Graduation is the conferral of your degree and differs from commencement, which is the celebratory ceremony. Graduation is managed by the Office of the Registrar, commencement is managed by the Dean of Students Office.
You are able to view your planned graduation semester or term on the Demographics page in the Student Records portal. Your graduation semester or term should accurately reflect when you intend to complete your degree requirements. If your graduation semester or term needs to be updated, please submit the following Planned Graduation Update Form.
You must submit an Intent to Graduate form for the semester or term in which you anticipate completing your degree requirements.
The Office of the Registrar sends the Intent to Graduate form and graduation information to your Mitchell Hamline email account. The form is used to declare your graduation term and provide the Office of the Registrar with your bar certification information. No bar certification will be sent unless the information is provided on the Intent to Graduate form. If your jurisdiction is other than Minnesota, you must provide the certification form to the Office of the Registrar. Please note that the Office of the Registrar does not automatically send official transcripts or degree verification letters to bar jurisdictions after degrees are awarded. You will need to request those items. Click on How to Order a Transcript for information about ordering transcripts, or the Forms page for the form to request a degree verification letter.
You should submit the Intent to Graduate form based on when you will be completing your degree requirements.
| If you anticipate completing your degree requirements in: | Intent to Graduate form will be sent out via email: | Approximate month of schedule posting |
| Fall semester | after fall schedule is posted | April |
| J-term | after j-term schedule is posted | October |
| Spring semester | after spring schedule is posted | November |
| Summer term | after summer schedule is posted | April |
After your Intent to Graduate form is submitted, you will receive a graduation degree audit. This differs from a standard degree audit that can be requested at any time during your law school career. If you have requested a standard degree audit in the past, you must still submit the Intent to Graduate form. You must sign and return a copy of your graduation degree audit to the Office of the Registrar.
In order for your degree to be awarded, you must
- meet all degree and graduation requirements.
- complete your financial aid exit interview.
- pay any outstanding bills so your student account balance is zero.
An email will be sent to your Mitchell Hamline email account after your degree has been awarded. If you need to request degree verification letters or official transcripts that contain degree conferral information, please wait until after you have received this email to make your requests for these documents.
If you complete your degree requirements in the fall or spring semester, the degree conferral date on your diploma will be the day grades are due from faculty. If you complete your degree requirements in J-term or summer term, the degree conferral date on your diploma will be the last day of the term.
Your legal name as it appears in the Mitchell Hamline system will appear on your diploma. Name information can be verified on the Demographics page of the Student Records portal. If you need to change your name in the system, submit a Change of Name or Directory Information form found on the Forms page prior to the end of the semester.
Your paper diplomas will be sent via postal mail to the address on file in the Mitchell Hamline system. An email will be sent to your Mitchell Hamline email account when your diploma ships. Your diploma order will be held if you have not completed your employment survey through the Career and Professional Development Office.
We are also offering a Certified Electronic Diploma (CeDiploma®) to graduates starting in Fall 2018 and forward. A CeDiploma is a secure, high-resolution PDF version of your diploma. An email will be sent to your Mitchell Hamline email account when your CeDiploma is available. The email will contain a link to the Mitchell Hamline CeCredentials webpage. You will login through that site to access the CeCredential Trust where you will be able to download your CeDiploma.
Click here if you are a third party who needs to validate a CeDiploma.