Graduate student
Disclaimer: This article is about rules. Its contents are not authoritative. Please consult official rules for up-to-date information.
| NAQT | gameplay rules • eligibility rules • correctness guidelines |
|---|---|
| ACF | gameplay rules • eligibility rules |
| PACE | gameplay and eligibility rules |
Before the game
During the game
A graduate student is a college student who is pursuing a higher academic degree like a master's or Ph.D, or a professional degree like a MD, MBA, or JD.
All graduate students are "not undergraduate eligible" - however, not every student without undergrad eligibility is a graduate student. This is because all rulesets set a limit on the amount of time a student can be an undergraduate, excluding non-traditional students who spend more than roughly four years to graduate.
History of eligibility rules
Other than tournaments explicitly noted as excluding graduate students (undergraduate tournaments and some novice tournaments), grad students are permitted to play any college tournament; in particular, for tournaments that allow grad students at all, there is no limit on the number of grad students who may be on a particular team.
Prior to 2011, graduate students were banned from NAQT Division II. Changes in that year made graduate status irrelevant to the Division II eligibility criteria.
For approximately the last 20 years of its program ending in 2008, College Bowl limited teams to one graduate student in addition to having several other unique eligibility rules. At prior times, a 2 graduate student limit or a total ban on graduate students were also used in College Bowl.
Controversy
- Main page: Discussion of graduate student eligibility
The eligibility of graduate students in quiz bowl is a perennial source for argument. Defenders of the status quo hold that quiz bowl is a game for all college students including grad students, and that the game benefits from having a wider range of players. Opponents argue that the presence of grad students stifles the ambitions of the undergraduate portion of the community through their control over the game and its discourse.