Degree Completion

As you seek to complete your degree, you are responsible for ensuring that you have met all program, Laney Graduate School and University requirements and deadlines.   

• All degree candidates must be registered during the semester in which the degree is awarded.
• All grades of IP, Incomplete and/or F must have been resolved.
• All fees and charges from Emory University must be paid.
• PhD students must be admitted to candidacy at least one semester before receiving the degree.
• PhD students must have a dissertation committee form on file.
  • If your committee form on file does not match your current committee, you must submit a change of committee form. Not having a (correct) committee form on file can delay your graduation.
• PhD students must have met all TATTO and JPE requirements. All PhD students must have completed at least fourJPE 610 courses by the end of the term in which they complete.

If you do not meet these conditions, your degree completion may need to be postponed to the next term.  All deadlines are published on the Laney Graduate School Academic Calendar, which can be found on the LGS website home page.  And, of course, students should review Degree Completion criteria included in the Laney Graduate School Handbook.

The Application for Degree is a University Registrar process which lets the University know that you are ready to complete your degree this term, and which degree you are completing.

You must submit an Application for Degree in the semester you want to complete your degree.  An application submitted during an earlier semester is no longer valid. 

• The Application for Degree is due before all other items, early in the semester.
• The degree application deadline is set by the Registrar and is listed on the LGS Academic Calendar found on the LGS website.
• Students who submit degree applications after the deadline will need to email a paper degree application to rlwebb@emory.edu.

You can apply for your degree in OPUS, if your record indicates that this semester is your anticipated semester of graduation.

• If you can’t find the degree application in OPUS, you can ask us to update your anticipated semester of graduation. Log in to the Hub, click on the Degree Completion section, and complete the “Update Expected….” form.
• Dual or Joint degree students applying for their degrees must contact Renee Webb at rlwebb@emory.edu to be activated for the second Laney Degree in OPUS.
• If you are unable to use the OPUS degree application, you will need to use this PDF version.
• Questions? Contact Renee Webb at rlwebb@emory.edu, and be sure to include your student ID number in your email. 

As you work through the process of applying for your degree, consider one more thing: your name on the diploma. See Emory's Student Name Policy.

The Degree Completion process is an LGS process that allows you to submit all the items we need to review to affirm that you have indeed completed all requirements for your degree.

Complete the Intent to Complete form as soon as possible.

• Log in to the Laney Connect Hub. Open the Degree Completion section and click on the form link.
• The Intent to Complete form requires only one item: an unofficial Emory transcript. Several items are required for your completion, and all can be submitted either with the Intent to Complete form or later, before the degree completion deadline.

You will get a checklist.  When you submit your Intent to Complete form, the Hub will generate a personalized checklist that tracks your progress, and you will receive email reminders about missing items.  The checklist will be available through a Degree Completion Status page linked to your Hub page.

When all your checklist items have been submitted, your degree completion application will be reviewed by your program and by LGS.  We will let you know about any issues.

See the relevant degree section below to learn about the items you need to submit to complete your degree.

You may be completing one of three kinds of Master's degree –

• Regular: this is a Master's degree for those who are enrolled in a Master's program, and it represents the end of that program.
• Interim: this is a Master's degree for doctoral students who intend to remain enrolled in their PhD program.
• Terminal: this is a Master's degree for students enrolled in PhD programs who intend to leave the program with a Master's degree.

Three basic items:

1. The Intent to Complete form (in the Laney Connect Hub, in the Degree Completion section)
2. An unofficial Emory transcript (this is required with the Intent to Complete form)
3. A certificate showing you completed the Masters Graduate Education Exit Survey Completion Certificate.  (This is for Regular and Terminal Masters only, since Interim Masters will remain enrolled.) 
   • Click the link and complete the survey. At the end, save the certificate page as a pdf document, or take a screen shot of the page.

Two thesis items (if you are submitting a thesis):

1. A signed Distribution Agreement and Approval Page– for your committee to affirm that they approve your thesis.  (This signature form is a DocuSign Power Form. If you are not sure what that is, read this and find out.)
2. An ETD submission form – to confirm how your thesis will be available in the ETD system. You should discuss how you intend to complete this with your advisor before you submit it. To understand the decisions you need to make, you can look at the old pdf version of the form.

Both these items are submitted through the Hub.

Your thesis itself should be submitted through the ETD Repository. This is a separate system and process. For guidance on the thesis, Read this document, “Thesis or Dissertation Guidelines and Templates.”  It contains general guidelines and templates for items such as the thesis cover page, the approval sheet, and more.

The Exit Survey: The Laney Graduate School requires graduating Masters students  to complete the online Master's Graduate Education Exit Survey. The survey is essential for producing aggregate data that helps Emory and the national higher education community understand how graduate students progress through their programs and view their educational experiences. 

You will need to complete this survey before your degree completion application is reviewed. You must upload the required certificate to show you have completed the survey. This certificate is available at the end of the survey.

Four basic items:

1. The Intent to Complete form (in the Laney Connect Hub, in the Degree Completion section)
2. An unofficial Emory transcript (this is required with the Intent to Complete form)
3. A certificate showing you completed the PhD Graduate Education Exit Survey.
4. A certificate showing you completed the Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED).
   • Both links above take you to the Exit Survey.  When you complete the Exit Survey, there will be a link to the SED. 
   • Certificates are available at the end of each survey; save them as pdf files or screen shots to submit through the Laney Connect Hub. 

Two additional items related to your dissertation:

5. A signed Distribution Agreement and Approval Page– for your committee to affirm that they approve your dissertation.  (This signature form is a DocuSign Power Form. If you are not sure what that is, read this and find out.)
6. An ETD submission form – to confirm how your dissertation will be available in the ETD system. You should discuss how you intend to complete this with your advisor before you submit it. To understand the decisions you need to make, you can look at the old pdf version of the form.

All these items are submitted through the Hub, either with the Intent to Complete form or through your Completion Status page.

Your dissertation itself should be submitted through the ETD Repository. This is a separate system and process. For guidance on the thesis, Read this document, “Thesis or Dissertation Guidelines and Templates.”  It contains general guidelines and templates for items such as the thesis cover page, the approval sheet, and more.

The Exit Survey: The Laney Graduate School requires graduating PhD students to complete two online surveys: the PhD Graduation Education Exit Survey and the Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED). Both surveys are essential for producing aggregate data that helps Emory, and the national higher education community understand how graduate students progress through their programs and view their educational experiences. 

You will need to complete both surveys before your degree completion application is reviewed. You must upload the required certificate to show you have completed the surveys. These certificates are available at the end of each survey.

Most of the Completion process takes place through Georgia Tech systems. Be sure to consult the BME Graduate Handbook.

On the Emory side, once you submit the Intent to Complete form you will have a checklist and status page in your Laney Connect Hub that will track what you need to submit.

Here at Emory, you will need to submit these seven items:

1. The Intent to Complete form (in the Laney Connect Hub, in the Degree Completion section)
2. An unofficial Emory transcript (this is required with the Intent to Complete form)
3. A certificate showing you completed the PhD Graduate Education Exit Survey.
   • A certificate is available at the end of the exit survey; save it as a pdf file or a screen shot to submit through the Laney Connect Hub. 
4. Certificate of Thesis Approval Form for Doctoral / Master’s Students
5. SmarTech Deposit License for Student Theses and Dissertations
6. Your thesis or dissertation
7. A certificate showing you completed the Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED).
   • You do not need to complete the Emory Survey of Earned Doctorates; this will be done for GA Tech only.

Items 1-3 are created specifically for the Emory completion process. Items 4-7 were created in the Georgia Tech process, and you submit them to Emory as well.

Most of the Completion process takes place through Georgia Tech systems. Be sure to consult the BME Graduate Handbook.

On the Emory side, once you submit the Intent to Complete form you will have a checklist and status page in your Laney Connect Hub that will track what you need to submit.

All Masters degree candidates need to submit

1. The Intent to Complete form (in the Laney Connect Hub, in the Degree Completion section)
2. An unofficial Emory transcript (this is required with the Intent to Complete form)

If you are earning an interim Masters degree on the basis of candidacy, these are all the items you need to submit to Emory.

If you are completing the program with a Masters degree, you also need to submit

1. A certificate showing you completed the Masters Graduate Education Exit Survey Completion.
   • A certificate is available at the end of the exit survey; save it as a pdf file or a screen shot to submit through the Laney Connect Hub.

If you are earning the Masters degree with a thesis, you also need to submit three items you created for your Georgia Tech degree application:

1. Certificate of Thesis Approval Form for Master’s Students
2. SmarTech Deposit License for Student Theses and Dissertations
3. Thesis

Three basic items:

1. The Intent to Complete form (in the Laney Connect Hub, in the Degree Completion section)
2. An unofficial Emory transcript (this is required with the Intent to Complete form)
3. A certificate showing you completed the Graduate Education Exit Survey.

The Exit Survey: The Laney Graduate School requires graduating Certificate students to complete the online Graduate Education Exit Survey. The survey is essential for producing aggregate data that helps Emory and the national higher education community understand how graduate students progress through their programs and view their educational experiences. 

You will need to complete this survey before your degree completion application is reviewed. You must upload the required certificate to show you have completed the survey. This certificate is available at the end of the survey.

In certain circumstances students may need an extension to submit a dissertation, thesis, or associated forms after the posted deadline. These requests are reviewed by the Laney Graduate School and must be for an approved reason:

• advisor, committee member or DGS/Program Director is unavailable
• illness or other personal emergency
• you need more time for writing or corrections
• defense date is on or near the posted submission deadline and you need more time
• your defense date is after the posted submission deadline

If you seek an extension for another reason, you can explain, and the Dean may approve. 

To request an extension, visit the Laney Connect Hub, go to the Degree Completion section, and submit the "Request for an Extension of the Deadline to submit Completion Documents" form.

Please note: the completion review process is a high volume and very deliberate process, so our flexibility is limited. We will try to accommodate, but we cannot guarantee we will be able to do so.