With CWU Commencement approaching, seniors are setting their sights on June to finally graduate and take on the real world. However, preparation for senior year can be more complicated than it might seem. Credentials Evaluator for College of Arts and Humanities Karen Malella said seniors are recommended to apply for graduation two quarters in advance from graduating.This allows students enough time to plan all their degree requirements and will help them avoid bumps that may force a student to return for an extra quarter in order to finish.

Applying for graduation

Students must apply for graduation the quarter that they expect to finish all of their degree requirements. If a senior has an internship to complete during the summer, then they should apply for summer graduation. This can be done in person at degree checkout room 140 in Bouillon or online through MyCWU.

The deadline for submitting graduation applications is 5 p.m. on the second Friday of the quarter before students expect to complete their degree. Malella said applications received after the deadline can only be processed for the following quarter. Applying for graduation costs $50 and can be paid at the cashier’s office or online via MyCWU. Should a student have any education petitions, it must be completed prior to applying for graduation.

Application process

As applications come in, a report is printed of the applicants that have applied online. Sarah King, student office assistant at degree checkout, records students’ application information, posts the charges on their accounts and takes the student files to the appropriate evaluator.

“I recommend students to come in person. Typically if they apply on paper, it gets processed much faster than our online query,” King said. “We pick a certain day and we’ll run it all the way through the last time our query was run, so those who applied online might not see their fee posted for a couple of weeks.”

The applications are then run through two sets of reviews by the credit evaluators. The first review looks at transfer credits and repeat reports, according to Malella. This review makes  sure the students are meeting their major requirements. The second review starts after the add/drop period passes for classes. This review is to makes sure the student is taking the correct classes that they planned out.

This is also where they receive the permit to substitute class requests after getting the faculty advisor, department of chair and the dean’s signatures. Students must be enrolled in or have already taken the class in order for the substitution to go through. It can take 4-6 weeks for the request to arrive at degree checkout, so getting started early is highly encouraged by Malella.

“Once their evaluator gets their file and places them in review, it locks up their accountso that we can do an official review and tell them what’s still needed for them to graduate six months down the road,” Malella said. “They should be applying well in advance for graduation.”

Commencement

According to Malella, the number of graduation applications is well over 1,700 this year. CWU’s 2019 Commencement will take place on Saturday, June 8. The ceremony for arts and humanities will start at 9:30 a.m. along with sciences. Business, education and professional studies will start at 2 p.m.

Summer degree applicants are able to participate in the commencement ceremony, but are not eligible to receive an honors tassel. For those students with a 3.5 GPA and above, honors tassels are available for pickup at the degree checkout office with their student ID’s.

The cap and gown must be purchased at the Wildcat Shop in order to participate in the ceremony. Commencement registration is available online through the CWU Bookstore website at https://wildcatshop.net/. Diplomas will be mailed to home addresses and can take 8-10 weeks after the end of the quarter to arrive, according to King.