Ph.D. Clearance Deadlines

All Ph.D. students must follow the deadlines below in order to complete their degree requirements and graduate in the applicable graduation semester. Please note that the dates outlined below are the final deadlines for each semester. Students should endeavor to complete each step earlier than the stated deadline. With the exception of University ETD deadlines and doctorate conferral dates, all other dates are subject to change.

Task	Summer 2025	Fall 2025	Spring 2026	Summer 2026
Circulate approved, pre-defense dissertation to examination committee members (See CCAS Ph.D. Defense Procedures)	July 3	November 3	February 26	July 2
Submit the Final Examination/Dissertation Defense Form	July 11	November 12	March 12	July 10
Apply to Graduate in GWeb	July 15	November 15	TBD	July 15
Pre-clearance check completed by CCAS. By this deadline: Your DegreeMAP must reflect that all degree requirements are completed except the dissertation and dissertation research courses You must have attended an ETD formatting/publishing workshop (visit the Current Graduate Student Events page to see upcoming ETD workshops)	July 25	November 21	March 20	July 24
Defend your dissertation	August 1	December 1	March 26	August 3
ETD submission deadline. By this deadline, you must: Submit your final, approved, post-defense dissertation to the ProQuest ETD Administrator Platform Submit the ETD Access Approval Form signed by your advisor to CCAS Complete the NSF Survey of Earned Doctorates Complete the GW Graduation Student Survey	August 8	December 5	April 2	August 7
Final University ETD approval deadline. By this deadline: The ETD Status in ProQuest must indicate “Ready for Checklist”	August 15, 2025 at 5:00 PM	December 12, 2025 at 5:00 PM	April 8, 2026 at 5:00 PM	August 14, 2026 at 5:00 PM
Doctorate Conferral Date	August 31, 2025	January 9, 2026	May 17, 2026	August 31, 2026
CCAS Doctoral Hooding Ceremony	May 2026	May 14, 2026	May 14, 2026	May 13, 2027