Students should review the Graduate School's instructions and information about graduation as early as possible.

Your graduation semester will be the last semester in which you will be enrolled in the program and complete all degree requirements. Students should contact the EDP Graduate Coordinator the semester prior to graduation to check in about plans. In the semester the degree is being completed, students must apply online to graduate via the Graduate School website.

Master's Students

At the beginning of the semester in which you will be finishing the degree:

Notify the EDP Graduate Coordinator that you will be graduating, so your coursework can be verified.
Follow all the steps on the Graduate School's Graduation page: Graduation Deadlines, Submission Instructions
- If on a Master's Report or Thesis option: a Docusign version of the Master's Committee Approval Form is available on the EDP Forms page

Doctoral Students

At the beginning of the semester in which you will be finishing the degree:

Notify the EDP Graduate Coordinator that you will be graduating, so your coursework can be verified.
Follow all the steps on the Graduate School's Graduation page: Graduation Deadlines, Submission Instructions
- If you are graduating in the same semester in which you hold your Dissertation Defense: follow all the steps in the Graduation Deadlines, Submission Instructions.
- If you are graduating later than the semester in which you hold your Dissertation Defense: follow the steps in the Graduation Deadlines and Submission Instructions for holding the Dissertation Defense, and the rest of the instructions (submission of graduation application and dissertation upload) by the posted deadline in your graduating semester.

Graduation Ceremonies / Commencement

Navigating graduation can be a bit confusing, as there are several different graduation ceremony options! Below is a guide to the different ceremonies available to EDP graduate students. Be sure to keep your email address updated in UTDirect, as the convocation events teams will be using that to send you information. Note: attendance in any/all ceremonies is optional.

College of Education Commencement Ceremony

The COE ceremony is held in May each year. This is the ceremony Educational Psychology and College of Education faculty and students typically attend.
Participating students walk the stage, and PhD students may be hooded by their faculty adviser.
More info: https://education.utexas.edu/commencement/

Graduate School Ceremony

The Graduate School also offers a graduation ceremony (a separate ceremony for Master’s students and one for PhD) each May. Students are welcome to attend this ceremony, but please note that it is not highly attended by EDP faculty/students, as they typically attend the COE ceremony instead.
More info: https://gradschool.utexas.edu/navigating/graduation/convocation

University-Wide Ceremony

This ceremony is also held in May each year, in the Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium on campus.
This is the large university-wide ceremony that takes place after the College-level ceremonies, and ends with the lighting of the Tower and fireworks.
Students do not walk the stage in this ceremony; instead, they are seated by college and recognized as a group by their dean.
Many of our students attend this in addition to the COE ceremony in the morning.
More info: https://commencement.utexas.edu/university-wide-commencement-ceremony

Graduation Regalia

Graduation regalia can be purchased or rented through the University Co-op: https://www.universitycoop.com/graduation. If you are unable to purchase/rent regalia, contact the Graduate School’s convocation team at GS.commencement@austin.utexas.edu or reach out to the UT Outpost.