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Carnegie Mellon University
Division of Enrollment Services  ›  The HUB  ›  University Registrar's Office  ›  Graduation & Diplomas

Graduation & Diplomas

The University Registar's Office and The HUB support graduating students with preparing for graduation and distribute diplomas to all Carnegie Mellon students.

This page contains resources for graduating students, including information about diplomas and electronic diplomas, commencement, completion of degree requirements, and more. 

This page contains graduation information for students. Faculty and staff seeking graduation management resources may view the Graduation Management for Departments webpage. 

Graduation Steps

Students expected to graduate can find important actions they should take prior to graduation, such as reviewing degree info & status, checking account balance, updating contact info, and more.

About Commencement

Degrees are conferred by academic departments in August, December and May of each calendar year. The campus-wide Commencement Ceremony is held in May on the Pittsburgh campus.

About Diplomas

Learn more about diplomas at CMU, steps students expected to graduate need to take, deadlines for updating info, distribution timelines, how to order an electronic diploma, & more. 

About CeDiplomas

Certified Electronic Diplomas (CeDiplomas) are the secure, electronic counterpart to a student's paper diploma. Easy to share with family, friends and future employers, CeDiplomas are provided to Carnegie Mellon graduates free of charge. 

Additional Resources

Order a Transcript

Request a Verification

Order a Replacement Diploma

Complete Exit Counseling

Survey of Earned Doctorates

Frequently Asked Questions

Completion of Degree Requirements

A student’s degree shall be certified for the semester during which all remaining graduation requirements for their primary degree are completed.

  • A student may not be certified with an incomplete (I) grade, even if the course is not required for graduation; the default grade can be assigned and the student certified.
  • In cases where a student has an incomplete grade in their final semester, the student may not be retroactively certified for the semester in which they initially took the course. Certification must occur in the semester during which the work was completed.
  • Students who are assigned incomplete grades have until the end of the following academic semester, or sooner if required by prior faculty agreement, to complete the necessary work and have the incomplete grade converted to a letter grade, per the regular policy on incomplete grades.
The following applies to undergraduate students only:
  • No student may delay graduation in order to take elective courses not required for graduation or to complete an additional major or minor.
  • Once all primary degree requirements have been met (primary major, general education, and total units), the student must be certified and graduated.
  • The student completed all requirements for graduation prior to the deadline, but there are still signatures pending.
  • The student was awaiting transfer credits for a missing/change of grade in order to have all requirements fulfilled.
  • There was departmental error or oversight through which the student was not certified in Graduation Management by the deadline. 

Graduation Management for Departments