Program Timeline & Resources

Graduation

It is important you complete the following requirements to graduate.

Graduation Application Complete a Graduation Application at least 5 months in advance of your anticipated graduation date. All Doctoral students must be registered for two credits of dissertation in the semester preceding graduation. Students graduating in May must be registered for dissertation in the spring semester, students graduating in January must be registered for dissertation in the fall semester, and students graduating in September must be registered for dissertation in the Summer II term.

May Commencement Requirements If you will be attending the May commencement ceremony, you must notify your academic advisor in the Specialty Master’s and PhD Center by March 1st. We will need to know your planned dissertation title, your dissertation chair, and the two faculty members who will be hooding you on stage during the ceremony.

Conference Reimbursements & Research Funding Report Conference and research funding from the PhD Program expires two weeks prior to your graduation date, and all reimbursement and payment processing should be concluded before this date. Recipients of research funding must submit a Research Funding Report no later than two weeks before graduation.

BU Exit Survey In an effort to better the state of graduate education at Boston University, the administration asks that you take 10 minutes to complete the Boston University Doctoral Exit Survey. The results of this survey will be used to review the policies and practices of graduate programs and departments to improve the graduate education experience at BU. Additionally, select information will be shared with the Association of American University Data Exchange members. The exchange of data with peer schools allows the administration to compare graduate education here at BU to that of other schools. All responses to this survey will be kept strictly confidential. The survey data are reported only in aggregate form or in a manner that does not allow individual responses to be identified. Upon completion of the Boston University Doctoral Exit Survey, you will be re-directed to the National Science Foundation’s Survey of Earned Doctorates. The university requires that you take action on both the BU and the NSF surveys. At the completion of each survey, an email will be sent to your department or college verifying your participation. You will also have the opportunity to print a hard copy of the participation verification.

Mugar Library Certification In order to be certified for graduation, you must submit your final version of your Dissertation electronically with the Mugar Library. Brendan McDermott will sign off on it and the Specialty Master’s and PhD Center will be notified electronically.

Office Check Out Doctoral student offices should be cleaned and left in good condition. All personal belongings should be removed.

Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Requirement All PhD students are required to complete the Boston University training for RCR for Doctoral or Postdoctoral Researchers. Once you have completed all modules, please submit the RCR Requirement Completion form to confirm that you have met your RCR requirement.

DS999 Grade At the conclusion of the semester in which you successfully defended your dissertation, the instructor of record for your department’s section of DS999 needs to enter in a grade of “P” (pass). All past semesters of DS999 will automatically change from a J to a P. Only once this happens can the Specialty Master’s and PhD Center certify you for graduation.