Congratulations on your accomplishment!
Please stay in touch with WSU until such time as diploma is received. The diploma will be mailed to the ‘Diploma Address’ you provided in myWSU. To check, click the Profile tile, and then the Addresses link on the left side of your screen. If absent, click Add Diploma Address and enter the mailing address where you would like to receive your diploma or graduate certificate. Diplomas and certificates are mailed approximately 6 to 8 weeks following graduation – keep this in mind when deciding where the Graduate School should mail these documents.
How long do students and employees retain access to Email and Microsoft 365 applications? Learn more in this WSU Information Technology article.
If necessary, after successful examination, an official letter of candidacy for employment purposes can be requested from the Graduate School indicating the student has completed all their degree requirements. Normally this is not necessary – most students can hold out for regular degree clearance and transcript showing the degree award at end of term. Please do not request the letter unless you find it necessary.
Those students with graduate assistantships should review the term dates and service requirements of their employment contract. Remember, academic year assistantships and the associated tuition waivers are contingent upon continued full-time enrollment and continuation of appointment for the duration of the semester term: Aug 16-Dec 31 or Jan 1-May 15. The concern is most graduate assistants are conducting their final exams a couple of months ahead of their contract term date. Therefore, please have discussions early with your assistantship supervisor, to reach mutual agreement/approval on the plan to finish out your contract term–particularly if you are planning an early departure. Options include:
- Continue providing services until the end of the assistantship semester term.
- Continue to be paid based on an agreement with their supervisor regarding already worked or to be worked project assignments.
- May use vacation time off, or Leave without Pay (LWOP) after the least day of instruction for the term until the end of the appointment semester term (see WSU Academic Calendar). Approval of your supervisor is required.
- Otherwise, early resignation from an assistantship contract will require a resignation letter and may result in loss of tuition waivers for the semester term.
There are two sets of exit requirements outlined below.
1) Graduate School Exit Requirements for Thesis and PhD Students
Following your successful defense, you have ten (10) business days to submit the following documents to the Graduate School via myWSU > Service Requests tile:
- Thesis/Dissertation Approval Form with upload instructions (pdf) – Directions and form for committee chair/co-chair final approval of a thesis or dissertation.
- Hold Harmless Agreement/Copyright Acknowledgement Form (pdf) – please note the Graduate School will sign as witness once they receive the form,
- Survey of Earned Doctorates Completion Certificate (PhD students only)
- Electronic copy of your final dissertation (including all changes requested by your committee and the Graduate School), in PDF format, uploaded to your original ProQuest submission.
- When you (the student) create a ProQuest account to submit the draft, you will enter a title into ProQuest. It should match the title on the thesis. When you submit the revised “final” draft into ProQuest after your defense, the title both in ProQuest and on the thesis is the official title the thesis will be accepted with. Again, just please make sure if you change the title on your thesis that you’ve updated ProQuest as well.
- Near the end of the semester, the Graduate School will start pre-clearance and will assume the draft on file is the most updated/finalize version and then will either hit the ‘Accepted by the Graduate School’ button or send it back for another review before accepting. Students will receive an email when their thesis/dissertation is accepted.
- Students can change copyright even after the draft is Accepted (the settings are through ProQuest).
- Horticulture and Entomology departments require a 8.5″ x 11″ hardbound copy of each graduate student thesis or dissertation for their departmental libraries. Hardbound copies can also be ordered via ProQuest at any point, but the Graduate School recommends ordering before the degree term ends AND before they accept the copy on file. ProQuest does have students pay at the time they order the copies. Alternatively, students may use another vendor. Copies are due to the Pullman campus departmental main office within 60 days after final exam.
2) Departmental Exit Requirements for Crop and Soil Sciences, Horticulture, Plant Pathology, Entomology and Food Science degree graduates
Note–MS in Agriculture Online students – please scroll to the next section.
Please submit the following items within 10 business days of passing your final exam.
- Departure Checklist (Word doc)– email to Deb Marsh
- Final Effort Certification of Assistantship Duties (Word doc) – email to Deb Marsh
- Send PDF of final thesis/dissertation (for departmental records) – email to Deb Marsh
- Arrange a 30 minute Exit Interview with your program’s Department Chair/Director. The most efficient way to do this, use Outlook > Meeting Request. Then click on the Scheduling Assistant in the top menu to view their calendar availability, select your desired time slot, and then also click on ‘Add Zoom’ if necessary.
Alternatively, email the Dept Admin to get it scheduled (email Deb Marsh if you don’t know who that is). - Exit Surveys
- Horticulture and Entomology graduates: Your department requires a 8.5″ x 11″ hardbound copy of each thesis/dissertation for their departmental thesis library. The copy is due to the Pullman campus office within 60 days after final exam.
3) MS in Agriculture Exit Requirements (online graduate program)
- Arrange/complete your Exit Interview upon completion of your degree requirements with the Chair/Director of the MSAG program (Dr. Nancy Deringer – contact Elizabeth Shaw elizabeth.shaw@wsu.edu for appointment).
- Provide a pdf of your final report to Lisa Lujan llujan@wsu.edu.
- MSAG Post-Grad Information
- MSAG Grad Student Exit Survey