While the 10 commandments summarize what you should do, there are also some common traps to avoid.
Don’t remain silent and let a small wrinkle become a serious issue, reach out early. Don’t assume that something that may seem minor to you doesn’t need to be communicated, because it may seem not so minor to the other party. For example, if you decide to drop a class, shoot the instructor a line to let them know. Similarly, requesting a deadline extension will be a much more stressful experience for all involved parties if you wait until the last minute — reach out weeks in advance, and things will go a lot more smoothly.
It is easy to fool yourself into thinking that you don’t need to check available resources because you already know how things are done. For example, you might believe that taking a course for 0 credits is like auditing because that’s most instructors handle it, but the instructor for this course you want to take for 0 credits might handle things differently. So read the syllabus and talk to the instructor to make sure you know what you are signing up for. Similarly, don’t just assume that you know all the QP regulations. Check this handbook to make sure your understanding matches the most recent procedures and guidelines.
Just because you heard of some student once getting X or Y approved, this does not mean that you will get X or Y approved. Decisions are informed by many factors, and these factors vary widely with each case. While two cases may look exactly the same from the students’ perspective, they may actually be drastically different in the institutional framework that the department has to operate in. When people tell you “student X got to do Y once”, that omits all the decisive factors that eventually led to that outcome. As always, good and timely communication will let you avoid surprises.
Don’t take graduate courses in the Winter or Summer for more than 0 credits as they aren’t covered by your Graduation Tuition Scholarship (GTS). If you do enroll in one of those courses, you will have to pay tuition (often over $1,000 per credit).