Graduation & Degree Audit Information
Graduation Information
The deadline to file an Application to Graduate form in the 2011-2012 academic year – from either an Undergraduate or a Graduate program – was Friday, November 18, 2011. This filing deadline applies to all three degree conferral dates in the academic year cycle: December 15, May 15, and August 15.
Readiness for Graduation
The Registrar’s office will conduct the final review of degree candidates' academic records to verify that all are on track to graduate in the term indicated on their application. The degree auditor will check every course record and every detail in the file to make sure all the degree requirements and minimum grade point averages for major, minor, GE, and overall, have been completed.
Notification of readiness will be sent by e-mail to each candidate's Dominican student e-mail address upon completion of the review—between March 15 and April 22 for May & August candidates.
THINGS THAT CAN DELAY READINESS:
- missing course substitution forms
- unresolved Incomplete or In-Progress grades
- missing transcripts (with grades) for courses taken off-campus
- missing Authorizations for taking courses off-campus
- missing major or minor declaration forms
PETITION TO PARTICIPATE IN COMMENCEMENT
Students who indicated on the graduation application that they plan to participate in the May 2012 Commencement ceremony but will not be completing their final class—or receiving their final grade—in Spring 2012, will be notified by the Registrar in the above mentioned email if they need to submit a Petition to Participate in Commencement. All petitions to participate must be received in the Registrar's office by April 25th.
Permission is only granted on a case-by-case basis, and is not guaranteed by submitting the form. Generally, successful petitions are those with six or less units left to complete the degree, and the policy mandates that the outstanding units must be completed by December 2012.
Degree Conferral
Degree conferral is not the same as Commencement. Degrees are conferred upon members of the graduating class one at a time, after the final grade is posted for the final degree requirement on each student’s transcript. Dominican is committed to conferring degrees within 60 days of the Commencement date, provided that ALL outstanding grades and requirements have been submitted.
Dominican confers degrees three times per year. The date of conferral that appears on the transcript is relevant to the term in which the final grade was posted.
- Spring degree date: May 15, posted by July 15, diploma by August 30
- Summer degree date: August 15, posted by October 15, diploma by November 30
- Fall degree date: December 15, posted by February 15, diploma by March 30
Degrees are conferred in random order, with one exception: priority is given to those with pending urgent transcript requests for licensing board examinations, graduate school applications, and employment-related matters, in the order they are submitted.
Transcripts
Transcripts showing conferred degrees are available via the usual online ordering process, and take 5-10 working days for standard processing. If the degree must be posted before the transcript is sent, the transcript request should be clearly marked “Hold until after degree is awarded." Transcript requests marked in this way are available within 60 days after the official graduation date. Transcript request information can be found on the transcript page.
Diplomas
Diplomas are ordered in bulk, after most or all of the degrees have been posted for a given term. This process takes about an additional 30 days after degree conferral, so diplomas are not usually mailed until approximately 100 days after the degree date, as shown in the time table above.
Students who have applied to graduate will receive informational letters about commencement activities, ordering regalia, invitations and other related matters from Dr. Kennedy early in the Spring semester.
For information on the Commencement Ceremony please visit the Commencement Page.
