These resources help you prepare for your thesis defense and graduation, we recommend reviewing this list before scheduling your thesis defense.
Students must defend their thesis within five years of completion of Preliminary Exam B. If the thesis is not completed within this time period, the student must retake the Preliminary Exam B or request an extension from the graduate school. The Graduate School offers helpful workshops on “Last Steps to Completing the PhD Degree”, these can be found on the Grad School website.
Six-Month Meeting:
- Prior to the thesis defense, students should have a meeting with their committee – known as the “six-month meeting” to determine if they are ready to move on to the thesis defense. In preparation for the six-month meeting, students should prepare, and distribute, an outline of the planned dissertation to the committee one-week in advance. For this meeting, students should prepare a 20-minute presentation that summarizes the planned dissertation, noting any remaining research/professional development goals, and present a timeline for writing, scheduling, and depositing the dissertation.
At least 3 weeks prior to the Thesis Defense:
- The CMP office will need to request your electronic thesis warrant at least three weeks before your thesis defense, so please let the CMP office know the date of your defense as soon as possible via the warrant request form .
- Make sure you are aware of strict University degree deadlines. At the end of each semester, there is a deadline by which students must deposit their thesis in order to graduate during the current term. There are also window periods, time between semesters, that allow you to graduate in the upcoming semester, without needing to register/pay segregated fees for the next semester. For mid-semester graduations, pay close attention to tuition remission eligibility guidelines. Failure to meet these guidelines can result in student financial penalties.
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- Students who finish their degree in the middle of a term will be eligible to keep their tuition remission for that term, as long as they remain on payroll for no less than a 33% appointment, through the date that they receive their degree. This means if you finish your degree early to mid-semester, and do not meet the above requirement, the student will be responsible for any remaining financial dues (full-semester tuition). Students need to work with their Departmental HR representative to make sure they meet this requirement. The CMP program/Department of Pathology will not bear any financial responsibility for lapsed tuition remission. Review degree deadlines here.
- When deciding when to deposit your dissertation, please be aware that your graduate student status/ stipend will end immediately after you deposit your dissertation. Your health insurance/benefits will end at the end of the month in which you deposit your dissertation. Be sure to coordinate your submission and subsequent removal from payroll with your PI and your department’s HR staffer.
At least 2 weeks prior to the Thesis Defense:
- Submit a copy of your Thesis Defense to all committee members.
- Notify your department Payroll and Human Resources staff of the date you are expecting to defend and deposit your thesis
After your Thesis Defense:
- After your defense, request electronic signatures on your degree warrant through MyGradPortal. Once the warrant is fully signed, you will need to submit your signed warrant to the Graduate School through MyGradPortal.
- Verify details of depositing your thesis to the Graduate School following your defense, read through the Graduate School’s page on “Completing Your Degree”, note formatting guidelines, exit surveys, and information on paying a dissertation deposit fee.
- Plan to attend Commencement – noting the deadline by which you will need to complete the Apply to Graduate process in your MyUW Student Center if you want to be listed in the commencement program.