About a year before you are planning to graduate, you will want to meet with your Academic Advisor to make sure that you are on track to complete all of the requirements for completing your degree as planned.

You will want to ask questions such as:

– Do I have all my Upper Division requirements met?
– Have I met all SL and WI requirements?
– What about my Minor?
– Are all of the remaining courses I need going to be offered in my final two semesters?
– Do I need any substitution forms?

You will want to make sure that you have your final year mapped out on your degree plan so that you can make sure you register for all of the necessary classes in your final semesters. That way you don’t need to worry about whether or not you are missing anything. You will just need to focus on passing all of your required classes with a grade of “C” or better.

As soon as both you and your Academic Advisor know when you are going to graduate, fill out and submit your Application for Graduation.

This lets the Office of the Registrar know when you are planning to graduate so that they can start working on preparing your Degree Audit. It also lets them know if you are planning to participate in WNMU’s Commencement ceremony.

Did you know that you don’t have to buy your cap & gown on your own? It is already paid for using your student fees!

Did you know that you do not have to travel to Silver City, New Mexico in order to participate in Commencement? While we would LOVE to have all of our graduates join us here on campus in person, you can choose to participate virtually.

As long as you submitted your Application for Graduation before the deadline, you will receive an email from the Office of the Registrar with your Official Degree Audit attached the semester before you are planning to graduate.

The audit will contain information about any degree requirements that are not currently met.

Please note that classes currently in process or classes you are registered to take in a future semester may appear on the audit, as they will not be considered met until you have successfully completed the courses.

If you have any questions about your degree audit, you can always contact your Academic Advisor or the Office of the Registrar for clarification.

The Office of the Registrar will email details and invitations to students expected to graduate and participate in Commencement about a month before graduation.

Typically, Commencement happens the Friday of finals week every Fall and Spring semester. You can find the exact dates on the Academic Calendar.

You will receive your cap, tassel, gown, and for our Graduate students your hood from the WNMU Bookstore. They will send out an e-mail notification when they are ready to be picked up or shipped. Typically those notifications go out about a month before commencement.

If you are receiving any Honors or Stoles beyond standard university graduation regalia, then are handled by their respective departments.

• University Honors students will receive notifications and their recognitions from Academic Affairs.
• Stoles for our Veterans are through Veterans Affairs.
• Phi Alpha recognition through the School of Social Work
• Delta Mu Delta recognition through the School of Business
• School of Behavioral Sciences has Psi Chi for Psychology and Alpha Phi Sigma for Criminal Justice.
• This is just to name a few. If you are expecting to receive a stole or cord, keep your eye on your email or reach out to your respective department for more information.