• Students apply for graduation in their final semester. The Graduation Application Fee is $100. Apply by the deadline to avoid a $35 late fee. 

*️⃣There is only ONE apply to graduate deadline for each semester. You will need to apply by this deadline regardless of what session you are finishing your final class(es).

*️⃣ You must be enrolled in the semester you apply to graduate, you cannot have your degree awarded if you are not enrolled in appropriate credits. 

• From My ASU, select the Graduation tab from the My Programs box and follow the online instructions. Your iPOS must be in “Approved” status in order to apply for graduation. 

• Shortly after the apply to graduate deadline, students who have applied for graduation will be added to the Canvas Portfolio page where you will find instructions for submitting your final portfolio project OR opt-out agreement form for the MCS program.

• If you do not apply for graduation by the deadline, you will not be on our list of graduates and thus will not be added to the Canvas Portfolio page.

Session A Degree Conferral (Fall and Spring)

• Students who have completed all degree requirements after the completion of session A courses can choose to have their degree conferred early. You will be asked in the graduation application if you wish to have your degree conferred for session A.

• You will also be asked to fill out a session A graduation form in the CS- Portfolio Canvas page. This is to alert the advising office that you intend to complete all degree requirements by the end of session A so that your portfolio can be reviewed in time for session A graduation. If this additional form is not complete, advising will not know your intentions of a session A degree conferral.

Apply for Graduation 

Graduation Letter Request

Completion Letter – all grades are posted; your degree requirements are complete and you anticipate your degree will be awarded on the conferral date.

Pending Letter – you have applied to graduate; all degree requirements will be complete once final grades have been received and you expect your degree to be awarded on the conferral date. 

The project portfolio is the culminating document for the MCS program. This is a compilation of two reports on two course projects finished in two Computer Science program courses. Students will submit the FINAL Portfolio compilation in their graduating semester to meet the culminating event requirement. 

Starting in the 2025-2026 Catalog year, the Computer Science (MCS/MS) program with the Portfolio requirement is now a Course-Based Master's, (30 credit hours, no culminating event). 

**Students admitted prior to the 2025-2026 Catalog year may now opt-out of the Portfolio requirement as the culminating event. Please note that students who choose to opt-out of the portfolio must still meet the items in the Checklist for degree completion. 

**Students who were admitted with this culminating event may still choose to complete the Portfolio.

**There is no difference to the transcript or diploma.

*️⃣Students admitted After the 2025-2026 Catalog year (Fall 2025 and later) NO action is required, you are already in the Course-Based Master's (30 credit hours, no culminating event).   

Students admitted prior to the 2025-2026 Catalog year: Please choose path #1 to complete the Portfolio or path #2 for the opt-out option.

Path #1: Complete Portfolio

✅You must have received a final grade of "B" or better in the course.

✅Each report must have received approval from the instructor.

✅Students in the Cybersecurity or Big Data concentrations must have at least 1 out of the 2 projects be from the required concentration and/or concentration elective courses.

✅ Do not wait to submit a portfolio for courses in your final semester, this will delay your graduation. (The final portfolio submission has a due date prior to session B classes ending)

✅Be sure to keep your approved reports saved from each course as you will need to submit them as part of the final portfolio submission in your graduating semester

The Final portfolio will be submitted via a Canvas course in your graduating semester. 

Students must apply for graduation by the deadline to be added to the course in their last semester. 

(refer to the apply to graduate deadlines for the list of dates for each semester)

Shortly AFTER the deadline to apply for graduation has passed, students will be added to the Canvas Portfolio course, you will then have access to upload your portfolio documents. 

• The portfolio submission deadline for each semester is listed in the portfolio guidelines and within the Canvas course. 

• Students requesting a session A degree conferral will have an earlier deadline since all degree requirements must be met by the end of session A.

• The review process will begin shortly after the deadline for submission. The review process does take some time, but will be completed by the end of term. Please review your ASU email and Canvas course for any updates as missing or corrected items will be posted in Canvas. 

• Once the final Portfolio is approved by the Chair and all degree requirement have been verified, the culminating event section in your iPOS will be updated to PASS, until this time it will be listed as Incomplete.

Computer Science Portfolio Guidelines

Questions about the portfolio? Make sure you join the Slack channel #mcs-online-portfolio

Submitting documents for the Final Portfolio requirement:

The following items must be submitted in the Canvas Portfolio course, as well as the mandatory survey. 

1. Full Report:

Includes the following documents to be complied into one file (either .doc or .pdf) and uploaded in the Full Report section.

a) Cover Sheet

b) Summary Page

c) Approved Project Reports 1 & 2

1.   Unofficial Transcript

Upload a copy of your unofficial transcript, this will be used to verify that a “B” or better grade was earned in the portfolio courses

3. Complete required SCAI Graduate Alumni Form (Link provided in Canvas)

Formatting:

Students should choose a format style that they are familiar with, such as IEEE or ACM. It is very important that the same format be used throughout the portfolio report.

o   Overuse of bullet-points and enumerations that decrease the amount of content needed to meet the page minimum will not be accepted.  

o   The report should not have any grammatical or typographical errors. Use spellcheck and grammar check software. 

·   Do not include the original project report; summarize the project highlights and significant points of the original report.

·   Each Report must include sources/references and these references must be properly cited inside the report.  

(You may review papers at arXiv to see how citations are made. example PDF)

 Path #2: Opt-Out of the Portfolio

1. Complete the Portfolio Opt-Out questionnaire so advising is aware of your intentions to proceed with the new degree requirements. 

There will be two opt-out paths determined by your iPOS status, please be sure to check if your iPOS is approved and follow the instructions in the questionnaire accordingly. You can confirm if your iPOS is in approved status in the upper left corner of the iPOS.

2. IF your iPOS is NOT approved, you will only need to complete the questionnaire portion. Advising will update your Catalog year to remove the portfolio requirement and send you an email confirmation once completed. You will then need to submit your iPOS. You will not be able to apply to graduate without an approved iPOS.

3. IF your iPOS IS APPROVED, follow the additional items below. 

The Opt-Out Agreement form will be submitted via a Canvas course in your graduating semester. 

Students must apply for graduation by the deadline to be added to the course in their last semester. 

(refer to the apply to graduate deadlines for the list of dates for each semester)

Shortly AFTER the deadline to apply for graduation has passed, students will be added to the Canvas Portfolio course, you will then have access to upload your Opt-Out Agreement form. 

• The Opt-Out agreement form submission deadline for each semester is listed in the portfolio guidelines and within the Canvas course. 

• Students requesting a session A degree conferral will have an earlier deadline since all degree requirements must be met by the end of session A.

• The review process will begin shortly after the deadline for submission. Please review your ASU email and Canvas course for any updates as missing or corrected items will be posted in Canvas. 

• Once the Agreement Form has been review all degree requirement have been verified, the culminating event section in your iPOS will be updated accordingly, until this time it will be listed as Incomplete.