Appendix III Graduate School Procedure for Students Admitted with English Language Deficiencies Stony Brook University has established certain minimum English language competency requirements for admission to graduate study (the admission requirement) and for the provision of support and employment as a teaching assistant (the teaching requirement). Under certain conditions students may be admitted if they meet the admission requirement, but under no circumstances may a student teach in a laboratory or class until they meet the teaching requirement. All foreign students must be interviewed upon arrival at Stony Brook. This will be done by the English as a Second Language (ESL) staff in the Foreign Student Office. Those who fail the interview will be required to take a formal test (cost $60). Those who fail the test will have to enroll in an appropriate ESL course. If the student fails the test and has to enroll in a course, he or she may not teach, but must still receive the stipend promised by the program. NOTE: Since ESL courses are undergraduate courses, and are regarded as remedial for graduate students, they do not contribute to the required full time graduate courseload of 12 credits for G1 or G3 students, or 9 credits for G2 or G4. They must, therefore, be taken in addition to the full-time graduate load. It should also be noted that a full tuition scholarship for a G1 or G3 student covers any number of credits from twelve to eighteen: thus the cost of the ESL course is covered for such students with full Tuition Scholarships. Full Tuition Scholarships for G2 or G4 students cover only the cost of nine graduate credits, the full time requirement, so the cost of the ESL course(s) must be born by the student or the department for these cases. Students who fail to obtain a "B" or better in ESL 198 by the end of the Spring semester following their admission to Stony Brook, may enroll in the special program offered through the Summer Institute in American Living, which is organized by the Intensive English Center. In order to complete the requirement at this point, the student must earn a grade of "B" or better in the Summer Institute Course. The cost of this course is equivalent to three credits of graduate coursework, and must be paid by the student or the department. Students who fail to meet the requirements described above, within one year of first admission to Stony Brook, may not be appointed to Teaching Assistantships. Students who did not originally meet the admission requirement will be dismissed. Finally, it should be noted that there is a requirement of at least one semester of supervised teaching for the award of any graduate degree at Stony Brook. Unless a specific waiver of this requirement is sought for a particular student, it will be assumed that he or she will teach in order to obtain the degree. This will require that the student meets the language requirement for teaching. Departments that allow unqualified graduate students to teach in laboratories or classrooms will be subject to severe penalties, including the possible loss of TA lines.   Page last modified on Sunday, August 13, 2006 by George E. Carroll