Degree Completion Checklist

1) Departmental Entrance/Qualifying Exams – If your department has qualifying examinations such as the Miller Analogies Test, GRE, GMAT and departmental essay exams, these will need to be successfully completed and official score results on file with the Graduate Office before your degree can be conferred. Normally a department will not admit you to the program or will put you into a probationary admission status until any examination requirements are successfully completed.

2) Degree plan –For masters programs requiring 30-45 credit hours, degree-seeking graduate students must submit an approved degree plan signed by their advisor, department chair, and approved by the Dean of the Graduate School and Distance Education to the Graduate School after completion of 15 credit hours. Graduate programs requiring more than 45 credit hours must submit an approved degree plan signed by their advisor, department chair, and approved by the Dean of the Graduate School and Distance Education to the Graduate Schools after 30 credit hours. After these credit hour limits, if an approved degree plan is not on file in the Graduate School, an enrollment hold will be placed on the student’s account. (Changes based on Federal Regulations on Satisfactory Academic Program).

For the Ed.S. program an approved degree plan must be submitted to the Graduate School after a student completes 15 credit hours. After this credit hour limit, if an approved degree plan is not on file in the Graduate School, an enrollment hold will be placed on the student’s account (Changes based on Federal Regulations on Satisfactory Academic Program).

For the Ph.D. program, an approved doctorate degree plan must be submitted to the Graduate School after the student completes 30 credit hours. After this credit hour limit, if an approved degree plan is not on file in the Graduate School, an enrollment hold will be placed on the student’s account. (Changes based on Federal Regulations on Satisfactory Academic Program.

3) Admission to Degree Candidacy – Most departments require the student to apply for degree candidacy once the following requirements have been met:

  • The student has met the entrance and/or candidacy requirements of the major department and the results must be on file in the Graduate School. Any probationary requirements must have been completed and all entrance exam results indicating successful completion of those test requirements must be on file in the Graduate Office.

  • The student must have an approved degree plan on file in the Graduate School

  • The student must have successfully completed a minimum of 6 hours of course work on the graduate program of study. (This requirement is greater is some departments. Please check with your departmental advisor concerning the number of successfully completed hours required before admission to degree candidacy will be approved.)

4) Comprehensive/Final exams – The majority of programs require a final examination that must be successfully completed. These results must be submitted by the department to the Graduate School for inclusion in your record before your degree will be conferred. Please check with your department concerning any final/comprehensive exam requirements.

5) Thesis/Dissertation- If your degree requires a thesis/dissertation, a copy of the thesis/dissertation must be submitted to your department no later than 4 weeks prior to the day the degree is to be conferred. Some departments may have earlier deadlines. Once the thesis/dissertation has been approved by the department and it has been signed by the department, it is your responsibility to submit that copy to the Graduate School for review by the Graduate Dean. This copy is normally due approximately 2 weeks prior to graduation (Check the Thesis/Dissertation Guidebooks for specific deadlines for receipt of your thesis/dissertation.) Once the Graduate Dean has reviewed your thesis, it will be returned to you to make your final corrections. The thesis/dissertation is checked to assure that all corrections have been made.

6) Intent to Graduate – The semester prior to the semester in which you anticipate completing your degree requirements, you are required to complete an Intent to Graduate. Nothing will begin in the degree conferral process until you have completed the Intent to Graduate and submitted it to the Graduate School. Once this form is received and processed by the Graduate School, you will be notified at your official ESU email address that it has been received and processed. Deadlines for receipt of the Intent to Graduate are as follows:

Spring graduates – November 1 of the preceding Fall semester.

Summer graduates-March 1 of the preceding Spring semester.

Fall graduates – July 1 of the preceding Summer semester.

Please follow the instructions below to access and complete the online Intent to Graduate Form:

  1. Visit www.hornet365.com

  2. Select Students from the left-hand side of the page

  3. Scroll down to Graduate School and click on the picture

  4. Under the General Information header, select Intent to Graduate

  5. Enter your username and password and select Login

  6. Select a Term-Simply click submit here-Do NOT change anything in the dropdown

  7. Select the radio button next to the program you are completing

  8. Click the “Continue” button

  9. Select Graduation Date from the dropdown menu

  10. Select a Ceremony Attendance radio button

  11. Select or Create a Name for Diploma from the dropdown menu

  12. Select or Create a Mailing Address for your diploma

  13. Click Submit Request after completing form

Failure to file the Intent to Graduate will delay the awarding of your degree.

7) Degree Analysis – Once your Intent to Graduate Form has been filed and an analysis done on your degree requirements, you will receive at your official ESU email address a courtesy copy of that analysis that is sent to your departmental advisor. The analysis is normally performed immediately prior to your last semester of enrollment.

8) Graduation/Commencement Checklist Letter – Approximately 6-8 weeks prior to the end of the semester of your anticipated graduation, you will receive a Graduation Checklist Letter at your official ESU email address that will provide you with final requirements/information concerning your graduation/degree completion.

9) Transfer credit – Should your department approve transfer credit to be brought in to fulfill your program course requirements at ESU, then your department must notify the Graduate Office as to which courses are being brought in from which universities and replacing which ESU courses on your program of study as outlined on your graduate degree plan. The following guidelines for transfer credit must be met before the credit will be approved by the Graduate Dean for inclusion in your program of study:

  • No more than nine (9) semester hours of credit may be transferred into an ESU program requiring fewer than 40 hours of graduate coursework, or fifteen (15) hours into an ESU program requiring 40 or more hours of graduate coursework. Individual program may reduce this limit at their discretion.

  • In cases where graduate students are entering two graduate programs, the accepted number of transfer hours may be applied to one of the two degree programs or divided between the two degree programs. The accepted number of transfer credit cannot be applied to each degree program separately.

  • A grade of B- or higher must have been earned in all such transfer credit.

  • Official transcripts of all transfer work must be on file in the Graduate School prior to submitting degree plans. Courses must be current or within 7 years timeframe.

  • Transfer courses must be approved by the chair of the major department and the Dean of the Graduate School and Distance Education.

  • The transfer credit must be applicable toward a graduate degree at the university at which the course work was taken.

  • Only graduate work from accredited universities will be considered for transfer.

10) Awarding/Conferral of your degree – Final grades are normally collected/run the Tuesday night of the week following the last day of the semester. Beginning on Wednesday or Thursday of that week the degree conferral process begins. Final grades must appear on the transcript before degrees can begin to be awarded. A final analysis is performed on each graduate’s file to see that all requirements have been completed. If all requirements have been successfully met, then the degree is awarded and you are notified at your official ESU email address that your degree has been conferred. The awarding of degrees at the end of a semester normally takes 6-8 weeks for everyone’s degree to be conferred.

11) Diplomas – Once all degrees have been conferred, diplomas are processed for mailing. If there are no holds on your records, your diploma will be mailed to you at the address you have provided for us on your Commencement Response Card (see graduation checklist letter.)