Candidacy and Commencement

Students in a Certificate, MSEd, or PhD program MUST be registered as a candidate in the semester of graduation. In order to become registered as a candidate for graduation, students must email edgrad@purdue.edu (preferably before the end of the first week of classes). Students are recommended to copy their faculty advisor as faculty are sent a copy of the Graduate School candidate list later in the semester and asked to confirm that students are on the list.

Failure to meet the deadlines to register for candidacy may result in a late fee or a delay of graduation. The Graduate School calendar webpage and the Graduation Deadlines section below provide information regarding the deadlines to register for candidacy.

Fall 2024 Graduation Deadlines (PDF)

Graduation deadlines are also sent via the COEGRAD mailing list. All residential College of Education graduate students are strongly encouraged to self-subscribe to the COEGRAD mailing list in order to receive these important communications. Please email edgrad@purdue.edu for instructions on how to subscribe.

If emailing the Office of Graduate Studies about registration, plans of study, or candidacy, please email edgrad@purdue.edu.

All emails to our office on the day of a deadline must be received by 3:00pm.

NOTE: Doctoral Candidates – To be eligible to schedule the doctoral final examination, at least two academic sessions of 69900 registration must elapse between the semester of the preliminary defense and the final doctoral defense.

Please use the example chart below for planning purposes, and contact edgrad@purdue.edu during the semester of your preliminary exam.

Term Example: Fall 2024	Term Example: Spring 2025	Term Example: Summer 2025	Final Term Example: Fall 2025
Pass Prelims during this term Must be registered for at least 1 credit to schedule preliminary defense. Electronic Plan of Study must be fully approved before the prelim defense can be scheduled.	At least 1 credit of 699 registration	At least 1 credit of 699 registration	Eligible to schedule final defense during this term. Request during the first week of classes in the term to register for candidacy to graduate in December 2025.

Purdue’s Commencement website provides information regarding the ceremony, tickets, cap and gown info, etc. After a student is registered for candidacy, the Graduate School will open the Commencement Task List that will appear on a specific date (see Graduate School calendar) in the student’s myPurdue account. It is recommended that all students registered for candidacy respond to the task list to indicate if they will participate in the commencement ceremony. There is a deadline each semester for when students must indicate if they plan to participate in the commencement ceremony.

For questions about Commencement, please email commencement@purdue.edu.