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Graduating Students

Graduation Instructions & Deadlines for Liberal Arts Graduate Students Only

* NOTE: Undergraduate students must contact their advisor for graduation application

Directions for Completion of Graduation Requirements and Submission of Doctoral Dissertation and Master's Thesis

  1. At the end of the semester before you plan to graduate or the BEGINNING of the semester you expect to graduate review your degree audit requirements with your graduate advisor. Check your total credit hours and language requirements to be sure that no courses are missing and you meet/will meet all requirements. If your degree audit indicates missing requirements your certification for a degree may be delayed so please be sure to check that all is complete no later than the beginning of your final semester and contact your advisor and the registrar’s office to correct anything that is missing. If you are a 4+1 graduate student be sure you have submitted the Transfer/Designation of Credit Form for the graduate classes you took as an undergraduate that should count toward credit for your graduate degree.

  2. Complete and submit the on-line Application for Degree found on your Student Tab in GIBSON by the appropriate semester deadline. See Deadlines and Forms Required for Graduation sections below. You will not be able to submit the application earlier than one term before the semester you plan to graduate. It is strongly suggested that you wait until the beginning of the semester you plan to graduate AND if you will be defending a thesis or dissertation, you have scheduled a defense date BEFORE you submit the Application for Degree. The actual defense might be after submission of the Application for Degree but you should have scheduled a date prior to submission to ensure the final dissertation/thesis is ready for submission by the final deadline.

  3. PhD and Master’s students participating in the Spring (May) Graduate Hooding and Recognition Ceremony ONLY must also complete the Graduate Commencement Participation Form. Please wait to submit this form until you know if you will be attending the ceremony. See Forms Required for Graduation section below.

For ALL PhD candidates and MA/MFA candidates submitting a Dissertation/Thesis:

  1. Complete dissertation/thesis per program requirements and Guidelines for Preparing Theses and Dissertations.

  2. Set dissertation/thesis defense date with committee. Allow ample time to defend dissertation/thesis and complete necessary revisions before the submission deadline. Defense via Zoom/ Skype is allowed.

  3. Upon successful defense, have your committee complete and sign the Final Examination/Oral Defense Form. This form is required in addition to the committee signatures on the actual dissertation/thesis title pages. You cannot be certified for degree without this form so be sure to remind your committee to sign this form immediately after defense and send to me / SLA Graduate Programs office immediately after obtaining all signatures. You may want to bring a digital or paper copy of this form to your defense.

  4. Complete any corrections to the dissertation/thesis as required by your committee.

  5. Submit a digital copy of the FINAL dissertation/thesis to:

    1. Electronic copy with student and all committee signatures on title pages to ProQuest/UMI Dissertation Publishing
    2. Electronic copy with student and all committee signatures on title pages to the Tulane University Theses & Dissertations Archive for official publishing.

    Submission to both sites by the deadline is REQUIRED for graduation. There is no fee for traditional publishing submissions to either site.

    1. Submission of a hard/paper copy is not required/no longer accepted by the Tulane Digital Repository.

  6. After your digital submission is reviewed and approved by the Library Staff, you will receive a confirmation email from digital@tulane.edu that your dissertation/thesis has been accepted for submission. This confirmation email is proof of submission and it should be forwarded to the School of Liberal Arts Graduate Programs Office (Asst. Dean Ann Schumacher, aschumac@tulane.edu) immediately. NOTE: this review/approval process may take several days so it is STRONGLY suggested that you DO NOT WAIT until the last day to submit your dissertation/thesis.

  7. PhD students complete the Survey of Earned Doctorates electronically.
    SED Information Site
    SED Student Information Brochure

When Graduate Degrees and Diplomas are Awarded

Graduate degrees and diplomas are awarded three (3) times per year:

  1. May (Spring)
    • Graduate Programs Recognition and Hooding Ceremony (tentative)
      Thursday, May 18, 2023 3:00pm, McAlister Auditorium - Uptown Campus
    • Unified Ceremony, (tentative)
      Saturday, May 21, 2022 – Degree Awarded
  2. August (Summer)
    • No ceremony
    • Degree Awarded: August 15, of each year
  3. December (Fall)
    • No ceremony
    • Degree Awarded: December 31, of each year

If you graduate in fall or summer, you may participate in the graduate programs recognition/hooding ceremony and/or the unified commencement the following spring.

Fall Graduation Deadlines

  • October 28, 2022 - Last day to submit the on-line Application for Degree located on your Student Tab in Gibson.
  • December 9, 2022 - Last day to submit dissertations or theses in final form.
  • December 9, 2022 - Payment of All Fees Due to university.
  • December 31, 2022 - Degrees Conferred

Spring Graduation Deadlines

  • April 1, 2023 - Last day to submit the on-line Application for Degree located on your Student Tab in Gibson.
  • May 6, 2023 - Payment of All Fees Due.
  • May 10, 2023 - Last day to submit dissertations or theses in final form.
  • May 18, 2023, 3 pm – Graduate Hooding & Recognition Ceremony - McAlister Auditorium
  • May 20, 2023, 6:30 pm - Unified Commencement - Yulman Stadium

Summer Graduation Deadlines

  • July 15, 2023 - Last day to submit the on-line Application for Degree located on your Student Tab in Gibson.
  • August 9, 2023 - Last day to submit dissertations or theses in final form.
  • August 1, 2023 Payment of All Fees Due.
  • August 15, 2023 - Degrees conferred.

Diploma Distribution

The Registrar’s Office distributes diplomas by mail. For spring graduates, the official diploma will NOT be presented to you at the Hooding and Recognition Ceremony, the ceremony at which your name is called and you walk across the stage because your degree will not be officially conferred until the following day at the Unified ceremony. ALL diplomas will be mailed to the address listed on the on-line application 4-6 weeks after the degree conferral date. Please be sure this address is accurate and is an address at which either you or someone you know will be living when the diploma arrives. You can update the diploma mailing address on the online graduation application BEFORE the first day of exams for the semester. If you need to update the diploma mailing address after this date or have a problem updating the Diploma Mailing Address contact the Registrar’s Office. You should also contact the Registrar’s Office directly if you do not receive your diploma within 6 weeks of the degree conferral date.

Forms Required for Graduation - Liberal Arts Graduate Students Only

ALL students who wish to graduate must complete an application for degree. Applications for degree must be filed for the current term. Applications filed in previous terms are not valid. (Should you not graduate when expected, it is your responsibility to complete another degree application.)

Students earning a Master's Degree must complete the following forms:

Students earning a Ph.D. are required to complete the following forms:

Thesis/Dissertation Submission Instructions - Required for Graduation

Understandably, submitting a thesis or dissertation can be the most challenging and stressful part of completing one's degree requirements. Students should allow themselves ample time to defend their theses/dissertations and complete any necessary revisions before the submission deadline posted by the School of Liberal Arts. Theses/Dissertations have to be in a specific format. Formatting instructions can be found in the Guidelines for Preparing Theses and Dissertations. Theses/Dissertations are not accepted after the submission deadline.

An electronic copy (pdf) of thesis/dissertation with the committee signatures on the cover sheet must be submitted to ProQuest/UMI Dissertation Publishing AND to the Tulane University Theses & Dissertations Archive for official publishing. Submission to both sites is REQUIRED.

After your digital submission is reviewed and approved by the Library Staff, you will receive a confirmation email from digital@tulane.edu that your dissertation/thesis has been accepted for submission. This confirmation email is proof of submission and it should be forwarded to the School of Liberal Arts Graduate Programs Office (Asst. Dean Ann Schumacher, aschumac@tulane.edu) immediately. NOTE: this review/approval process may take several days so it is STRONGLY suggested that you DO NOT WAIT until the last day to submit your dissertation/thesis.

Thesis/Dissertation Publishing Fees

Tulane Library Digital Repository
There is no fee for digital upload of electronic copy to the Tulane Library Digital Repository.

ProQuest

Fees for Ph.D. Students:

  • Traditional Publishing – NO fee with digital upload
  • Open Access Publishing - $160.00 (optional)
  • Copyright Registration - $65.00 (optional)

Fees for Masters Students:

  • Traditional Publishing – NO fee with digital upload
  • Open Access Publishing - $150.00 (optional)
  • Copyright Registration - $65.00 (optional)

NOTE: Copyright registration is optional. By signing your thesis or dissertation on the cover page of the submitted document your intellectual property has basic copyright protection.

All fees are paid on the ProQuest electronic submission site. A credit, debit or pre-paid card is required for payment.

Graduate Studies