does conditional acceptance into graduate school mean for the academic year or for the semester ?

Answer 1

It depends on the school and program. The acceptance letter should be very specific, stating the semester you may start and the specific conditions that you must meet. The school can have you meet the conditions over the course of a semester or year. I worked in graduate admissions for a small liberal arts college--on those rare occasions we extended a conditional acceptance, we would generally have the student meet the conditions for a one-year period.

Answer 2

There's no one word answer to your question because you can be accepted conditionally for a variety of reasons. For example, pending successful completion of.... Or until receipt of official undergraduate transcripts, etc.

If your acceptance letter doesn't state the condition(s), then you can always contact the graduate admissions office to find out.

However, it does mean that you've been accepted as a student and can begin taking classes for the semester in which you've been accepted. So if you've been accepted for Fall, then you can start taking classes Fall semester. If you were accepted for admission in the Spring, then you can start taking classes Spring semester.

How long you will be allowed to take classes there all depends on what the conditions of your acceptance were, because the school will only give you a specific amount of time to meet your conditions. Otherwise, you could be prevented from continuing on.

Answer 3

In one case, a student had yet to finish a thesis from a previous school; this individual would lose the assistantship and the program standing, if the thesis were left unfinished, by the end of the semester. As the previous poster said, read the contract carefully, and if you have any questions, ask. And please -- don't just take verbal answers. Get it in writing.