Filling out grad apps last step to graduate

by Drew Lepp, news editor

The graduation application, due Oct. 15, is the last step to ensure soon-to-be graduates end up with a diploma in their hands on graduation day.

The graduation application, available at the registrar’s office, is paperwork that ensures students meet all of their major, minor and General Education requirements. It also gives the Office of the Registrar the names to put in the commencement program said university registrar Sherry Hood.

Students planning to graduate need to complete an application for a Bachelor’s Degree. The application asks the student to list the current courses they are taking, and courses they plan to take before graduation. They must then  submit the applications to the major and/or minor advisor and the department head.

When advisors receive the application, psychology professor and advisor James Benedict said his job is to look over the applications and decide what classes students are missing.

Once signed by the department head, the forms are to be submitted to the Office of the Registrar.

After they have reviewed the application, students will receive a senior evaluation in the mail. The senior evaluation will inform soon-to-be graduates if they are missing any classes required for graduation.

Because the Office of the Registrar will have roughly 3,000 applications to review, “If they miss the date, they should get it to the department as soon as possible ,or the process will be delayed,” Hood said.

If students do miss the deadline, they will still be able to graduate on time. The only consequence of not completing the application on time is a student may miss having his or her name in the commencement program.

Although the application deadlines are posted on the registrar’s Web site and newsletter, some students fail to complete the application on time. Senior music major Omar Thomas will be graduating in December and just completed his graduation application, due in June, last week.

Although he will still be able to graduate, he said, “It’s a little disconcerting to know that I didn’t know about it until very recently.”

Senior English major Tom Beppler found out, as many students did, about the need to fill out the graduation application from a friend. “Graduations applications are obviously the essential hurdle in graduating and gaining access to the real world. The under-the-radar deadline date acts as a last-measurement test of one’s qualifications,” he said.

After advisors and the registrar’s office have reviewed the application, there will be no more paper work for upcoming graduates. “You should be good to go,” Hood said.