Applying for the Degree
Once you have completed at least nine letter-graded units at SJSU and any Pre-Requisite courses you are required to take, you should complete a Departmental Request for Candidacy Form. This form must be submitted to your Program Coordinator (MBA On-Campus | MBA Off-Campus) by email as a Word attachment no later than the posted document deadlines for the semester related to your graduation date. See dates below.

You must indicate 39 or 42 or 48 units worth of classes on this form (depending on which program of study you are following). If you are not sure which classes you will be taking in the future, please enter either "BUS 297D, Special Topics in Business Administration" or simply put the classes you think you may take. During your last semester, your program coordinator will review your records and submit course substitution forms to the Graduate Admissions and Program Evaluations office on your behalf.

Once Graduate Admissions and Program Evaluations has approved your Candidacy, an approval letter and a copy of your Candidacy form will be mailed to you. This is the only document that you will receive from the Graduate Studies Office indicating your Advancement to Candidacy.

Award of the Master's Degree
Completing course requirements in a Master's program at SJSU does not mean that you will automatically be awarded a degree. You will need to initiate the process by completing the Application for Award of Master's Degree Form and submitting this application to the Lucas Graduate School of Business Office. You are eligible to file an Award of Degree once you are advanced to Candidacy. Please note however, the policy states to submit your Application for Award of Degree after your candidacy has been approved. In many cases, the candidacy does not get processed prior to the due date of the Award of Degree. If this is the case, and the deadline is approaching, you should just go ahead and submit your Award of Degree by our deadline date. If you fax your form, please be sure you fax it to our office (408/924-3426). This is a different fax number from the number on the form.

It is the student's responsibility to be aware of, and meet all deadlines, for filing paperwork. The Lucas Graduate School of Business office will attempt to assist you, but if you do not file your paperwork by the published deadlines, your graduation may be delayed. Deadlines for filing these forms are as follows:

Filing Deadlines

To review the Graduate Admissions and Program Evaluations web page, click here.

While this page summarizes most of the policies and steps that a graduate student must follow to get their degree, it does not replace our university catalog which covers them in greater detail. For further information on any of our policies please visit our online catalog which has our SJSU Graduate Policies & Procedures.

The steps covered on the Grad Studies page are listed below; you are encouraged to review and understand how these steps affect the attainment of your degree:

To review the Graduate Admissions and Program Evaluations web page, click here.