Graduation Petition

• Unit Requirements: The B.S. in Interaction Design requires a minimum on 120 CSU applicable units, including lower and upper division general education. All Associate degrees require a minimum of 60 degree-applicable units, including General Education, major requirements, and electives. Associate Degrees for Transfer also require 60 CSU-applicable units in addition to the General Education, major requirements, and electives. Certificates of Achievement require a minimum of 12 major-applicable units.
• Units in Residence at SMC: At least 12 units of coursework must be taken at Santa Monica College.
• GPA Requirements: A minimum GPA of 2.0 is required in degree-applicable coursework. All courses in the major must be completed with a "C" or better.

• Major requirement for all degrees and Certificates of Achievement may be found in the Transfer/Counseling Center's Articulation website.

• Coursework from regionally accredited colleges and universities is accepted by SMC to fulfill degree and certificate requirements.

• Advanced Placement and CLEP scores can be accepted for credit, with some limitations. Test scores must be submitted directly from the testing center to SMC.

• Official college transcripts and test scores sent directly by the institution are required. SMC does not accept student-provided documents--even if in a sealed envelope.

• Graduation and Evaluations: TranscriptEvaluator@smc.edu
• Contact your assigned evaluator based on your last name or program (RN, RT, IxD)
• B, I, N, S, T: warren_clarence@smc.edu 
• A, J, L, W, X: young_chris@smc.edu 
• E, G, M, Q, U, Z: chambers_nicholas@smc.edu 
• C, D, K, O, V: pant_poonam@smc.edu 
• RN, RT, IxD programs: ruezga_estela@smc.edu
• F, H, P, R, Y: stevenson_jr@smc.edu 

• Ensure you have submitted official transcripts and relevant test scores from all institutions attended to the Admissions and Records Office. Note that all transcripts from other schools must be mailed directly to SMC Admissions. Hand carried transcripts will not be accepted.

• Make an appointment with a counselor to see if you are eligible to graduate. You can also run a Degree Audit check using the SMC educational planning tool called MyEdPlan.

• Once you determine you are eligible, complete and submit your graduation petition as noted below.

• You may petition for any degree or certificate for which you qualify (no limit).

Complete and submit the graduation petition for your degree or major. 

Log in with your SMC username and password. Your username is the first part of your SMC email address--everything before the "@" symbol. Same username you use for Canvas. 

• B.S. in Interaction Design or Associate Degree: Submit the Graduation/Associate Degree Petition (login required)
• Certificate of Achievement:  Submit the Certificate of Achievement Petition (login required)
• Certificate of Completion : Submit the Certification of Completion Petition (login required) 
• CSUGE Certification: Submit the CSU General Education Certification Petition(login required)
• IGETC Certification: Submit the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum Petition(login required)

SMC will automatically grant a Certificate of Achievement upon processing of any full certification request.

• The filing periods for graduation are as follows:

• Winter start of Winter session thru January 31
• Spring: Start of Spring semester thru April 19
• Summer: Start of Summer session thru July 31
• Fall: Start of Fall semester thru December 1

• You will receive an email on the status of your petition within 6 weeks after submitting it to the Admissions Office.
• If found eligible, your petition will be re-evaluated once official grades are posted at the end of the term. This process can take up to 5 weeks. 
• You will be provided with instructions on how to participate in our annual Commencement Ceremony a couple months ahead of the event. In order to participate in the ceremony, you must submit the graduation petition by the petitioning deadline.

• Graduation honors are awarded to students who have met all the graduation requirements, who have never been suspended from Santa Monica College, who are not currently on academic or progress probation, and who meet the following GPA qualifications for all degree-applicable coursework.

  • Highest Honors: 4.0 GPA

  • High Honors: 3.70 to 3.99 GPA

  • Honors: 3.0 to 3.69 GPA

• Graduation honors will be annotated on your SMC transcript and your diploma. *For our Spring graduates, the honors designation for the program and purchasing of your stole/sash is determined by the current degree-applicable GPA, including any transfer work. This may change once your Spring grades post. The updated honors designation will be reflected on your transcript and diploma. 

• Transcripts: Once the Admissions & Records Office has verified you completed all degree/certificate requirements, your official Santa Monica College transcripts will be annotated with the degree/certificate and major you completed. This annotation will appear on all transcripts we generate.
• Diplomas: Will be mailed to you within 12-16 weeks after the appropriate filing period. Only one diploma (per major) will be provided to you at no cost. If you graduated with more than one major, you will receive a separate diploma for each major. It will also state if you graduated with honors.
• Duplicate Diplomas: Duplicate diplomas may be ordered directly from the Admissions & Records Office by completing the Duplicate Diploma Request Form or Duplicate Certificate Request Form  at a cost of $20 each.

Who May Participate

• Students who were granted a degree from Summer and/or Fall preceding the graduation ceremony.
• Students who have petitioned for the Spring semester who are designated as eligible or eligible pending. 
• Students who have petitioned for a degree and/or certificate of acheivement for the Spring but are missing 2 courses (up to 8 units) and are enrolled in them during the Summer session following the graduation ceremony, may participate provided they petition to graduated by April 19. These students will be designated as 'ineligible but may participate'. 
  • Ineligible but may participate students will need to resubmit a new graduation petition during the Summer term in order to be granted the degree and/or certificate.
• Please refer to our Graduation and Commencement Guide for details on the commencement ceremony.