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Student handbook (Table of contents) (On-line forms) |
Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology ("MAC") The
MAC student handbook:
Graduation is not a difficult process.
Hopefully, it represents a season of joy and
celebration as you prepare to enter, or reenter,
the "real" world of work in a mental
health setting. This web page covers the
preparation for graduation and gives you some
idea of the graduation ceremony itself and what
you may expect it to be like. Timing of the graduation ceremony The first thing for you to realize is that official commencement exercises only occur once a year. The graduation ceremony generally occurs at the close of spring semester (usually the second week in May). This means you will not receive your diploma until sometime later (probably in June). This means that, if your officially finish as of December before the May graduation or the August following the May graduation, you will still be invited to walk through the May ceremonies. If you are in the position of finishing all requirements for graduation in December, but do not receive an official diploma until June, you may need documentation to prove to an employer that you have successfully completed all Program and University requirements and have earned the right to be say you have "completed all requirement for a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology." If this is your case, just let someone in the Registrar's Office know. They will either prepare an official, certified statement verifying your MA status or authorize the MAC office to prepare such a letter. The decision to attend graduation Most graduate students wouldn't miss their graduation. After all, they earned it! Unfortunately, some students choose to by-pass the entire ceremony — judging that the graduation exercise is self-aggrandizing or amounts to "much ado about nothing." We hope that you will not adopt that attitude. In the years to come, the symbolism of the graduation ceremony and the formal granting of the master's degree will come to be an ever more precious memory. People who forego this opportunity on the grounds of inconvenience or some misguided "principle" invariably come to regret their decision. From a mental health point of view, graduation represents an important termination and transition ritual. MAC students, more than most others, should understand the importance of rites of passage and the need for appropriate closure.
If you're still not convinced, consider going through the ceremony for your loved ones. In many cases, they have shared the emotional and financial sacrifices inherent in a graduate education. They deserve the opportunity to be recognized for their support and to share in your accomplishment. Applying for graduation Although most students expect their own graduation to just somehow "happen," it is not an automatic process. Every May graduation ceremony sees some 200 or so students graduate. Mary Law, the SMU Registrar, and the Registrar's Office cannot know who is going to be among those 200 without being told. Obvious, right? And yet, students either don't tell her ... or think they can let her know in the last few weeks. With the many things that go into the graduation ceremony (compiling of names of graduates, preparing diploma forms, printing the program, ordering the graduation hats and gowns, and much more), she needs some advance notice. It is very difficult for them to try to do those things at the last minute. Don't put the Registrar in the awful position of delaying your graduation or having to suffer the unfair, and almost impossible, load of working you through this complicated process at the last minute. You are the one, therefore, who is responsible for letting the Registrar's Office know of your plans to graduate at the next ceremony. This is a simple step, but a very important one. Allow enough time! The most important rule to remember is the following, taken directly from the SMU Graduate Catalog:
This means that you will need to stop by the Registrar's Office during the semester before the semester in which you wish to graduate and submit the Graduation Application form (available at the Registrar's Office). For further information, go to the Registrar's Office or call 360-438-4356.
Two outcomes of the graduation check are possible. In the first outcome, all the requirements will have been met and the Director merely signs the form and returns it to the Records Office. The other outcome is that some discrepancy will have been discovered. If there are any discrepancies, you will be telephoned immediately to reconcile the problem. |
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Email contact: (MAC@stmartin.edu) |
As a result of your
having applied for graduation, a graduation check will
automatically be performed. There is nothing that you
need to do for this check; it is being mentioned here
only to inform you of the process. Essentially, the
Records Office sends the MAC Director a copy of your
latest transcript. The Director simply compares the
coursework that you have completed (or are in the process
of completing) with the official Saint Martin's Graduate
Catalog that was in effect when you received your letter
accepting you into the Program. Those accepted before
Sept. 1, 1994 are to have completed 39 semester hours of
approved credit. Finally, those accepted after Sept. 1,
1994 are to have completed 42 hours of approved credit.