Degrees are awarded at three different times throughout the year:
- Fall semester degrees are officially awarded in January;
- Spring semester degrees are awarded in May;
- Summer semester degrees are awarded in August.
One graduate commencement ceremony is held each year in May. All graduate students who have earned their degree in the preceding summer and fall semesters, along with the current spring graduates, are invited to attend. Information regarding commencement, including cap & gown information, RSVP requirements and information for students, family and friends who plan to attend can be found here.
The Master’s degree is granted to properly qualified students who complete, satisfactorily, at least two full semesters of advanced work. Candidates for the Master’s degree have six years in which to complete their programs. The time to complete the degree begins when the student first registers for courses. Students should confer with their advisors to be certain that specific department and program course requirements are met. College requirements for the master’s degree can be found here.
The first step, completing an application to graduate, is important because it notifies the college graduate studies office and the university Registrar’s Office of your intention to graduate. The application should be completed as soon as possible so we can begin to communicate all details, deadlines and requirements.
Complete online Application to Graduate
Deadlines to submit the application are as follows:
- Fall graduation - October 1st
- Spring graduation - February 1st
- Summer graduation - July 1st
The application may be completed up to one year in advance of the date you plan to graduate.
Applications completed after the appropriate deadline will be charged a $50 late fee. There is no fee for applying and then removing your application later on if you cannot make the deadline.
Detailed instructions for completing this application can be found here.
- Login to connect.lehigh.edu;
- Select Student Self Service 9 from the Banner drop down menu;
- Select Student Profile;
- Select “Apply to Graduate” from the menu on the left side of the screen.
ALL Master’s Students Must Complete the Following
Once you have completed the online Application to Graduate you will receive an email with additional degree completion instructions. These instructions will include the completion of the following steps or forms:
Degree Audit Review
Login to Degree Works to review your degree audit. You will need to fulfill all the requirements set forth by your program and detailed in the degree audit in order to be cleared to graduate by the Registrar. If you have questions or need clarification regarding the audit you should follow up with your advisor, program director and/or graduate coordinator.
Graduate Degree Exception Petition
In many cases this form will be needed in order to identify which courses you have completed that will fulfill the various requirements of your degree program, as seen in your degree audit. Degree programs typically have specific core course requirements as well as elective or advisor-approved course requirements. The elective courses can vary greatly in some degrees and may need to be specified using this Docusign form. This form should also be used if a course requirement has been waived and a substitute has been allowed in its place. Again, questions about this should be directed to your advisor, program director and/or graduate coordinator.
Lehigh Next Destination Survey
The primary purpose of this brief survey (upwards of 5 - 10 minutes) is to gather information about your plans after graduation. This survey must be completed online by clicking on the link provided. Once completed, an email will automatically be sent to the engineering graduate programs office to confirm its completion.
These items must be completed by the last day of finals in order for you to be cleared to graduate. You should consult your degree audit regularly throughout your program and always consult your advisor if you have any questions about the degree requirements or how you can fulfill them.
ONLY Master’s Degree that Include a Thesis Must Complete these Additional Steps
If a thesis is included in your degree program you have additional deadlines and paperwork that must be met/completed. They are as follows:
1. Thesis Draft Deadline
The thesis draft deadline is approximately three (3) weeks prior to the last day of classes in the fall or spring semester and two (2) weeks prior in the summer. Exact dates will be found in the academic calendar. It is a formatting review only, NOT a content review.
To meet this deadline students must submit the following to the engineering college graduate program office (Shaku Jain-Cocks at shj208@lehigh.edu):
- A draft of their written work, up to that point. Please send drafts in PDF format. The draft does not need to be complete.
- Evidence, in the form of an email, that your advisor has reviewed your draft up to that point and is aware of your intention to graduate.
- You should email your advisor to request this confirmation and copy Shaku on that email.
- You should email your advisor to request this confirmation and copy Shaku on that email.
Your draft will be reviewed and any comments, required edits, etc. will be emailed to as soon as possible. Formatting requirements and sample pages can be found in the Formatting Guides and Required Documents sections below.
2. Check with your department graduate coordinator and/or advisor regarding any department deadlines that must be met in order to submit your final written work to the department chair for final review and approval.
3. Final Degree Deadline
All degree requirements must be fulfilled by the last day of classes of the semester in order to be cleared to graduate. Exact dates will be found in the academic calendar. This includes, but is not limited to, the following:
- Submission of an approved, final written thesis to the publishing website;
- Submission of all required forms (see Required Documents section below);
- Removal of any incomplete grades from academic record;
- Payment of all fees and outstanding charges on your student account.
Guides & Documents
The written thesis must follow specific formatting guidelines in order to be accepted for publication. The thesis draft deadline is specifically for reviewing your formatting so you are aware of any changes that need to be made prior to submitting your final written work. Several guideline documents and template samples can be found below.
Lehigh Open Access Permission Form
This form allows a student's work to be made available within the Lehigh Libraries or establishes an embargo upon the dissertation for an allotted period of time. The form is completed using DocuSign. Click on the link and follow the instructions to complete the form. Once complete, you will need to submit a copy of this form to Shaku Jain-Cocks at shj208@lehigh.edu.
Publishing Fee Receipt
This is a $60 fee that must be paid through the LU Transact Mall. Click on the link provided, select Publish/Archive Doctoral Dissertation. Follow the instructions to complete the transaction. Once completed, you must send a copy of the receipt to Shaku Jain-Cocks at shj208@lehigh.edu.
Written Thesis Signature Sheet
You will initiate the signing process by clicking the link provided and following the DocuSign instructions. Please be sure to read the instructions carefully. When entering email addresses for all Lehigh personnel you MUST use their username address (abc123@lehigh.edu). Email aliases WILL NOT WORK. When you are asked to enter your Graduate Program Manager please enter Shaku Jain-Cocks (shj208@lehigh.edu). Signatures on this form are collected sequentially, meaning the thesis director/advisor will receive an email request to sign, once they sign the co-advisor (if applicable) will be contacted for their signature and so on. Once all signatures have been collected Shaku will get a copy in PDF form and confirm its receipt with you.
Upload Final Written Thesis
Follow the link to the ProQuest publishing site and follow the instructions to upload your final written document. Confirm your submission to Shaku Jain-Cocks at shj208@lehigh.edu once you are done. She will review the document once more on the ProQuest site. If all looks good you will receive an approval email. If any formatting adjustments need to be made you will receive an email detailing what is needed.
FAQ
Diplomas will be mailed to the address provided on the graduation application approximately 4-6 weeks following the degree award date. Students are responsible for providing a valid mailing address when submitting the graduation application. Students can review their graduation application including the diploma mailing address in their Banner account (Student Services --> Student Academic Records --> View Graduation Application). Students who wish to change their diploma mailing address should complete the diplomas address update form (Lehigh account and login required) at least two weeks prior to their graduation date.
Beginning with spring 2020, we are pleased to offer our graduates a Certified Electronic Diploma at no charge. This is an official, secure, and verifiable PDF diploma that can be shared with anyone. Additional questions should be directed to the Registrar at ras@lehigh.edu. You can also Live Chat with the Registrar’s Office here.
Please email the Registrar and copy your graduate coordinator and Shaku Jain-Cocks and request that they remove your application to graduate in that semester. Once they have done so you will need to complete a new application to graduate in the semester you now intend to complete your degree.
If you plan to graduate in a specific semester but are unable to complete the degree requirements by the final deadline you will need to delay your semester of graduation. You would need to contact the Registrar’s Office via email (and copy your graduate coordinator and Shaku Jain-Cocks) to request that your current application to graduate be removed. You would then need to complete a new application to graduate in the next available semester.
University policy requires that students be registered in the semester of graduation (fall and spring semesters). Summer registration is not required as long as the student was registered during the previous fall and spring semesters. Please note: students studying on a visa are required to be registered in their final semester of study, including summer, under immigration law.
If you are able to complete all degree requirements BEFORE the start of the next semester (Friday before classes begin) you are able to submit a SOGS Petition requesting a waiver of the registration in the semester of graduation requirement. Please note: students studying on a visa may not be eligible for this waiver and should consult with OISS before proceeding.
Yes, you are still eligible to participate in the graduate commencement ceremony. As long as you indicated your intention to participate when you completed the application to graduate you will be able to RSVP for the event via the commencement website.
Two publishing agreements are signed by the student during the submission process. One that is specific to Lehigh University and one that is specific to ProQuest. All students earning their master’s degree that includes a thesis must pay a publishing fee of $60 through Lehigh University (see Required Documents section). Lehigh University provides open access to your work (once any embargo has expired) as part of this fee. ProQuest also provides the option to select open access publishing. This is separate from the Lehigh service and is a duplication of that service. It costs an additional $95 (paid to ProQuest at the time of submission) and is unnecessary. ProQuest provides a Traditional Publishing option that does not cost you an additional fee, it is included as part of the $60 fee you are required to pay through Lehigh.
No, this is not required. This is a service ProQuest provides, for a fee, that you may choose to utilize, but it is not required. A thesis or dissertation is copyrighted the moment it is "fixed in a tangible medium," such as a digital file or printed document. However, formal registration with the U.S. Copyright Office does offer legal benefits. For many students, these benefits do not end up being utilized or needed. However, this is something you can discuss with your advisor. In addition, if your thesis includes work that has been previously published or contains published research that is the work of multiple authors, you may not be eligible for this service through ProQuest.
No, we do not include actual signatures in your final written submission for publication. You should include a blank version of the signature page that includes the names and titles/positions of your approvers only, no signatures. You can find a sample template of this page in the Formatting Guides section.
Approved ProQuest submissions will be submitted to ProQuest for publishing once the official degree award date has passed (typically during the week following the degree award date).