vast majority of societies, renewal is annual and for their convenience they only care about your status at renewal. – Chris H Feb 05 '16 at 09:13
  • @DavidKetcheson It is still not correct. I technically stopped being affiliated with the university when I handed in my dissertation (or possibly at the deadline for this which was a few days later), as this was the end-date on my contract. I did not complete my degree until I defended my dissertation about 2 months later. – Tobias Kildetoft Feb 05 '16 at 09:26
  • Are you competing in University Challenge? – TRiG Feb 05 '16 at 11:39
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    Out of curiosity (and to help future generations of confused people), what did your university administration tell you when you asked them about this? – Dan Romik Feb 05 '16 at 12:24
  • " In fact, now that I think about it, I skipped my PhD graduation so in some sense I never graduated." as I understand it at least at my university if you don't attend graduation and don't deffer it you are considered to have "graduated in absentia". – Peter Green Feb 05 '16 at 14:59
  • Traditionally, the dean of the university will confer degrees during the commencement ceremony to the graduating class. In spirit, this would be when you cease being student and become Ph.D.. Being said, you can remain enrolled in most institutions under non-degree seeking status if your enrollment status as student stands to expire. – CKM Feb 05 '16 at 18:23
  • @PeteL.Clark Yeah, the institution I attended only has 2 commencement ceremonies per year now. I actually defended a couple of weeks after the spring commencement, so I technically 'graduated' (and received my diploma in the mail) at the end of the summer semester, but walked across the stage in the fall commencement, around 7 months after my defense. – reirab Feb 05 '16 at 20:11
  • @DavidKetcheson: My university has an explicit "conferred date" for the degree, which coincides with the graduation ceremony. So, here, you haven't technically graduated until the ceremony (whether you attended it or not), even if you have fulfilled all the requisites. – Martin Argerami Feb 06 '16 at 02:36

2 Answers2

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As I say in the comments and djechlin says in his answer, one's official student status is entirely determined by the institution in which the student is enrolled. You can ask them at any given time whether you are a student, and they'll tell you. If you want to know when you will lose your student status assuming that you complete all the requirements and paperwork for the PhD, they should be able to tell you that. This won't have any cosmic significance though: in practice, you are probably asking them about how the computers in the registrar's office deal with the boundaries between one semester, the next and/or the intervening summer.

In terms of your intended need -- i.e., continued membership in a society -- I suspect that you may be taking the "official student status" more seriously than others will and thereby worrying yourself needlessly. I can't think of any society that wouldn't take the student's own word as to the completion of their own student status, even allowing a reasonable grace period. For instance, there are professional societies in my field (mathematics) which students can join for special rates (sometimes free). In these cases membership is determined annually and the renewal process takes place shortly after a given academic year is underway. So if you get your PhD in, say, June, then you get to keep the student benefits until, say, September or October.

A big exception to the above is immigration issues. For that: yes, ask the university for the precise date at which your student status expires!

Pete L. Clark
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    +1, but "entirely determined by the institution" -- I'm sure in Germany at least there are relevant national/state laws as well. – Chris H Feb 05 '16 at 09:11
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    @ChrisH I suspect there is not. Each university has their own "Promotionsordnung" and the status of "Doktorand" is not relevant for state or national administration. At my alma mater I needed to register my intended dissertation, but was not even an official student. However, there is national legislation detailing when you are allowed to call yourself "Doktor". –  Feb 05 '16 at 10:21
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    @ChrisH I think it is implied that the institution determines their criteria within the boundaries the laws and regulations of their countries (and the question is not regionally tagged). I'm sure Pete didn't mean to put academic institutions above government laws. – Mindwin Remember Monica Feb 05 '16 at 13:53
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I have a personal interest in knowing the answer to this question as I am involved in a society which is only open to current students and unsure as to when I will become ineligible.

Then the only definition that matters is their definition. If your status is "on the line" you should inquire them directly, or submit your application knowing your eligibility may be questionable (please at least be clear about your status in this case, since this is ethical).

Also note that even if you found a reasonably standard definition, they may be open to an exception "in your case" for reasons they or you would know better than I do. You'll have to use your judgment if you turn out to be in a grey area.

  • The potential problem with this is the involved in "I am involved in a society which is only open to current students", quiet often means Involved in running. This is the case for most student clubs for example. – Frames Catherine White Feb 05 '16 at 15:45