Students who are candidates for graduation must apply to graduate through the Student Administration System. Apply to graduate by the fourth week of your final semester for each degree you are completing (or the spring semester for summer graduates). You can apply to graduate once registration for your last semester opens up. The Degree Audit section of the Office of the Registrar will then determine whether all degree requirements will be satisfied by the end of your final semester.

For more information about using the system to apply for graduation, see Apply for Graduation.

Please verify the spelling, capitalization, and punctuation of your name and the accuracy of the address where your diploma should be sent two months after conferral in the Student Administration System. For instructions, see Verify Diploma Name and Address on Graduation Status Page.

• Your Degree Name will be printed on the diploma. Degree Name must share the same last name as your Primary Name. Changes to last name require official documentation submitted to the Office of the Registrar.
• The diploma address is where diplomas will be mailed unless a separate Diploma Address has been designated. Diplomas are mailed approximately two months after conferral, so the address should be appropriate for that timeframe.

Diplomas reprinted due to incorrect name or improper address will incur a cost for replacement. Please note there may be implications if the name on your diploma differs from the name in your record, such as an inability to verify your degree, or change in licensure or VISA status.

Students should complete the plan of study form below and submit it with the necessary signatures to the Degree Audit Office. Some programs submit on behalf of the student, so please check with your advisor. The signed plan of study (electronic signatures accepted) must be emailed to Sandra.cyr@uconn.edu or degreeaudit@uconn.edu

Master’s Plan A (Thesis) Plan of Study

Master's Plan B (Non-Thesis) Plan of Study

Submit the required paperwork below to the Office of the Registrar by the published deadline on the Academic Calendar:

Plan B (Non-thesis):

• Report of the Final Examination for the Master’s Degree
  • The final exam report is a web form that will be routed to the Registrar's office when the final committee approval is submitted.

Plan A (Thesis):

• Finalized and formatted thesis submitted in the Thesis and Dissertation Portal  (see Thesis Information for details).   Effective May 9, 2016, a printed copy of the thesis is no longer required to be submitted.
• Approval page (this webform accounts for both the final exam and overall approval of the thesis)

For more information, refer to "How to Submit Paperwork" in Graduation FAQs.

You should receive emails during and after your final semester:

• indicating that your degree has been awarded, and
• notifying you once diplomas are mailed out.

Three to four weeks after conferral, the graduating class will be closed out and degrees awarded.

Use these properly formatted, accessible thesis samples (Arial Thesis Sample, Times New Roman Thesis Sample) as starting documents and for guidance.

EFFECTIVE for SPRING 2027 GRADUATES:

1. Accessibility: In accordance with the final ruling by the Department of Justice which updated Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, your thesis must meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. This includes:
   1. Document Title (Word: File > Info or PDF: File > Document Properties)
   2. Headings (H1 title of document, H2, main sections, H3 subsections), using Styles in Microsoft Word or similar feature in other applications
   3. Table Headings (more information is provided below in #10)
   4. Alt text or captions for images (more information is provided below in #9)
   5. Adequate color contrast for text
   6. Use an accessibility checker, such as Microsoft Word or Acrobat Pro, and color contract checker, such as WebAIM

The UConn Library provides computers with Adobe Creative Cloud, which includes Acrobat Pro. Acrobat Pro allows you to edit PDFs to ensure accessibility.

Learn more about digital accessibility.

EFFECTIVE NOW #2 through #14:

2. Sequence of the main components of the thesis: The appropriate order of the major sections of the thesis follows: the title page, the copyright page (optional), the advisory committee page, acknowledgments, table of contents, the abstract (optional), the text, appendices (if any), and the references. The order of the appendices and the references may be reversed if the appendices are lengthy.

3. Abstract: An abstract is not required but may be included as the last page of your preliminary pages. The body of the abstract may not exceed 350 words in length. Please see the sample in the required formatting link above.

4. Pagination: Preliminary pages (the title page, optional copyright page, acknowledgments, table of contents, and the like) are to be numbered consecutively using lower case Roman numerals.  The title page number may be suppressed. All pages of the text, appendices (if any), and references must be numbered consecutively using Arabic numerals. The abstract is not paginated. Page number location should be consistent throughout the document.

5. Minimum Margins: The minimum acceptable margins for all pages of the thesis (and the abstract, if included) are 1 inch on left and 1 inch on the top, bottom, and right.

6. Font and Point Size: Recommended fonts include Arial, Times New Roman, and Helvetica with a point size of either 11 or 12. For accessibility purposes, a sans serif font (e.g., Arial, Helvetica) is recommended, unless a specific serif font is an industry standard. The font selected must be an embedded, True Type (not scalable) font.

7. Text: Print should be clear, clean, and dark with no shadows or stray marks. Remember to remove tracking changes. The copy of your thesis that is uploaded must be digitally accessible, as outlined above in #1.

8. Spacing: The text of the thesis should be double-spaced. Long quotations, footnotes, appendices, and references may be single-spaced and indented.

9. Photographs and Graphics: Photographs, graphics, and scanned images in the thesis should be high quality and include a text alternative (Alt Text) that serves the equivalent purpose for each image. The use of color is acceptable.

10. Tables: Ensure tables have a clear, simple structure with properly designated header rows and/or columns.

11. Use of materials copyrighted by others: Any material included that goes beyond “fair use” requires written permission of the copyright owner. It may be useful to include these in the thesis as an appendix in line with guidance from the advisory committee.

12. Landscape pages: The top of a landscape page should be at the left margin and the bottom at the right margin. The page number is to be in the same relative position as on the portrait pages.

13. Footnotes, Endnotes, and References: The format that is accepted in your discipline or that is prescribed by your advisory committee should be followed.

14. Including journal articles in the thesis: When appropriate, articles already published in journals may be included in a thesis. The copied text must conform to the margins noted above and include a complete citation. An original letter from each journal, granting permission for the inclusion of the article in the thesis should be included if necessary, based on the copyright provision of the journal, to ensure that there are no permission issues or violations of copyright. In requesting a letter of permission, it is important to tell the journal that the final thesis will be searchable in the CT Digital Archives (CTDA). The journal usually will require that the journal be the first publisher of the article. Please retain a copy of all permissions granted for your personal file.

• Submit your thesis through Thesis and Dissertation Portal. Follow the instructions found in the Master's Thesis User Guide. Your electronically submitted thesis will be reviewed by the Office of the Registrar administrator for format compliance and you will receive notification if any revisions need to be made.
• Accepted theses may be posted immediately as submitted, unless the submitting author requests otherwise. No revisions are permitted once accepted by the Office of the Registrar Administrator.
• We recommend that you use your full legal name on the title page and on the approval page.
• A printed copy of your thesis is no longer required to be submitted. 
• Submit your Thesis Approval to the Office of the Registrar.

For personal bound copies of your thesis you can contact the following services:

• Thesis On Demand
• PHD BookBinding

Completed signed forms for Master’s Degrees should be emailed to sandra.cyr@uconn.edu or degreeaudit@uconn.edu as a PDF file by the deadlines listed on the Academic Calendar.  Original, scanned, or electronic signatures are accepted.  If the forms cannot be signed, an approval email from each committee member from their UConn or UCHC email address will be accepted.  If the program is an Advisement Report based, your department typically will submit your signed Advisement Report on your behalf (please check with your department). Masters forms required for submission can be found using the Forms section of the Registrar’s Office webpage.

Please refer to the Submitting your Thesis section for information about that process.  The Thesis Approval Page is a webform that routes to your committee for approvals. Once the final committee member has approved the page it will be routed to the Degree Audit office.  You do not need to submit an additional signed approval page document.

Keep copies of all documents for your records. All members of a student’s advisory committee must provide an original signature in one of the above ways however, signatures may be on different pages or come from multiple faculty emails. 

The completion date signifies the point at which a student has been separated from active status at the University. For Spring and Fall semester graduates, the University conferral date will also represent the completion date, provided all degree requirements are completed by necessary deadlines. Graduates completing during the summer will have a completion date determined by the submission of their final approved paperwork and/or completion of their enrollment. As students are no longer eligible to work as graduate assistants after their completion date, students should coordinate the end date of any summer employment with the submission of their final paperwork.

For students completing prior to the end of the Fall or Spring semester an alternate completion date can be requested upon submission of all final paperwork and completion of your academic engagement. Students should typically only request an alternate completion date if enrolled solely in research credits or independent study credits for the semester. Please note, if enrolled in a class that will not have completed and had a grade posted prior to the requested completion date, then an alternate completion date may not be possible. An Alternate Completion Date Request form must be submitted to the Graduate School for approval for International students or those with Graduate Assistantships.

Final paperwork approved and submitted past the posted deadline, but prior to 10th day of the Fall or Spring semester, requires no additional enrollment by a student. Students who choose to self-enroll but submit final documents for graduation prior to the 10th day are still responsible for any tuition/fees incurred.  Submission after the 10th day of Fall or Spring semester will require enrollment for that semester.

Other than the electronic copy you upload, no additional copy needs to be submitted.

Plan A (with thesis): Consists of a minimum of 21 content course credits on a Plan A Master’s plan of study and a minimum of nine credits of GRAD 5950 Master’s Thesis Research. Some fields of study may require more than 21 credits of content course work. Consult your major advisor about the departmental requirement for your degree. This plan of study should be submitted in the beginning of your final semester.

Plan B (non-thesis): Consists of a minimum of 30 content course credits on a Plan B Master’s plan of study. Some fields of study require more than 30 credits of content course work. You should consult your major advisor about the departmental requirements for your degree. This plan of study should be submitted in the beginning of your final semester.