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Graduation Information

All students, including certificate seekers, who anticipate graduating must submit the Intent to Graduate form to the Office of the Registrar, via the Rush University Portal, by the published deadline or risk delayed graduation.

College program directors/coordinators are required to complete and submit the degree approval forms to the Office of the Registrar by the published deadline for non-thesis/dissertation students or risk delayed graduation of students. College program directors/coordinators are required to initiate the degree approval forms for thesis/dissertation students. Thesis/dissertation students will retrieve remaining degree approval form signatures and submit the forms to the Office of the Registrar by the published deadline or risk delayed graduation.

For additional information regarding the degree approval process, visit the Registrar's page. Contact the registrar’s office at (312) 942-5681 if you have any questions.

Commencement eligibility

All degree seeking students are invited to participate in the commencement ceremony if they graduated in the fall or spring term immediately preceding the current academic year’s ceremony.

Students who are not required to complete a thesis or dissertation may participate in the current academic year’s commencement if they anticipate graduating at the end of the summer term that immediately follows the ceremony.

Students completing a thesis must be prepared to defend, per their program director, by Week 12 of the spring term in order to participate in the current academic year’s ceremony. Those students who will defend after this period or during the summer term after commencement are invited to participate in the following year’s ceremony.

Students completing a dissertation must have successfully defended during Week 11 of the spring term and submitted a final copy of their dissertation to the Rush University Medical Center Library or Rush University Center for Academic Excellence during Week 13 of the spring term in order to participate in the current academic year’s ceremony. Those students completing their dissertations during the summer term after commencement are invited to participate in the following year’s ceremony.

PhD students completing a dissertation must provide the title of their work to the Office of the Registrar by the published deadline in order to have that title included in the commencement program.

Publication of a student’s name, academic credentials and dissertation/thesis title in the commencement program does not indicate that a degree has been officially conferred by Rush University.

Students must be registered for the term in which they graduate.

Appeal process

A program director who feels an exception should be made to the above policy must submit an appeal in writing to the dean of her or his college. In addition, the program director must inform the Office of the Registrar that an appeal has been submitted so that the Office of the Registrar can inform the college of any reason why the request should be denied. The final decision rests with the dean of the college. The dean must inform the program director and the Office of the Registrar of the decision.

The policy above was reviewed and approved by the Rush University Policy and Procedure Committee on Dec. 7, 2018

Diplomas

Rush University confers degrees and mails diplomas/certificates within three weeks from the end of each term. Please visit Diplomas link for more information.