Graduation and Honors

Mount Holyoke confers degrees three times each year: in May, October, and March. The May conferral is for those who complete requirements at the end of the Spring semester, October for those who complete through Summer transfer work, and March for those who complete requirements through Fall semester or January term course work.

Requirements and progress evaluations

Undergraduate students

Each undergraduate senior's academic program is evaluated by the Registrar. Evaluation summaries are emailed to all seniors prior to the beginning of fall semester and followed by subsequent evaluations throughout the academic year. Students may also refer to their online degree audit through my.mtholyoke at any time to chart their progress towards completing College-wide requirements and any minor they have declared. It is the responsibility of each student to respond appropriately and to ensure that outstanding issues are resolved prior to Commencement.

The Registrar does not evaluate or track students' progress towards the requirements of their major(s). It is the responsibility of each student to meet with their advisor and/or the authorized person in that department to be sure they have met requirements for that major. As graduation approaches, the Chair of each department will notify the Registrar of which degree candidates for that semester have completed the major's requirements.

Students should check the College and departmental requirements carefully to be sure they understand where they stand vis a vis the requirements for graduation. Students are responsible for charting their own progress and remaining aware of their standing.

Graduate students

Graduate students who plan to graduate should contact their program's director regarding requirements.

Guest and exchange students

International guest students and international exchange students who may be awarded a certificate of international study must contact the Office of Global Initiatives about their requirements.

Commencement Ceremony

There is one annual Commencement ceremony at the end of each academic year in May, coordinated by the Office of the President. Students completing in May and those who completed the preceding October or March are invited to participate in this ceremony, unless they qualified, through exception criteria, to participate in the previous May's ceremony.

Exception criteria

The exception criteria allow undergraduate seniors who have completed 120 credits towards the Mount Holyoke degree (108 if they had been a spring admit) and who have a solid plan, approved by the Registrar's Office, for completing their remaining requirements to apply to participate fully in Commencement exercises the May before their actual degree conferral. They cannot be either on suspension nor withdrawal at the time of Commencement. There is a formal application process to apply for qualification.

Students interested in participating through this exception route in lieu of participating once they have completed all degree requirements should contact the Registrar's Office in the winter of their senior year for application procedures. If approved, these students will robe, process into the Commencement ceremonies and sit with the graduating students, have their names called and cross the stage individually like the graduating students, though they will not have actually graduated on that date nor received their diplomas. These students are then ineligible to participate at all in the following year's Commencement and Commencement weekend activities, since they participated in the year before.