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Graduation Petition Procedure

This procedure is for undergraduates in the School of Education & Social Policy, Medill, WCAS, Bienen and the School of Communication.

When

Approximately one calendar year prior to your intended graduation date.

Before

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. Review the double-counting rules that apply to your majors, minors, and certificates as well.

Students are strongly encouraged to review the double-counting rules that apply to their major(s) and minor(s) and to discuss them with their adviser(s), if questions arise, before submitting their graduation petition form to the Registrar’s Office.

How

Northwestern's online petition to graduate is run securely through an outside vendor, Frevvo. Before you start, please be sure to double check the deadlines for the term you are interesting in petitioning for. 

How to use the online petition to graduate:

  1. If your home school is the School of Education & Social Policy, Medill, WCAS, Bienen, or the School of Communication, you will click on the following link to begin a new petition to graduate: Petition to Graduate
    1. You must have an active NetID to fill out this online petition to graduate. To reactivate your NetID for this purpose, please send an email to petitiontograduate@northwestern.edu.
    2. You can check the status of your petition at any time by logging in to your Frevvo Task List.
  2. You will be able to add up to five majors, minors, and certificates to a single petition one at a time. In other words, you submit one major for approval, your petition goes to your department or school, is approved, and is then sent back to you. You may then add a second major, minor, or certificate and the whole process is repeated one major, minor, or certificate at a time. Please watch this short video to learn how the online petition to graduate process works.
  3. If your home school is McCormick, please submit your primary petition to graduate through MAS.
  4. If your home school is McCormick or you have already completed a petition to graduate and wish to petition for additional majors, minors, or certificates, please use this supplementary petition:
    1. Additional Petition to Graduate
  5. If you have a secondary major/minor/certificate through McCormick, please contact your McCormick department for guidance petitioning those pieces of your academic plan.
  6. Any questions specifically about this petition to graduate form, please reach out to petitiontograduate@northwestern.edu
  7. You may need to meet with an advisor before your submitted petition to graduate can be approved. Please consult this PDF before and after you submit your petition, then reach out to your school or department advisor to schedule a meeting if necessary.

After

After you submit your petition to the Office of the Registrar, you will receive an automatic email confirming it's receipt. Within a few days, your expected graduation term will be added in CAESAR and viewable by you.

You will then receive another email at your NU email address confirming your petition has been processed. Processing a petition take several weeks or months depending upon when it is submitted (the closer to the deadline, the longer the review will take). After your petition is processed and you are notified, you must review your degree progress report in CAESAR to ensure you understand your remaining requirements, and contact your degree auditor if questions arise.

FAQs

  1. What if I’ve already started my petition to graduate process with the old PDF or paper forms? Will I need to start over again?
    No. Please continue your petition to graduate process as you began it. If you have not started, however, please do so using the new online process.
  2. Will I need to start a new petition for each major, minor, or certificate I have?
    No.  You can eventually add up to 5 majors, minors, or certificates to a single petition, but you will add them one at a time after your primary major petition has been approved.
  3. My major, minor, or certificate advisor hasn’t approved my petition so I can’t add any others. What should I do?
    Please reach out directly to the school or department to which you submitted your petition to graduate.
  4. How will I know that the Registrar’s Office has received and processed my petition?
    The moment you submit your completed petition, it is in the Office of the Registrar's hands. Petitions are processed in the order they are received, so you will receive an email notifying you that your petition has been processed.
  5. Any advice on troubleshooting if I can’t access the form?
    Ensure you are connected to the University VPN and then access the form using a private/incognito browsing window using the link embedded higher up on this page.

Degree auditors

To contact a degree auditor with questions, please email roda@northwestern.edu. During high volume times—winter and spring—emails will be answered in the order they are received as they pertain to winter and spring degree conferrals. Thank you for your patience.