# PhD in Biomedical Sciences and Neuroscience Student Vacation Policy In general, the Graduate School anticipates that students will take two weeks of vacation each year, exclusive of travel to scientific meetings and days taken off for study and preparation for examinations. Individual circumstances may cause a specific student mentor pair to agree to an individual vacation plan that is appropriate given the nature of the student's efforts over a period of time, particular family circumstances, parental leave, etc. Students must, however, inform the thesis advisor (or the rotation advisor) of all proposed and planned absences so that the flow of experimental work can be planned and discussed. In the event of an unanticipated absence, students should make every effort to communicate with the laboratory and the Graduate School Dean as soon as possible. Any unexplained absence will constitute lack of satisfactory progress in the Program and can result in academic probation, administrative leave of absence, or dismissal from the Program. Students should not take vacation time while courses are running. If absences from courses result from unavoidable circumstances, students should inform their course directors and abide by any remediation plans to make up for missed course materials, assignments or assessments. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://ismms-gs.gitbook.io/graduate-student-handbook/chapter-3/enrollment-and-registration/leave-withdrawal-and-readmission/phd-in-biomedical-sciences-and-neuroscience-student-vacation-policy.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.