A. General

1. To be considered for admission to candidacy for a degree, a student must complete the Online Application for Graduation during the academic term preceding the term in which they will complete the degree requirements for their program.
2. A student who wishes to withdraw their name from the rolls of degree candidates must either notify the Office of the Registrar or their major academic advisor in writing to formally withdraw the Online Application for Graduation before the end of the seventh week of the semester (or fourth week of the summer term).
3. The diploma of a candidate for a degree shall bear the date of the commencement for which the degree is awarded.
4. All requirements for the degree must be completed and certified by the Registrar no later than 48 hours after Final Grade Submission Deadline of the academic term in which the candidate intends to graduate. If a candidate is not certified by the appropriate deadline, the candidate will be graduated at the next scheduled commencement. It is the responsibility of the student to reactivate the Online Application for Graduation for the appropriate term.
5. A degree program may include a maximum of four hours of basic ROTC and a maximum of six hours of advanced ROTC.

B. Residency Rule

No student may be considered a candidate for a degree unless the final 36 credit hours required for the degree are earned in residence at Georgia Tech and approved by the major school.

C. Ten-Year Rule

Coursework that was completed more than ten years prior to the conferral of the degree must be reviewed by the student’s major school (or major schools if the student is pursuing more than one undergraduate degree) to determine whether the skills and knowledge developed by the student are still viable and/or the curriculum presented in the course is still relevant. This is to ensure that the student can progress through the remainder of their degree requirements and be successful.

The major school reserves the right to validate any of the courses falling under this rule. If the coursework that requires validation falls outside the purview of the school in which a student is seeking a degree, consultation with the academic unit that provides the instruction in that area may be necessary. If the unit which provides the instruction in that area determines that the coursework needs to be validated, a special examination, or other method, might be used to determine if the course credit can continue to be counted toward the degree requirements.

For further guidance regarding the 10-year rule, please refer to the Registrar’s Office website.

D. Requirements For a Bachelor's Degree

1. To be a candidate for a degree, undergraduate students must have passed or be enrolled in all courses required for the degree, must have a grade-point average for their entire academic program of at least 2.00, and must have done creditable work in their departmental courses so as to merit the recommendation for the degree by the chair and faculty of their school.
2. A bachelor's degree program must require at least 21 credit hours of upper division courses in the major field and at least 39 credit hours of upper division work overall.
3. A bachelor's degree program must require at least 120 credit hours, plus the Wellness Requirement, for a total of 122 credit hours.
4. A student, with the approval of their school or specialization, may satisfy the requirements for a bachelor's degree by meeting all of the requirements associated with any one curriculum year that has been in effect during their period of enrollment in the Institute (or that has been in effect during their last two years in the program at one of the Regents' Engineering Pathway Program (REPP) institutions, if their enrollment there occurred prior to their enrollment at Georgia Tech). A curriculum year is in effect for a student only if the student's date of matriculation is prior to the ending date of the Spring Semester concluding that curriculum year.
5. Constitution and History Requirements
   1. The Georgia law, as amended March 4, 1953, requires that before graduation all students pass examinations or pass comparable courses in United States and Georgia history and in the United States and Georgia Constitutions.
   2. See the Core Curriculum section of the Catalog for the methods by which the Constitution and History Requirements may be satisfied.
6. Regents' Exam
   • Since Spring 2010, the Regents' Exam has no longer required at Georgia Tech. To be considered a degree candidate, a student must complete an Online Application for Graduation during the term preceding the final term in residence.
7. Wellness Requirement
   1. Unless medically exempted, all students are required to satisfy the wellness requirement prior to graduation, as specified in the Core Curriculum section of the Catalog.
   2. The Health Information Record on file with the Director of Health Services will be used to determine any medical exemptions from the Wellness Requirement. All certificates of disability from personal physicians must be endorsed by the Director of Health Services.

E. Graduation with Academic Distinction

1. For graduation with highest honor, the minimum grade-point average (GPA) shall be 3.55.
   For graduation with high honor, the minimum grade-point average (GPA) shall be 3.35.
   For graduation with honor, the minimum grade-point average (GPA) shall be 3.15.
2. A student must have earned at least 60 semester credit hours (excluding remedial coursework) at Georgia Tech to graduate with highest honor, with high honor, or with honor.
3. In order to qualify for graduation with honors, all grades or grade corrections affecting the honors designation must be received and certified by the Office of the Registrar no later than noon on Wednesday following Commencement.
4. Tentative honors at graduation (recognized at Commencement) are determined by the grade-point average (GPA) entering the graduating term and the sum total of graded hours accumulated prior to the graduation term plus graded hours registered for and pending during the graduation term.

F. Earning More than One Undergraduate Degree

1. Students pursuing more than one undergraduate degree will remain classified as undergraduate students. Graduate students wishing to pursue additional undergraduate degrees will remain classified as graduate students. A graduate student, with approval of the major school, may work toward additional undergraduate degrees while pursuing a graduate degree.
2. To declare and be a candidate for more than one undergraduate degree, a student must be in good academic standing, must obtain approval of the secondary major school, and must submit an approved Change of Major form to the Registrar’s Office.
3. To obtain more than one undergraduate degree, a student must complete all major required courses for the specific degree programs and earn credit for a total of at least 36 credit hours in excess of the requirement for any previous degrees earned. Students should work with their advisors to ensure the additional 36 hours for each additional undergraduate degree are not being counted multiple times across those degrees.
4. All items in Regulation XIII, "Undergraduate Degrees," apply to students completing more than one undergraduate degree.

G. Minors

1. A student may complete a minor in another academic field while completing the requirements of their major degree program.
2. With the approval of the major school, the student should consult an advisor in the minor field, who can inform the student of the requirements for the minor.
3. A Change of Undergraduate Minor Form must be completed, signed by the Minor Advisor/Coordinator and the Major Advisor, and submitted to Office of the Registrar. Students are encouraged to submit the completed form when they decide to pursue the minor but no later than the Deadline for the Online Application for Graduation in the academic term preceding anticipated graduation.
4. Students who change or add a minor must complete the requirements in the Catalog that was effective for the term in which the change or addition of a minor became official, or any subsequent edition of the Catalog.
5. A readmitted student who wishes to pursue a minor must indicate their choice on the Application for Readmission. Requirements for the minor are those in effect at the time the student is readmitted as stated in the current edition of the Catalog. The readmitted student may select only minors offered at the time of readmission.
6. Some courses in a minor may have prerequisites that are not included in the minor description. Some minors may have additional requirements that students must meet before being admitted to that minor.
7. The student must declare any minor(s) prior to applying for graduation. A Minor Program of Study Form signed by the major and minor advisor may be required depending on the minor. Minor requirements and information for a Minor Program of Study Form are located in DegreeWorks.
8. The minor will be conferred at the same time the degree is conferred.
9. Minors may not be conferred retroactively upon students who have graduated.
10. The minor will not be printed on the diploma, but both the degree and minor will be recorded on the student's transcript.
11. A student who has applied for a minor but does not wish to complete the minor must have their advisor contact the Office of the Registrar for the minor to be removed prior to completing an Online Application for Graduation. Minors will be audited with the major and the status will be noted in DegreeWorks.

H. Undergraduate Students Taking Graduate Courses

See information about Undergraduate Students Taking Graduate Courses.