As you round that final turn, with the finish line beckoning, the last thing you want to do is hit an unexpected bump in the road, running the risk of an ugly crash. To spare you that unhappy fate, here are the six most common bumps or potholes to avoid on the road to your UMBC diploma as you near the finish line.

Applying to graduate is simple, free, online, and vitally important.  Guess what? If you do not tell UMBC you have completed your degree, we will not know it!  The graduation application triggers a systematic review of your record to be sure all i’s are dotted and t’s crossed. 

When you participate in the commencement ceremony, you are a “candidate for graduation.”  You are allowed to participate because a review of your record indicates that you are very close to completing all the requirements for your degree.  However, you will not actually receive a diploma and have a degree posted to your official transcript until you have completed (past tense) each and every requirement! 

For almost all students, this means that there will be no diploma until grades are posted, which happens after the commencement ceremony. And for some students, additional coursework will be needed (for example, repeating a required course in which you slipped down to a “D” grade in that final term). 

This is what your degree audit is all about!  You will find it on myUMBC under the topic “Advising and Student Support.”  Make sure every category is “Satisfied,” because just one “Not Satisfied” can prevent you from receiving your degree. 

You do not want to be the student whose diploma is delayed from May 2015 to August 2015 or even December 2015 because you came up short on upper level credits, PHED courses, or ENGL 100. Advisors can help you stay on track, but it is your job to check and double-check every piece of your degree---university requirements, general education requirements, and the requirements for your major. 

If your degree audit’s idea of what degree, minor, certificate, etc. you are pursuing differs from your own current thinking, you need to update your program immediately by submitting a Declaration/Change of Major Form to the Registrar’s Office. For example, if you still have “B.S., Computer Science” as your major on record, your degree audit will show your Global Cultures requirement as complete with just one course. If you are really going out for a B.A. in Economics, you need two Culture courses. Also, having the wrong programs on your record can delay your review and raise needless issues that it will take time to resolve.

Posting and evaluation of transfer and test credit takes time! Do not wait to send those official transcripts and score reports (such as CLEP or AP) to UMBC’s Office of Admissions for processing. UMBC needs an official record of that PHED course you took at Montgomery College over the summer.  And remember, you need to have submitted a Verification of Transferability Form to go along with those transfer credits. 

Transfer students:  if you completed through Level 4 of a foreign language in high school, we need to have that official high school transcript before you can be marked as “Satisfied” for the general education requirement. 

Failing a course in your final semester or failing to achieve your usual standard can cause big problems. Graduate and professional schools want to see your final transcript and this is why. Students have had job offers rescinded due to failure to complete their degrees as expected. 

Avoid that major bump in the road by keeping up your pace! This is particularly important if you put off courses that are especially challenging for you to the very end—i.e., Math, foreign language, research methods. Get a tutor! Join a study group! Do whatever it takes to succeed in those tough courses so your degree will be complete. 

Do you have a question about the graduation process?  If so, ask away in the comment section below and we will get you an answer from an authoritative source.