uc davis materials science engineering graduate graduation

Graduation

You’ve Taken your Core Classes, Passed Your Exams and Toiled Away in the Lab. Now You’re Ready to Graduate.  

Prepare

In order to graduate in a particular quarter, you need to make sure that you are in good standing and are registered or are in filing fee status. You need to have advanced to candidacy at least one quarter before filing to graduate, and you should check to make sure your thesis or dissertation committee is up to date. If you’ve changed your committee, be sure to fill out a reconstitution of committee membership form at least a quarter prior to graduating. 

Plan

Planning to file your thesis or dissertation is essential. The filing deadlines posted on the Graduate Studies webpage are a good place to start. Once you know which quarter you want to graduate in, you can determine when you need to start finalizing your dissertation and scheduling your exit seminar.

Keep in mind that faculty are allowed at least four weeks for review of the thesis or dissertation.  

Once your committee gives you the go-ahead, you should find a mutually agreeable date and time for your exit seminar and schedule it by emailing mse-advising@ucdavis.edu. Then you may schedule your optional Graduate Studies appointment through OASIS. This appointment should take place after the exit seminar. It’s important to review the Graduate Studies candidate degree completion lists for all the forms and surveys you need to complete and bring with you to your appointment. Before you leave UC Davis, be sure to complete the department exit form. 

Filing Checklist [link]

Master of Engineering (Master's Plan II)

Master's Plan II students must be registered or on filing fee in the quarter they complete the degree.  There are two documents required for completion.  You will be filed to graduate and emailed your degree conferral letter only after both forms have been received and you have passed all the courses listed on your candidacy form.  

  • The Master's Report Form - After passing your exam or approval of your project, your advisor will sign and date your Master's Report Form and send it to your Graduate Program Coordinator for submission to Graduate Studies.
  • The Graduate Program Exit Information Form - Fill and submit this form to your Graduate Program Coordinator for signature.  They will forward to Graduate Studies along with your master's report.

Master of Science & Ph.D.

Three Steps to File

After you upload your thesis or dissertation to ProQuest ETD, an SAA will be assigned to manage your filing and support your last steps.  When your SAA has accepted your paper in ProQuest and paperwork, they will file you to graduate in the system and email you the degree conferral letter that confirms you completed the degree. 

All documents and the original upload of your completed thesis/dissertation must be submitted by 11:59 PM on the day of the filing deadline. 

1. Upload your completed and approved thesis or dissertation to ProQuest ETD.

ProQuest will automatically send a notification of your upload to the SAA's.  One of them will conduct a formatting review to ensure your format matches the requirements included here.  Formatting edits and acceptance notices are sent to the email address you use to create your ProQuest account. Read about the Instructions on Submitting Electronically to ProQuest

2. Upload all your paperwork (except your signed title page) through Box File Request.

See below for list of required paperwork.  Add your name and student ID number in the form field, then drag-and-drop all your filing documents into the upload space.  Files will be sent to the SAA Filing Box, where they will be organized and reviewed.  Please include your name in your document titles.

  • Troubleshooting an upload error message - 1) Check your file titles.  Box File Request does not support file titles with forward or backslashes ( / \ ), periods (.), and leading or trailing spaces.  2) Try a different browser. 
3. Ask your committee chair or Graduate Coordinator to email your signed title page to your SAA with all the committee members CC'd.

Committee members may sign the title page electronically using any method, but they must be CC'd on the email. Find more Details & a Template of a Title Page

Required Filing Paperwork

Required for both master's and doctoral students:
  • The signed title page with signatures from all committee members.  Digital signatures accepted. 
    • Not uploaded through Box File Request.  The signed title page must be emailed by your committee chair or Graduate Coordinator to your SAA with the committee CC'd.
  • One PDF copy of only your abstract.
    • Please add your name and student ID at the top of the abstract submitted through Box File Request (not the version in your ProQuest upload).
  • UC Davis Thesis/Dissertation Release Agreement 
    • Must be signed by you and your Major Professor even if you are selecting Immediate Release
    • Graduate Chair signature only required for an embargo longer than 6 years
  • Graduate Program Exit Information Form – Graduate Coordinator signature is required
Doctoral students only must also submit:

Conferral Letter

Once your paperwork has been received and processed by Graduate Studies, the SAA's will file you to graduate and email you a PDF degree conferral letter.  The letter, signed by the Dean of Graduate Studies, states that you have completed all the degree requirements and will be conferred the degree on the date of conferral.  Many employers and agencies accept conferral letters as proof of completion until the degree awarded official transcript and diploma are available. 

Please note, due to the volume of filing paperwork received and the processing time required for each degree list, conferral letters may be sent 3-4 weeks after your report form is received.  If you need a conferral letter by a certain date, email your SAA.

Publishing Options and Copyright

Information explaining open access release, why or why not to embargo, using copyrighted material, and copyright protections for your thesis or dissertation is available on the Publishing Options, Embargo, & Copyright page.  

Transcript, Diploma, and Computing Account

Learn how to obtain your diploma, when your transcript will be updated, if you can keep your @UCDavis email, and more on our Diplomas, Transcripts, and Verification webpage.

Commencement

Graduate Studies commencement is held once a year in June, separate from the event conducted by the College of Engineering for undergraduate students. We advise that students participate in commencement for the calendar year in which they plan to graduate. For example, if you are planning to graduating in Fall 2019, you should participate in the June 2019 commencement.