a group photo of conference participants from above

Current Students

Program of Study

The Cornell Graduate School sets the broad structure and guidelines for all Graduate Fields at the university, particularly with regard to registration, student status, and benchmarks leading to graduation.  Within these guidelines, each Field sets the standards and requirements specific to students in the program.  On the individual level, the student’s Special Committee is the final arbiter of the student’s program.

You should be sure to follow all administrative requirements of the University, the Graduate School and the Field.  If you have questions about any of these requirements, please contact the appropriate office or ask the GFAs for information or a referral to the appropriate office.

Sometimes it is hard to know where to look for answers or who to ask when you don’t find them. The goal of this page is to provide resources to our students with the information they need to navigate the academic and administrative aspects of their program.

Where to Look, Who to Ask

Student Essentials is your personalized program hub. Here you can manage many aspects of your graduate student career – personal (update your address, phone number, emergency contacts); academic (provide links to your Student Center for class enrollment and Committee selection) and Financial (check your Bursar bill, your meal plan or NetPrint balances). This page also provides information on campus services and policies.

This goal of this entire section of our Field site is to provide information regarding Field requirements and policies. You can also refer to the Field websites and Field Handbook as well as the MBG Graduate community Intranet for other information (log in required).

Cornell Graduate School is your college. Your degree will be conferred through them. They do not have a lot of requirements, but the ones that they do have are important. on the following websites:

  • Academic Progress: requirements, policies, and resources to support your successful completion of your program
  • Policies: searchable database of the policies from the Code of Legislation of the Graduate Faculty
  • Graduate Student Forms: Forms related to completion of requirements (i.e. exams; courses; status changes)

You enroll in courses through your Student Center. Course enrollment dates and deadlines are published by the Office of the University Registrar. Course enrollment petitions are not generally accepted for graduate students and must be submitted to the Graduate School (see Forms page).

Stipend rates are published on the Graduate School website. Generally, your appointment is processed through the Department of your mentor (Special Committee Chair). Fellowship appointment administration varies. Reach out to the MBG-GFAs with questions about your funding regardless of where you are on campus; we can help correct, troubleshoot or put you in contact with the appropriate people in your home department where necessary.

We can also sometimes help with questions about your Bursar bill that may not be related to your funding. However, for these matters, it is best to contact the office that placed the hold or the Office of the University Registrar directly.

We are not able to answer tax questions.  For those, go to the Tax Office website for general information and contact them with any related questions.

Questions about visa status and other issues particular to international members of our community are best addressed by the Office of Global Learning.

For questions about or additions to your Student Health plan, contact the Student Health Benefits Office.

MBG/Biotech/CALS systems–  CALS IT Help – https://cals.cornell.edu/faculty-staff/information-technology;
University-wide services (i.e. email), check with CIT https://it.cornell.edu/support

Cornell Scheduling for rooms in various parts of campus (and Biotech G-01 & G-10); For other rooms in the Biotech Building

We are here for you!

The DGSs and GFAs are always here to help. If you have a question that cannot be answered using the sources above or have an issue that you want to talk about, please always feel free to reach out.  The GFAs are located in 107 Biotech Building and you can reach the whole team via the Field email bmcb [at] cornell.edu (biophysics[at]cornell[dot]edu)