Undergraduate Advising: Current Students: Graduation

To officially graduate from UCSC you need to file an "Announcement of Candidacy" form with the Office of the Registrar. The deadline for filing the form is usually during the fourth week of the quarter in which you intend to complete all of your degree requirements. If you are unable to file the form in-person, you may make an on-line request to receive it. This announcement triggers the Registrar's Office and the SoE Undergraduate Advising Office to review your academic record to make sure all graduation requirements have been met. You will be contacted for clarification if there are omissions or inconsistencies. For more information about graduation go to the "When You're Ready to Graduate" section of The Navigator.

Time Line:
Your degree will be posted approximately six weeks after the end of the quarter in which you announced candidacy; your diploma will be mailed four to six months after the end of the quarter.

Graduation Check
A graduation check is an evaluation of your progress towards your degree - what requirements you have fulfilled and which you still have yet to do. It includes an evaluation of all of your records - AP credit, UCSC work, and courses taken at other colleges and universities. It is recommended that you request a graduation check by the beginning of your senior year. You may request this by sending e-mail to advising@soe.ucsc.edu. Please note that the SoE graduation check is only for major courses. To ensure that you've met your general education requirements you'll need to check with your college advisor.

Graduation Ceremony
Both the School of Engineering and your residential college have graduation ceremonies. You are invited to attend either one or both. Graduation is held the final weekend of spring quarter of each year.

The SoE ceremony is a wonderful opportunity to share your impressive accomplishment with family, friends, faculty, and alumni. A reception follows the graduation ceremony. As soon as the SoE graduation ceremony is scheduled, the time will be posted on the undergraduate web site. In the spring there will be an SoE Graduation web site with answers to questions, a sign up sheet, and a form to vote for outstanding teachers and TAs.

Honors for SoE Majors

At the time you graduate from UCSC, you will be reviewed for Honors or Highest Honors in your major. This is done by a committee consisting of faculty from your major. Each committee reviews students based on SoE faculty recommendations and the student's academic record. Awardees have this honor included in their transcripts and diploma(s).

Comprehensive Honors

Students may also earn comprehensive honors in each major (to be determined by faculty) by:

• BINF - Completing BME 220/L Protein Bioinformatics, BME 230/L Computational Genomics, or BME 195 Senior Thesis at honors level work.
• CE - Completing the project course at honors level work and presenting an honors level portfolio.
• CS - Four options: 1) Honors level performance in a Capstone Course; 2) Receiving a high score on the CS comprehensive exam; 3) Scoring 820 or above on the Computer Science GRE; or 4) Producing excellent work on a senior thesis.
• EE - Completing the project course and completing the Outcomes Assessment Option at honors level work.
• ISM - Honors level performance in the capstone courses (CMPS 115 Software Methodology and either ISM 158 Business Strategy and Information Systems or ISM 105/205 Management of Technology 1).