Appropriate Use of Degree Status Designations
It is a matter of academic integrity that students, both current and former, correctly represent their degree program status and credentials. These guidelines are provided to help inform students of the appropriate ways in which to represent themselves and to support faculty within their careers and their supervision of students. Students should not use designations that are not officially sanctioned by the Institute nor should they use acronyms that might be misunderstood by members of the general public who are not well-versed in academic requirements.
Students in bachelor’s or master’s programs should not identify themselves as degree candidates (e.g., MS candidate) because candidacy is not an officially recognized degree program status at the bachelor’s or master’s level, only at the doctoral level. The appropriate designation is to merely identify as a student (e.g., MS student in Health Sciences). Students in doctoral programs (e.g., DNP, DPT, OTD, PhD, SLPD, etc.) may identify themselves as degree candidates only when they have been officially advanced to candidacy (by completing all required coursework, passing the comprehensive examinations, and having an approved dissertation proposal), and not before. Some professional doctorate programs may not have a period where candidacy status is officially recognized, thus it is not permitted for a student to denote any degree designation until the degree is conferred. This degree program status should be expressed in words (e.g., PhD candidate, PhD all-but-dissertation) and not using acronyms that might be misunderstood by non-academic audiences. For example, acronyms such as PhD(c) or PhD (ABD) should not be used as they could be mistaken for a conferred degree with some specialization.
There is no official designation or accepted acronym for being a student in a professional health professions programs, thus these should be avoided. For example, it is inappropriate to use PA-S or MSN-S to describe being a student in a physician assistant or master’s level nursing program.
Former students who have not earned their credential may identify themselves as former students (e.g., former IHP PhD student in Health Professions Education), but should not give any indication that they maintain any current degree status.