Graduation

To prepare for your graduation, you’ll need to do the following: 

  1. Schedule your dissertation defense date. You’ll want to email the Academic Programs Coordinator early in the semester so that we can book the conference room and publicize your defense. All defenses are public, and anyone is welcome to attend. YOU MUST BE ENROLLED DURING THE SEMESTER IN WHICH YOU DEFEND. 
  2. As soon as you know when you are planning on defending, apply to graduate. You do this through the Registrar’s Office website. This is what will actually get your diploma in your hands. Even if you are not absolutely sure that you will graduate in a given semester, you should apply anyway, and there is no penalty for not doing so. 
  3. Review your GradPlan progress and make sure that you have taken all the classes that you said you would take and passed the languages that you said you would pass. You should have everything filled out except for the dissertation defense date (the Graduate Secretary will input that) and your official title for your dissertation. You are not able to fill in the dissertation title until the defense date has been input. This is the title that will appear on all the records, so make sure that it is correct. 
  4. Once you pass your defense, you need to submit your dissertation to the Graduate School. Look at the Instructions for Electronic Submission and pay close attention to the deadlines for submission. Those dates are for FINAL approval, and if you submit your dissertation that day, it will not be approved and you will NOT graduate that semester. You will want to plan to submit your dissertation AT LEAST two weeks prior to your given semester’s deadline. 
  5. Resolve any outstanding bills that might hold up your transcript or diploma. 
  6. Commencement is not the same as graduating. For more information about commencement, see http://commencement.msu.edu/. Keep in mind that there is no summer commencement, and students graduating in the summer usually walk in the previous spring. 

 Any questions about graduation or dissertation defenses can be directed to the Academic Programs Coordinator.