Degree Candidates

The Graduate School Degree Candidates

   The Office of Graduate and Professional Studies is pleased to provide you with information regarding the steps required to successfully submit your application for graduation, as well as, the electronic graduation application forms. Please refer to the Graduate School's Critical Dates to ensure you are in compliance with deadlines.

Graduation Application Information

1. All students must ensure that they have been officially admitted to their appropriate academic department prior to submission of the graduation application to the Graduate School.
2. Applications for graduation must be evaluated by the academic department to ensure completeness and compliance with all published degree requirements, before being submitted to the Graduate School. Department chairs must ensure that only the applications of those students who meet the requirements for a graduate degree (as stipulated in the catalog) are submitted to the Graduate School. APPLICATIONS SUBMITTED FOR STUDENTS WHO DO NOT MEET THE REQUIREMENTS FOR A GRADUATE DEGREE WILL BE RETURNED TO THE DEPARTMENT.
   
3. The application MUST BE TYPED, completed, and submitted to the Graduate School, by the appropriate academic department, by the deadline published in the critical dates for each semester.
4. All course substitutions and course transfer must have been submitted and approved prior to the submission of the graduation application packet.
5. All INCOMPLETE grades received before the semester of graduation as well as all asterisks must be removed from the transcript, through the Registrar's Office, prior to the submission of the graduation application to the Graduate School.
6. Applications must include a current approved Plan of Study completed, signed and dated by the student, the assigned departmental advisor and the chair. Applications submitted without an approved Plan of Study and appropriate signatures will be returned unprocessed.
7. Applications for dissertation, and thesis defense, as well as comprehensive examinations must be submitted to the Graduate School for approval, no later than five (5) working days prior to the anticipated date of such examinations. A copy of the full dissertation or thesis must be submitted along with the application for dissertation and thesis defense.
   
8. Dissertation, thesis and final project/report proposal registration forms, (as well as application for admission to candidacy for doctoral students) must be submitted to the Graduate School, prior to the deadline for graduation application and by the published.
   
9. Names listed on University official records in the Registrar's office will appear on the diplomas. Requests for name changes must be submitted to the Registrar for processing at least one semester prior to the submission for this application.
10. A COMPLETE GRADUATION APPLICATION consists of the following items TYPED and packaged for each degree candidate.

• Graduation Application Checklist
• Graduation Application
• Graduate School Access Authorization Form
• Program of Study Degree Designation Form
• Plan of Study (Obtained from the department)

NOTE: Applications can be submitted early, but not later than the deadline indicated by the Graduate School. Under extenuating circumstances, late applications may be submitted only with the departmental approval, accompanies by a late application form signed by the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. However, as stipulated on the late application form the University is under no obligation to process late applications for graduation. Therefore, there is no guarantee that late applications will be processed in time for graduation in any given semester/term.

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