Black Friday meetings Deciphering Black Friday Letters “Secondary” Advisors Satisfactory Progress Looking Forward to Expects Requires Probation Leaves of Absence What is “Black Friday”?
The progress of every doctoral student (MS/PhD, PhD and DES) towards timely and quality satisfaction of the doctoral program requirements is reviewed semi-annually by the full CS faculty, plus any research advisors who are not CS faculty, during an all-day meeting referred to as “Black Friday”. However, this meeting has never yet occurred on an actual Friday! It is almost always held on the Thursday “study day” following the end of classes prior to final exams (see University Calendar). The current Doctoral Program Chair recalls it also being held on a Tuesday at least once, and a recent instance was held on a Wednesday. You are required to update your academic database entry by a (near) end of semester deadline that is scheduled a few days prior to the meeting. Note this refers to the departmental database (“mice”), not the registrar’s database. Your database entry should include details of your accomplishments during the past semester and plans for the coming semester. You should als
