Degree Completion

If you are approaching the end of your degree program, there are several forms you need to complete in order to receive your degree, and some important guidelines, instructions, and checklists you should refer to as you prepare your dissertation or thesis for submission. 

(One related issue to consider: your name on the diploma. See Emory's Student Name Policy.)

All necessary information is in the documents posted to the right.

Important Conditions

1. All degree candidates must be registered during the semester in which the degree is awarded.
2. Dual or Joint degree students applying for their degrees must submit a paper form by the deadline if they can not apply for their degrees in OPUS.
3. PhD candidates must be admitted to candidacy at least one semester before receiving the degree. (This is a minimum condition: the Graduate School expects students to file for candidacy the same semester they complete the requirements.)
4. All degree candidates must submit an Application for Degree in the semester they want to graduate. An application submitted during an earlier semester is no longer valid. Note: the degree application is now available online: log in to your OPUS account.
5. All incompletes and/or Fs must have been resolved, and all fees and charges from Emory University must be paid.

Deadlines

The Application for Degree is due before all other items, early in the semester. The date is on our Calendar.

All other items are due at a later date, usually around 2/3 through the semester. The date is on our Calendar.

Students in the Biomedical Engineering program should contact Shannon Sullivan for instructions about how to process their degree for both Emory and Georgia Tech.

What You Need to Submit

Take a look at the "Submitting Your Thesis or Dissertation" document on the right. It has a convenient checklist, and plenty of details.

In brief, this is what you need to submit:

• An Application for Degree
• A Report of Completion of the Requirements for Doctoral / Master's Degree
• A pdf file of your thesis or dissertation
• An Electronic Theses and Dissertations Repository Submission Agreement. Read more on our Electronic Theses and Dissertations Repository page.
• A ProQuest/UMI Publishing Agreement -- you get it by visiting the link and using the login information on the right (required for doctoral degrees, optional for master's degrees). Use the "2011-2012 FTP/CD UMI Dissertation Publishing Submission Agreement (PDF)" -- your thesis or dissertation will be submitted via ftp, by Emory's ETD system.
• Printed certificates of completion for two online surveys: the Graduate Education Exit Survey and the Survey of Earned Doctorates (see below)
• Certificate Clearance Form (if appropriate). If you are compleing a certificate program, submit this completed form to the Laney Graduate School along with the Application for Degree. If you apply for your degree online, then only submit this form to the Laney Graduate School. Please attach additional documentation if necessary. Reminder: In order for certificates to be noted on students’ transcripts, students should submit an Application for Degree by the degree application deadline during the semester they plan to graduate.

Graduate Education Exit Survey & Survey of Earned Doctorates

The Laney Graduate School requires students to complete two online surveys – the “Graduate Education Exit Survey” and the “Survey of Earned Doctorates” – before they submit the final copy of their thesis or dissertation. (The SED survey requirements does not apply to students completing a Master’s degree.)

The exit survey is available here. After you complete that survey, a link will take you along to the Survey of Earned Doctorates.

In order for your completed thesis or dissertation to be accepted, you must submit printed certificates which show you have completed both surveys (or just the former, if you are submitting a master’s thesis). Each certificate is available at the end of the respective survey, and must be submitted along with the printed copy of the thesis or dissertation.

Both surveys are confidential, and they are essential for producing aggregate data that helps Emory and the national higher education community understand how graduate students progress through their programs and view their educational experiences.

Note: Plan ahead! If your dissertation raises copyright issues -- perhaps it contains images published elsewhere, or an article you published in a journal -- then those must be resolved before you submit your dissertation.  Since that may take some time, it is important that you start early.