Clearing Students from Previous Classes
These students are of two sorts: (1) seniors who did not complete the requirements of the major by Commencement in May but who completed them during the following summer; and (2) students who, having been out of Yale for some time, have completed the requirements for graduation. There is no Major Completion Form for such students, and communications with the Registrar's Office about them must be on an individual basis.
What is almost always at issue with these students is a deficiency in the senior essay or senior project. Whenever a student from a previous class has passed the senior essay or senior project, and by so doing has completed the requirements of the major, the DUS should immediately notify the Registrar's Office and the student's residential college dean in writing. If the senior essay or senior project carries course credit, the grade should be reported to the registrar at the same time.
If the deficiency is a particular course in the major (as differentiated from the senior essay or senior project) that the student has made up by work in Yale Summer Session or by work at another university, the Registrar's Office will clear the student for the major based on the Major Completion Form that was filled out when the student was still enrolled at Yale. If there is any question whether the outstanding requirements have been completed (for example, if a student offers work from another university as a substitute), the Registrar's Office or the student's residential college dean will be in touch with you. A student with such a deficiency rarely has the transcript of outside work sent directly to the DUS. If this should happen, however, you should forward the transcript to the Registrar's Office along with a letter indicating whether or not the student has cleared the major.
The Corporation votes late bachelor's degrees at its regular meetings, which take place at intervals throughout the academic year. For a student's name to appear on the list of candidates presented to the Corporation in a particular month, the student must have been cleared by the Registrar's Office for the degree by a week before the meeting. (Note that students in a current senior class who qualify for graduation at the end of a fall term are not awarded degrees until Commencement the following May; see "Completion of Degree Requirements at the End of a Fall Term" in section K of chapter III of the YCPS.)
