Culminating Event Options

All degrees require that you complete at least one culminating experience.

 Culminating experiences can be the following:

• Written Exam
• Oral Exam
• Portfolio
• Applied Project
• Capstone Course
• Foreign Language Exam (FLE)
• Master’s Thesis
• Doctoral Dissertation

Thesis option: master’s students

If your program requires completing a thesis as your culminating experience, you must schedule and hold a defense. The results of your defense must be recorded on the official Pass/Fail form by your committee. Please refer to the "defenses" tab for more information on this process.

Non-thesis option: master’s students

Your culminating experience will be monitored by your academic unit. Results will be reported to the Graduate College via the iPOS system.

Dissertation: doctoral students

If your program requires completing a dissertation (or equivalent for specific degrees) as your culminating experience, you must schedule and hold a defense. The results of your defense must be recorded on the official Pass/Fail form by your committee. Please refer to the "defenses" tab for more information on this process.

Prior to defending your dissertation you must reach candidacy, meaning all milestones (written, oral, foreign language and prospectus) have been successfully completed and reported to the Graduate College by your academic unit via the iPOS system, and you have received your candidacy letter.

Non-dissertation: doctoral students

Your culminating experience will be monitored by your academic unit. Results will be reported to the Graduate College via the iPOS system.