Graduation Preparation
All undergraduate students are expected to submit a Petition to Graduate to the Office of the Registrar approximately one calendar year prior to their expected graduation. Completing your Petition well in advance of the quarter when you plan to graduate is important for several reasons: it provides an opportunity to make sure that you haven’t overlooked or misunderstood any graduation requirements—and that you understand how your courses fit department, college, and university rules. It is also a good opportunity to talk with your academic advisors and think about how you’d like to spend your final year as an undergraduate student.
Before petitioning to graduate, please review your Degree Progress Report in CAESAR and/or your Degree Audit in MAS to ensure that your courses are counting where you expect them to in your degree requirements.
Prepare to graduate
- Graduation petition procedure and forms
- Undergraduate registration requirement
- Transfer and test credit information
- Add or remove a dual degree
Important deadlines
Students must submit their online graduation petition form to the Office of the Registrar by the following deadlines:
(Please note that an incomplete petition for a given quarter which has not been submitted to the Office of Registrar in a timely manner after the deadline will be automatically pushed to the Office of the Registrar for review and processing.)
Graduation Petition Deadlines
| Graduation Quarter | Deadlines |
|---|---|
| Winter quarter 2027 | October 8, 2026 |
| Spring quarter 2027 | December 1, 2026 |
|
Summer quarter 2027 |
March 1, 2027 |
|
Fall quarter 2027 |
June 1, 2027 |
All incomplete grades, including "K” grades, must be resolved before a student’s graduation. No grade changes are accepted after graduation.
Latin Honors Timing
Per Northwestern's policy, School Latin Honors' cutoffs for the coming year are newly calculated each spring following the last day to confer degrees of a given spring term. Practically, this means that students graduating in spring terms will see Latin Honors, if earned, appear on their transcripts after the last day to confer degrees in a spring term.
Last day to confer degrees by term
Summer 2026 - Friday, September 18, 2026
Fall 2026 - Monday, January 4, 2027
Winter 2027 - Friday, April 9, 2027
Spring 2027 - Monday, July 5, 2027