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Successful Student Progression
Forms and Milestones
Engagement Opportunities
Applying for Graduation
Granting of Degrees
Commencement
Certificate Completion Procedures
Master’s students are considered in the late-career stage once they have completed 75% of the coursework required for the degree. For doctoral students, a student is in the late-career stage after they have an approved Advancement to Doctoral Candidacy Form on file with the Graduate College.
Successful Student Progression
- Late-career students should maintain continuous enrollment and be mentored to successfully complete their degree requirements and culminating experiences. The majority of student forms should have been submitted during the mid-career phase.
- Students should be sure to apply for graduation a minimum of one full semester prior to their intended graduation (not in the semester of graduation!) through their MyUNLV account. This will trigger the Graduate College RPC team to conduct a preliminary degree check and advise the student on which requirements are left to be completed prior to degree conferral.
- Master’s thesis and doctoral students must review Thesis and Dissertation Formatting Information and Guides, should attend a T/D formatting drop-in session, and ensure that their final documents are properly formatted to UNLV requirements, conform with their discipline-specific style guide (APA, Chicago, etc. – required and checked by student’s Graduate Advisory Committee), and are free from all types of plagiarism and academic dishonesty. To ensure the latter, all master’s thesis and doctoral students are required to run their final draft of their thesis or dissertation document through iThenticate. Students must submit their final iThenticate report to their GAC at least one week prior to their defense, as well as submit the first page of their Summary Report into their Culminating Experience Results form in the Grad Rebel Gateway.
Forms and Milestones
- Verify that all forms that were required in early- and mid- stages were submitted and approved via the Grad Rebel Gateway.
- All coursework, including classes with incomplete grades from prior semesters, must be complete by the end of the term for which the student has applied for graduation.
- Students must apply for graduation by the Graduation Deadlines for their intended term of graduation. Late application requests should be sent to grad.rpc@unlv.edu. If approved, the student will also be responsible for paying an additional late fee of $20.
- Announce date/time/location of defense if completing a thesis, dissertation, or doctoral project.
- Successfully defend the final document, if applicable.
- Submit the Culminating Experience Results Form (see Student Forms)
- Submit thesis/dissertation/doctoral document for format check, if applicable.
- Be sure it has been run through iThenticate and the report is submitted with the final document.
- Once the final document is approved by the Graduate College, master’s thesis and doctoral students receive information about the mandatory upload into ProQuest.
- As part of the graduation requirements for students completing theses, dissertations, or doctoral projects, students must submit their final approved document electronically to ProQuest and Digital Scholarship@UNLV; both are digital repositories of scholarly work.
- Some students may have a compelling reason to embargo their thesis or dissertation for a period of time to protect intellectual property rights or due to other publication restrictions (see Student Forms ). Common reasons for embargoes include: publishing conflicts; patent applications; potential to publish in the next few years; monograph publication timeline; funding contracts; etc.
- In order to embargo their thesis or dissertation, students must complete the Embargo Request Form, which can be found in the Grad Rebel Gateway (click Forms, then Additional Forms). Since the author owns the copyright to the document, embargoes can only be filed by the document’s author (see also: Student Forms ).
- Graduate and participate in Commencement. Graduate certificate students may participate in university commencement.
- Refer to the Graduate College Completing Your Academic Program page for more information and deadlines related to graduation.
Online Surveys and Mandatory Annual Individual Development Plans
- Each fall, an optional Graduate Student Life and Climate Survey is distributed for students to complete which allows the university to compare graduate student experiences, satisfaction, and needs, over the years.
- Each winter, graduate students are required to complete a mandatory annual evaluation called an Individual Development Plan (IDP), which is reviewed and approved by the student’s advisor (where applicable) and graduate coordinator. Graduating students are required to complete their IDP in their graduating semester.
- Students are also required to complete an Exit Survey as part of their graduation process.
Applying for Graduation
Students should apply for graduation a minimum of one semester prior to their intended graduation through their MyUNLV account.
Submitting an application for graduation will trigger the Graduate College RPC team to conduct a preliminary degree check and advise the student which requirements are left to be completed prior to degree conferral.
Students must apply for graduation/certificate completion in MyUNLV by the appropriate Graduation Deadlines for their intended term of completion. The graduation application fee is $125. Late application requests should be sent to grad.rpc@unlv.edu. If approved, the student will also be responsible for paying an additional late fee of $20.
If students do not complete the degree requirements in the term anticipated, it is expected that they will do so in the next term. One free rollover of the graduation application is allowed to the next term, including summer. If the student does not graduate in the next term, a new application for graduation must be filed, and an additional graduation application fee will apply.
For information on culminating experience, thesis and dissertation requirements, please refer to the Milestone Examinations and Culminating Experience Requirements and Master’s Thesis and Doctoral Project Oral Defense Requirements sections for more information.
Granting of Degrees
Degrees are awarded three times a year in May, December, and August. When students apply for graduation, the Graduate College RPC coordinator reviews the degree program and all degree requirements to ensure every Catalog requirement for the student’s program has been successfully met and completed. The Graduate College dean certifies that students have met degree requirements, and a recommendation is forwarded to the Board of Regents. If any requirement has not been met, the degree will not be awarded. The degree will be revoked if it is awarded in error, or if it is later discovered that the degree requirements were not met, or if fraudulent claims, unethical student behavior, or other breaches of protocol are later discovered. Diplomas are mailed approximately eight to 10 weeks after the end of the semester. Students will receive email confirmation once their degree has been officially conferred. Students needing official proof of degree can request official transcripts through the Office of the Registrar after receiving the confirmation email that their degree has been awarded.
Commencement
Commencement is a wonderful celebration of student accomplishments and a lovely ceremony recognizing your transition from student to alumni, from mentee to colleague. Commencement is typically held twice a year in May and December; August graduates participate in the December commencement. Students must complete all degree requirements by the posted semester deadline in order to be allowed to participate in university Commencement. Students’ names will appear in the Commencement Program issued for the semester of degree completion. Summer graduates participate in December commencement ceremonies and their names appear in that commencement program. To ensure their name appears in the program, students must release their information through MyUNLV.
Please note that while we strongly encourage all graduates to participate in the commencement ceremony, doing so is not required to earn your degree.
In addition to the information above, here are some helpful links on graduation-related items.
Certificate Completion Procedures
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Students should identify their program advisor or contact their graduate coordinator listed in their Grad Rebel Gateway portal or on the Degrees Directory which also houses the program handbook.
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Students must complete the mandatory New Graduate Student Orientation online modules hosted by the Graduate College, so they can get information on important policies, access to campus resources, and ‘meet’ Graduate College staff.
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New certificate students must also attend any orientation/meeting for their specific programs as an opportunity to get to know fellow incoming students, meet faculty, and access information they will need as they are starting the program.
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Students are encouraged to engage with the Graduate College and the GPSA to become involved with the larger campus resources and take advantage of the many free resources available to students.
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Certificate students must satisfy any admissions conditions or provisions as specified on their admissions offer letter.
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Students must submit Plan of Study Parts I and II - if the program requires the appointment of a faculty advisor, the student must have that respective form approved in order for the Plan of Study Parts I and II to be initiated or submitted.
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All coursework, including classes with incomplete grades from prior semesters, must be complete by the end of the term for which the student has applied for certificate completion.
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Students must apply for certificate completion in MyUNLV by the appropriate Graduation Deadlines for their intended term of completion. The graduation application fee is $125. Late application requests should be sent to grad.rpc@unlv.edu. If approved, the student will also be responsible for paying an additional late fee of $20.
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Certificates are conferred after the student has fulfilled all certificate requirements and all required forms have been approved. Certificates are mailed approximately eight to 10 weeks after the end of the semester.
- Refer to the Graduate College Completing Your Academic Program page for more information and deadlines related to certificate completion.
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