Dissertation & Thesis Review Services

Deadlines

Each of the deadlines relating to Thesis/Dissertation (and graduation) is described below. Most of these deadlines are posted also in the Bulletin of the Graduate Division and the Class Schedule.

At the end of this page, a calendar of deadlines for the current academic year is provided for master's students and those in the SDSU/USD Ed.D. program.

Application for Graduation

The university begins accepting applications for graduation the semester or term before anticipated graduation. But, remember: the deadline for each semester is scheduled very early in that semester--don't forget about it! Also, if you do not graduate as expected (your thesis doesn't clear in time to meet the Montezuma Publishing deadline, for example), you must re-apply for graduation for the subsequent term (or the next term in which you expect to graduate). Get the form.

799A Enrollment

You are eligible to enroll in Thesis 799A when an approved Appointment of Thesis/Project Committee Form is on file in the Graduate Division. Students must enroll in Thesis 799A by the 15th day of the semester. The option of adding Thesis 799A after the university add/drop deadline is no longer available. Remember also that payment of fees does not constitute enrollment--it only gives you the right to enroll up to the add deadline.

The new enrollment policy compels students to plan carefully and early. Be advised that the time needed to complete the steps outlined in Section 2.2.1 of the SDSU Dissertation & Thesis Manual could take as long as:

4 months (1 semester) for theses involving research with human or animal subjects, or
2 months (or longer) for all other theses/projects.

For detailed instructions regarding 799A enrollment, contact the Graduate Division at (619) 594-5213.

Without-Risk Deadline

If you submit your thesis to the Graduate Division for thesis review by this date, you are guaranteed that the Dissertation and Thesis Reviewer will get it back to you at least one week before the Completion (or Montezuma Publishing) deadline. This is worst case, but it is expected that in one week you can make corrections, return the thesis to the reviewer for subsequent review and approval, and meet the Completion deadline for graduation. Review of thesis revisions takes priority and turn-around time for revisions is usually within 24-48 hours. [Also, please refer to the procedures for: (1) manuscript submittal and (2) the review process.]

Completion (Montezuma Publishing) Deadline

This 12:00 noon deadline (shown in the Class Schedule as the "Final day for depositing approved thesis at Montezuma Publishing") must be met in order to graduate during the current semester. This means that by noon on the specified day you must have submitted your thesis to Montezuma Publishing and paid the processing fees for the library and microfiche copies as well as for any required departmental copies (this is a graduation requirement). You can only do this after your thesis has been reviewed and approved by the thesis reviewer.

Last Day to Submit Theses

During the fall semester, this deadline occurs before winter recess begins; during spring and summer, this deadline occurs on the last day of the semester/term. This deadline relates to the policy mandating that a student must be enrolled in Thesis (799) in order to submit a thesis for format review. With two possible exceptions (see below), if you submit the thesis by this date, you will not be required to re-enroll in thesis the following semester even if your thesis is not reviewed and approved until then. However, if completion of the thesis review process does not occur until the following semester, you will need to re-apply for graduation for the following semester.

Exceptions:

If a majority of the formatting requirements as specified in the SDSU Dissertation & Thesis Manual and departmental style guide (including source documentation) have not been followed, your thesis will be rejected. Be aware that although some faculty committees will remind students about formatting requirements, others will not. That responsibility lies with the student, not the faculty committee.

A student does not meet the 30-day-to-completion deadline after the thesis has been reviewed by the thesis reviewer (see below).

Thirty-Day-to-Completion Deadline

After initial review by the thesis reviewer, students have 30 days in which to complete the process, i.e., make any necessary revisions, obtain final approval from the thesis reviewer, submit the thesis to Montezuma Publishing, and pay the fees for the required library material. If there are less than 30 days remaining before the Montezuma Publishing deadline (explained above) and you want to graduate at the end of the current semester, then you have less than 30 days to complete the process.

Failure to meet the 30-day deadline will result in loss of priority status for review of revisions (revisions are usually reviewed immediately or within two working days). Loss of this priority status could result in a delay of 60 days or more. If the delay means that the thesis review process is not completed until the following semester, graduation will be delayed and the student will be required to reapply for graduation. In extreme cases, where a student repeatedly fails to complete the process, the Graduate Dean may request that the original faculty thesis committee review the thesis for currency. In such cases, the student will be required to re-enroll in Thesis 799B as well as to reapply for graduation. For serious and compelling reasons, an extension of the 30-day deadline may be requested by petition to the Graduate Division.

SDSU-USD Ed.D. Joint Doctoral Students

Your deadlines are a bit different due to the time constraints involved with meeting the scheduling needs of both universities. Two formatting reviews are scheduled: one prior to your defense and one after. The First Format Check applies to those students who are formatting their dissertations themselves rather than hiring a professional formatter. Although you may schedule multiple format checks with the reviewer throughout a semester, you must have at least 1 review scheduled no later than 2 weeks prior to your defense. The Final Format Check applies to all students, i.e., including those who have hired a professional formatter. This deadline is the lastest possible date for the final format review to ensure that you will be able to meet the USD deadline for completion.

**DEADLINES FOR MASTER'S STUDENTS: 2008-2009**
Deadlines (see definitions above)	Graduation Application	Without-Risk	Completion Date	Last Day to Submit
Fall 2008*	Sept. 22	Nov. 3	Dec. 19, noon	Dec. 31, noon
Spring 2009*	Feb. 11	Apr. 6	May. 21, noon	May. 26, noon

*These are FINAL dates for Fall 2008 terms.

DEADLINES FOR SDSU-USD Ed.D. JOINT DOCTORAL PROGRAM STUDENTS: 2007-2008*
Deadlines (see definitions above)	Graduation Application	First Format Check: 2 weeks prior to defense but no later than this date	Dissertation Defense Deadline	Final Format Check: 1 week after defense but no later than this date	Completion Date: Approved dissertations, fees, forms to USD for graduation

Fall 2007	Sept.17	Nov. 16	Nov. 30	Dec. 5	Dec. 14
Spr. 2008	Feb. 11	Apr. 15	Apr. 28	May 1	May 12
Sum. 2008	May 30	July 10	July 24	July 29	Aug. 7
Fall 2008	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA

*Other Doctoral Students--The graduation application deadline for SDSU is the same as above; however, check with your program coordinator for all other applicable deadlines.

Last revised: 2-12-08