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Plan of Study
If you are a degree-seeking graduate student, you must file a GS2 Plan of Study or graduate degree curriculum (available in iROAR) near the beginning of your program of study. This plan represents your individual curriculum as recommended by your advisory committee. It must adhere to departmental as well as University policies.
Submitting your GS2 is a two-part process that includes:
- Committee Selection.
- Plan of Study.

Have Questions?
Your graduate program director should be your first contact for GS2 questions. If you have a problem completing or routing your GS2 or need to make changes, email GS2HELP@clemson.edu.
Timeline
- Degree-seeking master’s and specialist’s students must submit the GS2 committee selection by the middle of their second semester of study.
- Doctoral students must submit the GS2 committee selection no later than the beginning of their fourth semester of study.
In order to be approved for graduation, the final version must be on file by your GS2 deadline or a late fee of $25 will be charged for the first day and $5 for every additional day. If you don’t meet these deadlines, you may be blocked from registering for courses until you submit a plan of study.
Find the Plan of Study Forms Online
- Go to the iROAR portal and select “Already have a Clemson account?” login option (login required).
- Click the “iROAR SSB” button located under the “Dashboard” heading.
- Click the “Student” button.
- Select the “Student Records” tab that appears just below the student button; you should now see several options, including the GS2 links.
Here you can access both the GS2 Committee Selection and to the GS2 Plan of Study. Please review the helpful hints and policies below (listed in full in the Graduate School Policies & Procedures Handbook) before you filling out your forms.
More detailed instructions for each form:
Plan of Study Policy
The total number of graduate credits required for the degree is determined by your advisory committee, consistent with the specific program guidelines and Graduate School policy. These credits constitute the core of your graduate degree curriculum. All transfer courses listed on the GS2 must conform to the policies on transfer courses. These documents may evolve throughout the course of your degree program — any changes should be reviewed and approved by your committee, and a new GS2 form submitted whenever a change occurs.
Advisory Committee Selection
If a faculty member is not listed on the Graduate Faculty list, contact your department’s administrative staff. Your department controls who can be added to the list.
Your advisory committee:
- Approves your degree curriculum.
- Supervises your graduate program.
- Administers the final oral examination or defense (if required).
- Initiates the recommendation for the awarding of the degree.
In addition, the advisory committee may administer qualifying (or preliminary) or final comprehensive examinations. One member of the committee is designated as chair (or major advisor) and normally directs your dissertation or thesis, if required.
Every student enrolled in the Graduate School must form an advisory committee no later than the middle of their second semester after matriculation into a master’s or specialist’s degree program, or no later than the beginning of the fourth semester of their doctoral program. Individual programs that require a standing exception to the timeline for curricular reasons may appeal for an alternative timeline to be approved by the Dean of the Graduate School.
Advisory Committee Composition
A minimum of three faculty members must be selected by a student seeking a master’s or specialist’s degree; a minimum of four faculty members must be selected by a student seeking a doctoral degree.
All members of an advisory committee must be current members of the graduate faculty. The majority of the advisory committee, including the chair, must include full-time Clemson University Regular or Administrative faculty as defined in the Faculty Manual. Special faculty may serve as co-chairs or committee members as long as the chair is a permanent faculty member appointed to the graduate faculty and the special faculty member(s) are members of the graduate faculty.
The chair, co-chair or at least half of the committee must have a primary appointment in the program offering the degree. If the student declares a minor, this area must be represented on the committee. Committee members of interdepartmental programs are to be appointed according to bylaws (formulated by the program faculty and endorsed by the academic unit housing the program).
For additional details about faculty qualified to serve on your advisory committee, see the Graduate Advisory Committee topic in the Graduate School Policies & Procedures Handbook.
Helpful Hints
- When selecting your committee, discuss the process with your Program Coordinator or the department chair before approaching individual faculty. Your first task is to find a committee chair. Then speak with faculty members about their willingness to participate on your committee. Once you have their verbal agreement, complete the Committee Selection Workflow in your SSB portal. When all committee members have accepted the request to be on your committee, then you may prepare the Plan of Study.
- It is recommended that you enter the Committee Chair first and then enter your remaining committee members.
- Before sitting down to enter your GS2 Plan of Study, have a completed list of courses that your committee members have tentatively agreed will satisfy your academic course requirements.
- Not all departments require the term that you have taken or will take a course, so check with your program coordinator about departmental preference.
- If you are pursuing the non-thesis master’s option, make sure you have discussed with the program coordinator any other requirements that may need to be completed; for example, will a GS7 form be required?
- Transfer work can be listed by selecting courses numbered 6999, 7999 and 8999, then adding an explanation in the transfer block.
- Remember, once you hit submit, you will not be able to make any additional changes to your GS2 until everyone has approved or someone has denied your plan.
- Note the two blocks at the bottom of the page when entering any information. You MUST click the update box before submitting it for approval.
- If you have technical issues with your GS2, email GS2HELP@clemson.edu. Most Graduate School staffers do not have access to students’ Plans of Study.
Plan of Study Frequently Asked Questions
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My committee members didn’t receive a link to access and approve my GS2. Can you resend the email?
Your committee members can access any pending GS2s from their WorkFlow dashboard, which they can access via iROAR or through a direct WorkFlow dashboard link (faculty login required).
Keep in mind that the GS2 process works in a linear fashion, meaning only one person will have access to the form at a time. Only the person who currently has access to the form will be able to see it on their WorkFlow dashboard. Once that person approves your GS2, the system then emails the next person on the list, who will then be able to access the form.
To access the Workflow Dashboard through iROAR, faculty members should:
- Go to iROAR and select the iROAR SSB option under the Dashboard tab.
- Click the Faculty Services button.
- Click the Workflow Admin tab.
- See a list of workflows awaiting approval.
- Click directly on the items in the list, or click the Workflow button to go the dashboard.
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My GS2 has been approved by one or two people on my committee, but it’s not moving forward. Why is it stuck?
The next person on the list may have missed the email, or the email was sent to their clutter folder. Email that person and let them know that the GS2 is awaiting them in their WorkFlow dashboard.
If they don’t see the pending Workflow, it’s possible the person before them clicked the Approve or Deny checkbox but did not actually submit their decision. You can email them with the GS2 WorkFlow dashboard link to double check this error.
If you are still having issues, email GS2HELP@clemson.edu.
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My committee member is unable to access the link. What’s the problem?
Since GS2s contain sensitive student data, a committee member must use dual authentication to access the form through Clemson’s network. Dual authentication is simple to set up using the DUO app or by setting up a phone number to receive a call for text or authorization. More information on how to set up dual authentication can be found on CCIT’s 2FA page.
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I have submitted my committee selection. Why can’t I submit my Plan of Study?
If your committee selection is still pending, then you cannot submit your Plan of Study. The system requires you to have a completed committee before it can publish your Plan of Study to the database.
If your committee selection has been completed and you are still unable to submit your Plan of Study, email GS2HELP@clemson.edu.
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My previous committee shows up on my committee selection. I’m now pursuing another degree, so I need to select different members. What should I do?
Your previous committee needs to be inactivated first. Contact Enrolled Student Services
to request your prior committee to be inactivated, and be sure to include the prior committee type (Non-thesis, Thesis or Dissertation).After you’ve been notified that your previous committee has been inactivated, you’ll be able to access your GS2 Committee Selection again. Your previous members may still show up in the list. At this point, you’ll just need to remove each committee member by clicking the remove button to the left of their name. To change the chair, just click on the current chair’s name. This will give you the list of eligible faculty members so that you can select your new chair.
GS2 Notices
- There was a change to the course STAT 8010 effective Fall 2017. It went from a 4-credit course with a lab to a 3-credit course without a lab. For students who took the course with the lab prior to Fall 2017, the current fix for the GS2 Plan of Study is to select both STAT 8010 and 8011 and also choose a STAT 8999 - TRANSFER ELECTIVE, choosing 1 credit hour. Once this has been added, enter an explanation into the Transfer Courses Comments text box stating that when you took STAT 8010, it was a 4-credit course that included the 8011 lab. Questions or concerns can be sent to GS2HELP@clemson.edu.
- There is a change to the course NURS 8230 effective Fall 2022. It went from a 6-credit course to a 3-credit course. For students who took the course for 6 credit hours, the current fix for the GS2 Plan of Study is to select NURS 8230 along with NURS 8999 - TRANSFER ELECTIVE, choosing 3 credit hours. Once this has been added, enter an explanation into the Transfer Courses Comments text box stating that when you took NURS 8230, it was a 6-credit course and provide the term. Questions or concerns can be sent to GS2HELP@clemson.edu.