Students must be registered for the term in which they graduate. All students in all programs are required to submit the Intent to Graduate form, which is considered the student’s application to graduate, by the published deadline. Students who miss a term deadline may be required to graduate in a later term even if all degree requirements are met.
Intent to Graduate form submissions are validated with the program director to confirm that a student is ready to graduate for the term indicated on the form. A program director may update a student’s anticipated graduation term.
The Degree Approval form must be submitted by the program director by the published term deadline and after all academic degree requirements are completed. If the program misses the term deadline, a student may be required to graduate in a later term even if all degree requirements are met. These requirements include:
- All program prerequisites, including general education requirements
- All courses required in the major program of study and completion of required cumulative credit hours
- Residency requirements
- Dissertation/thesis defense (if required)
- Submission of the dissertation/thesis to the Center for Academic Excellence (if applicable)
- Achievement of the minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0 for undergraduate and 3.0 for graduate students (not applicable to Rush Medical College)
Commencement eligibility
All degree-seeking students are invited to participate in the one commencement ceremony per program. Students are invited to a ceremony based on specific anticipated program completion terms. A student who is invited to a specific ceremony but who has a delayed graduation is not eligible to participate in a subsequent ceremony for that same program. Certificate candidates are not eligible to participate in the commencement ceremony.
All degree-seeking students are invited to participate in the commencement ceremony if they graduated in or will graduate in:
- The fall or spring term immediately preceding the current academic year’s ceremony.
- The summer term immediately following the current academic year's ceremony.
- A student’s program may further limit a student’s participation in a specific commencement ceremony based on outstanding programmatic milestones. The program must communicate a ceremony restriction no later than March 15 of the ceremony year to allow a student and their family to make plans to attend the 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.
Participation in commencement or publication of a student’s name, academic credentials and dissertation 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 commencement invitation and eligibility policy must submit an appeal in writing to the dean of their 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.
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.