 In this video, we will cover important deadlines as you approach the completion of your doctoral degree. Each year, Rackham Graduate School publishes a list of doctoral degree deadlines for PhD students who will be completing their degree. It is important to be aware of these deadlines as they are not negotiable. You will find the doctoral degree deadlines on the Rackham website at www.rackham.umich.edu. There are two main deadlines for every term of registration. The first deadline is to complete all of your requirements to receive your degree in the same semester as your final term of registration. The second deadline is the grace period deadline. Here is an example. If you want your degree conferred in May, you will need to upload your final, committee-approved dissertation and submit other required paperwork to Rackham by April 8. This means you need to allow plenty of lead time between your dissertation defense and the April 8 deadline in order to make your revisions and obtain your chair's final approval. Working backwards from the April 8th deadline, you can see how you will be in the best shape if you start plotting a schedule with your committee at the very beginning of the semester. Please keep in mind that Rackham recommends that your committee have a minimum of two weeks to review your final dissertation prior to your oral defense. If you miss the April 8th deadline, you will not receive your degree in May. However, it is possible to avoid paying for another semester of tuition if you submit everything by the third week of the following semester. This is called the grace period deadline. So if we continue with our example and you miss the April 8th deadline, but you get your final dissertation submitted by May 27, you will not have to pay tuition for the following semester. The deadlines are always published on the Rackham website. Please familiarize yourself with the deadlines well in advance of your desired degree conferral date. You don't want to experience any surprises in your degree conferral or incur additional tuition charges.