Graduation Procedures for MA and PhD Students

XIII. GRADUATION PROCEDURES FOR M.A. AND PH.D. STUDENTS

1. Students must submit an Application to Graduate form through GradForms, which includes the date and time of the oral examination, to the Graduate School no later than the third Friday of the semester in which graduation is expected. The form is valid only for that semester. For M.A. students, the form must be signed electronically by the student, the student’s thesis adviser, and the Chair of the Comparative Studies

Graduate Studies Committee. Ph.D. students, in addition to the Application to Graduate form on GradForms, also signed electronically by the student, the student’s dissertation adviser, and the Chair of the Comparative Studies Graduate Studies Committee, must also submit, at least two weeks before the final oral examination is scheduled, the Doctoral Draft Approval/Notification of Final Oral Examination form through Grad Forms and a completed, typed draft of the dissertation (see the Graduate School website under “Forms and Publications”).* All members of the Dissertation Committee must sign electronically the draft approval form indicating that the student is adequately prepared to defend the dissertation. All students must be registered for at least three credits during the expected quarter of graduation. *NB: This sentence corrects the most recent version of this handbook (which had indicated that the dissertation draft is to be turned in at the same time as the application to graduate). The draft and draft approval form need to be turned in two weeks before the oral exam.

2. M.A. students must successfully complete a thesis and oral examination and submit the Master’s Examination Report form to the Graduate School through GradForms at least two weeks before commencement. Ph.D. students must successfully complete the dissertation and oral examination and submit the Final Oral Examination Report form through GradForms.

3. Students are responsible for arranging a time for the oral examination that is convenient for all members of the Master’s Examination Committee or the Final Oral Examination Committee.

4. The final, approved copy of the master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation, with formatting approved by the Graduate School, must be submitted through GradForms no later than Wednesday of the week before commencement. Detailed instructions for formatting and submitting these documents are found in the Graduate School Handbook. The publication “Guidelines for Preparing Theses, Dissertations, and D.M.A. Documents” is found on the Graduate School website under “Forms and Publications.” When submitting the final copy of the thesis to the Graduate School, students should be sure to give themselves time to correct any errors in formatting.

5. In addition to the above procedures, all students are responsible for fulfilling the following requirements for graduation:

a. Students must attain a cumulative point‐hour ratio of at least 3.0 for all graduate credit hours taken at this university.

b. Students must fulfill all requirements established by the Comparative Studies Graduate Studies Committee as stated in this document.

c. Students must be sure that the Graduate School receives final grades by the deadline published by the Registrar.

d. Students must fulfill all requirements by the deadlines established by the Graduate School.

6. Doctoral students must also fulfill residence requirements.

Please consult the Graduate School Handbook, Section VI. (M.A.) and Section VII. (Ph.D.), for further detailed information about graduation requirements. See also Graduate School website.