If you submit an application for a program for high education, a professional permit, or a job, you can be asked to give a conferred date of your degree.
If you have got your diploma, you can just look at its date and write it in the necessary form. And in case you have finished your term papers but have not got the diploma yet, answering this question can be challenging.
We have prepared the article with all the answers to the most common questions for those who do not know what the conferred date is and how to fill these forms.
What is the conferred date?
The conferred date indicates the day of your official graduation from the degree program. It is the most asked question when you apply for any job.
Many people think that the conferred date is the date when you have a ceremony of graduation but it is not the same. It is common to check the students to ensure they respond to all the demands before they can confer a degree.
What are these demands? The first demand is that you have to pass all the classes according to the plan. Secondly, you must finish all the hours of field and other clinical work. And finally, you must pay all your fees and tuition.
The day when you get your diploma in the mail does not also mean the day of the conferred degree. Why is it so? Because when the school administration sends the diploma, there is no guarantee when you receive it by mail.
Typically the date of your conferred degree is unknown. This date means the day when the schools finish the check and note the day when the degree is conferred in the students’ transcript.
How can you know the degree conferring date? There are several ways to do it. The first thing you can do is to take a look at your transcript. The second thing you can do is to look it up online (some schools provide this opportunity). And thirdly, you can call the registrar and ask for any information.
Thanks to the first way (when you take a look at the transcript), you can know the status of your degree. There are three variants – it can be in progress, completed, or conferred. What does the word “conferred” mean? It indicates that it is awarded. So now you can celebrate it!
The completed degree and conferred degree – what are they, and what is the difference between them?
Sometimes some employers require the date of when you complete your degree. But it is not the same day when your degree is conferred. Below, we will explain the difference between these two dates.
The completed degree date means the day when you conform to all the academic demands required from the program’s degree.
In some cases, this date comes after you pass the final tests. In other cases, for completing your degree, you need to finish all the clinical hours or the job practice.
As for the date when your degree is awarded (or conferred), you will have it only after ticking all the boxes, paying all the fees and tuition, and passing the check process performed according to your records.
In case you have the degree awarded date, the employers do not care about the completing degree date. However, some companies ask for both dates – they want to check how far apart those dates are this way. In this case, they manage to do it without any confirmation from educational establishments.
This requirement concerns people applying for medical or any professional permits. This way the employers want to ensure that those who apply for the license have fully passed the completing degree process truthfully. That is why all the applicants go through the additional checking.
Some employers can ask this date only in case you tick the box of “I have a completed degree, but it is not conferred yet.” If you want to know more details, continue reading our article.
You have the completed degree, but it is still not awarded – what does it indicate?
If you have not got your diploma yet, but you have complied with all the demands, you should tick the box of “I have a completed degree, but it is not conferred yet.”
This way, you let the employer know that you have fulfilled all the academic requirements but still do not have your diploma. It also means that you wait for the educational establishment to finish the process of the degree conferring.
The employers realize that it takes some time to finish this process. That is why they let you go further in the process of applying. All they wish is to know that you have completed your degree. If you do not get it for any reason, they will still have a right to alter your work status (employee or applicant).
We strongly recommend not indicating the completing degree date as the conferring date. There is a possibility that the employers will call the school administration to know whether you have the completed degree or you are going to end it. If they see something wrong with it, it will not affect your potential employment.
So if you have a valid reason for ticking the box of “I have a completed degree, but it is not conferred yet,” do not be afraid to do it.
How much time does it take to confer the degree?
The process of degree conferring can last from several weeks to several months. It is an individual process, as the register has to use this process for all the students.
The significant part of this process depends on you, and the rest depends on the other various factors. If you do not know how the degree conferring process looks like, you can learn it below. We have made a brief description of it:
- The first step is when you finish your classes. Of course, this freedom from the classes is excellent, but it is only the first step of the whole degree conferring process. After you pass your last exams, your professors give you marks, and after that, these grades are given to the registrar (it usually happens in a couple of days after you pass the exams). Then the registrar puts these marks into the transcript and checks whether you have passed all classes.
- The second step is document feeding. The range of documents can be various. Commonly, these documents include a graduation application or something else. Besides, you need to have all the fees and tuition paid – it’s one of the essential conditions of the degree conferring. There are cases when the administration asks the students to pay the balances before the exams. It is done to accelerate the degree conferring process.
- The third step is the graduation ceremony. We congratulate you! After overnight studies and endless lists of things to be done, you can finally celebrate your graduation! Just relax and enjoy the celebration. And do not upset when you open the cover of your diploma and see it empty. The school administration has to do several things to finish the degree conferring process.
- The registrar starts the checking process. After you leave the school, the registrar begins the process of every student checking. He takes all the records and thoroughly reviews them to ensure that these students can get their diplomas. Typically, the checking process starts a little bit earlier in the semester. But the school administration needs to ensure that you have done everything required from you. That is the reason why the degree conferring process is individual. Besides, its duration depends on what place you have on the list and how much time it takes to check you. The employers understand this; that is why they provide an opportunity to tick the box of “completed degree without conferring”.
- The school sends your diploma by mail. After you pass the checking process, you will finally receive the conferred degree status. The register will put it in your transcript, and after that, the school will send your diploma in the mail.
No one can guarantee you the day when you will get your diploma. That is why after several weeks from graduation, you need to begin looking at your transcript regularly. The employers do not need your diploma – they only want to ensure that you have earned your degree and know its conferred date.
In case you know your classmates have already their diploma, and you have not got it yet, take a look at your school account. Or you can make a call to the administration to ensure everything is alright. Maybe, you have not done something – probably, you need to pay the additional balance or fill the extra documents, for example.
It is very important to show that you worry about this process. The registrars have many students to check, which is why they need more time to call you. Besides, they can also suggest that you also care about the process, and in case your account is blocked, you will already know it.
You finally have a degree – when can you say this phrase?
In case you have traditionally got your degree (it means you have passed all the classes, the registrar notes in your transcript your degree is awarded, or you have other kinds of confirmation), you have all the right to say you have the conferred degree.
Besides, you can say you have a degree in case you have got an honorary degree. The educational establishments confer this degree type to the students who have not passed the classes but have some achievements in the degree sphere. In that case, the school administration decides whether these students deserve this degree or not. The honorary degree has the same legal power as the other degrees.
You should also remember one more thing: you do not have any legal right to say you have a degree after passing your exams and going to the graduation ceremony. But it does not mean you do not need to go further and celebrate this event.
