How Rackham Students Navigate Their Degree and Find Support

Updated

Rackham Graduate School's website organizes degree navigation around one main entry point: the Navigating Your Degree section, which sits alongside Apply, Programs of Study, and Funding under the "Resources and Information" heading. From there, students can reach guidance on degree milestones and requirements, plus separate pages for student communities, campus resources, and help and support. The site is a navigation hub rather than a step-by-step checklist, so it works best as a starting point you return to at each stage.

What "Navigating Your Degree" covers

The homepage groups four resources under Resources and Information:

  • Apply — for prospective students
  • Programs of Study — degree and program listings
  • Funding — financial support information
  • Navigating Your Degree — the section aimed at enrolled students moving through their program

The site describes this content as covering the path from enrollment through completion, including key steps and requirements. If you are already enrolled and trying to figure out what comes next, this is the section to open first.

Support beyond academics

Rackham separates student life and well-being into its own area, reachable from the "Student Experience" block on the homepage. It is organized into three parts:

Section What it points to
Student Communities Graduate student groups across backgrounds, interests, and perspectives
Resources Campus services such as tech support, study spaces, and getting around Ann Arbor
Help and Support Avenues for conflict resolution, emergencies, and other difficulties

The Help and Support page is the one to bookmark if a problem is not academic — it lists the routes available when difficulties emerge rather than a single contact point.

Using events and consultations

The Events section lists recurring and one-off sessions, including:

  • Rackham Consultation Services: Virtual Office Hours — held online, with sessions listed at 2:00–3:00 p.m. on multiple dates
  • Bouchet Honor Society Information Session — in person at the East Conference Room, Fourth Floor, Rackham Graduate Building

Virtual office hours are the lowest-friction way to ask a question without an appointment. Information sessions like the Bouchet one are aimed at students considering a specific honor society or program.

A practical way to use the site

  1. Start at Navigating Your Degree to check requirements and milestones for your stage.
  2. Check Funding if your question involves financial support.
  3. Move to Student Experience → Help and Support when the issue is personal, logistical, or urgent.
  4. Scan Events for virtual office hours if you would rather ask a person than read a page.

One caveat: the homepage does not spell out individual milestone deadlines or program-specific requirements. Those live in your program's own materials, so treat Rackham's pages as the map and your department as the source for exact dates.