As the fall semester gets into swing, Mesa students are preparing for the upcoming transfers and applying for graduation. In preparation, the Mesa College Transfer Center has begun offering step by step guides to help students move toward their goals.
One of the recent talks held by the Transfer Center was a Guide to Graduation workshop. The workshop was available to all prospective graduates and was held over Zoom. As stated on the SD Mesa Student Support page, “Applications for graduation can be submitted 1 to 2 semesters in advance as long as they will complete requirements by the end of the semester.”.
The important topics covered by the workshop were the eligibility to apply for graduation, the options presented for those who applied, and the way to apply. The hosts of the talk were members of the Transfer center, including counselor Vang Thao, and transfer technician Celine Ahearn.
The most important points made by the hosts were the steps necessary to ensure proper graduation status. Step one of the process is ensuring that all general education/major requirements are completed. To ensure that the requirements are fulfilled it is recommended to schedule a counseling appointment to review all courses and requirements.
Another part of this process is to ensure that all transcripts are submitted for evaluation. This means all transcripts, including those from institutions outside of the San Diego Community College District, must be requested and uploaded into the ‘College Evaluation Forms’ student help desk.
The easiest part of the process is the actual application for graduation. The steps are easy to complete
- Login to the MySDCCD portal/ College Student Dashboard.
- Select My Academics page.
- Click “Apply for Graduation”.
- Complete all sections within the application.
- Verify all information is correct.
- Submit for graduation application!
Other important information to note is the option to petition for Exception to Course Repetition Policy. This means that any students who have failed to complete a course three times to attempt a higher grade for their transcript, by submitting a petition to retake the class once more. This information is all detailed on the Mesa Student Forms & Petitions page.
Another key focus was the chance to petition for Academic Renewal with Course Repetition. This allows for students to use the “grade of an equivalent course taken outside of SDCCD to replace the substandard grade(s) in the SDCCD’s computation of a student’s GPA”(Mesa). This would allow students to boost their GPA by replacing lower grades with different scores. To complete this process students would need to request and upload all transcripts, from SDCCD and any other outside institutions. The form can also be found on the Mesa Student Forms & Petitions page. Office of Comm
The Transfer Center will continue to host Guide to Graduation workshops. Registration for the workshops can be found on the Mesa Events calendar, or on the Transfer Center page of the Mesa College website. Workshops will be held throughout the remainder of the month. More detailed information and helpful links can be found on the Mesa Graduation & Commencement page.
