Dissertation Dates and Deadlines

Candidates who have completed all requirements for the PhD except the dissertation apply through their department or program in order to receive the Master of Philosophy degree. Applications for the MPhil can be filed at any point in the calendar year. Degrees are conferred three times during the academic year—in October, February, and May. Students who are receiving an MPhil do not ordinarily participate in Convocation and Commencement ceremonies.

MPhil Application

The MPhil application must be submitted by the department or program to the Dissertation Office by the appropriate deadline. Applications received after this date cannot be guaranteed for the October conferral.

The Application for the Dissertation Defense form should be submitted to GSAS by the department or program office as soon as the five proposed examiners have been finalized. This form must be reviewed and approved by GSAS before the defense may take place. We recommend that this form be submitted as soon as the five examiners are chosen, even if the defense has not yet been scheduled. The department or program office should send us this form ideally four—but no fewer than two—weeks before a defense takes place. Any forms received within two weeks of a defense will be rejected, and the defense will have to be rescheduled.

It is the doctoral candidate's responsibility to ensure that the dissertation is correctly formatted before the deposit deadline. Click here for formatting guidelines. Students with any questions about formatting, or who would like to have their formatting reviewed, should contact dissertations [at] columbia.edu well in advance of the deposit deadline.

Please note that it will take three business days for a certification letter to be produced for deposits that take place in the week before a deadline. If you need your certification letter by a certain date, it is your responsibility to complete the process in advance. PhD students do not need to apply for graduation through the Office of the University Registrar.

For more information on the deposit, please click here.