It's been a tough, rigorous journey to make it to this point. Congratulations! You made it! Hooray!!! Now all celebrating aside, below is more information you need to make sure you finish your time at MBTS in style. One other thing... make sure you stay in touch with our Alumni Affairs Office (also known as Institutional Advancement), so we can keep up with all you're doing for the Lord! There's also a section in our quarterly news magazine, The Midwestern, where we can post significant goings on in your life. So, please keep in touch and may the Lord Jesus bless you and your family in all your future endeavors!
Qualifying to Graduate and Participate in Commencement. Upon satisfactory completion of the prescribed course of study and all other requirements for graduation, the student is entitled to graduate. The requirements for the degree earned by the student will be determined by the catalog in current use at the time the student registers at Midwestern for the first time. If a student desires to graduate under the requirements from a subsequent catalog issued while pursuing a degree, the student may petition the Registrar for permission to do so. Midwestern may require a student whose enrollment has continued beyond five years to graduate according to the requirements of a more recent catalog. GPA Requirement. To qualify for graduation, master's degree and undergraduate students must attain a 2.0 or above cumulative GPA in all graded work taken at Midwestern or transferred from another institution to meet Midwestern’s degree requirements. All Doctoral students must maintain a 3.0 or higher cumulative GPA on all work taken during their tenure in the program.
Residency Requirement. Master’s and doctoral students must complete 50 percent or more of the credits required for the student's degree program at Midwestern. Undergraduate students must complete a total of 126 semester credit hours (as specified by the major) for a bachelor’s degree and 64 hours for an associate’s degree. A minimum of 30 of these credit hours must be completed at Midwestern as well as 50 percent of the requirements for the major component must be completed at Midwestern. Application for Graduation. Midwestern's commencement exercises are held once a year on the Saturday following spring semester final examinations. Students desiring to participate in commencement must submit an Application for Graduation to the Registrar's Office no later than the last day of final examinations in the preceding fall semester. The graduation fee will be assessed and must be paid by the due date for academic fees for the following spring semester. The candidate for graduation is responsible to confer with the Registrar to ensure that all degree program and graduation requirements are met by the student, including the minimum GPA required for graduation. Prior to graduation, a student must settle all current accounts at the Library, Business Office, and the LifeWay Bookstore located on campus. The faculty reserves the right to determine that a student whose conduct has proved to be unworthy of the standards of Christian character is unworthy of graduation, even though all academic requirements have been met.
Attendance at Commencement. Candidates are expected to be present for Commencement. Under unusual circumstances, a candidate may petition to graduate in absentia. A written petition requesting permission to graduate in absentia must be submitted to the Registrar for faculty approval no later than the April 1st preceding Commencement.
To participate in Commencement and graduate from Midwestern, students are to complete an Application for Graduation form. Forms may be obtained from the Registrar’s Office. Completed forms are to be submitted to the Registrar’s Office for processing no later than the last day of the fall semester for participation in the following May Commencement (applications submitted after the due date may receive consideration if accompanied by a written appeal for consideration by the Academic Policies Committee). The graduation fee is to be paid on or before the first day of classes of the spring semester of Commencement. The fee is non-refundable and is paid even if the candidate is granted the privilege of graduating in absentia. The fee pays the costs of Commencement, such as the graduate’s class picture, degree printing, academic regalia, speaker, and facility rental.
Graduation honors are awarded to qualified graduates of master’s and undergraduate degree programs. Graduates of doctoral, the graduate certificate, or the WISDOM programs are not recognized with honors. Master’s and undergraduate students who complete degree requirements with an overall cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.60 to 3.799 will receive the notation "With Honors" upon graduation. Master’s and undergraduate students with an overall cumulative GPA of 3.80 or above will receive the notation "With Highest Honors" upon graduation. The cumulative GPA includes courses taken at Midwestern and those transferred from other institutions to meet degree requirements, if applicable.
A currently enrolled master’s or undergraduate student who will have six or less credit hours to complete in order to satisfy graduation requirements at the time of Commencement must petition the Faculty through the Academic Policies Committee (APC) for approval to participate in Commencement exercises. The petition is to be submitted to the Registrar early in the spring semester but no later than April 15th for presentation to the APC. The petition is to include a statement of how the student will complete the remaining degree requirements before the end of the summer term that follows the Commencement in which the student hopes to participate. The degree/diploma, however, will not be given to the student until after all degree requirements have been satisfactorily completed and all nonacademic obligations to Midwestern satisfied. The date on the degree will reflect when the academic requirements were actually completed. Students not completing degree requirements as stated in the petition must repetition the Academic Policies Committee for approval to complete degree requirements according to an alternate plan. Students not able to complete all degree requirements by the end of the summer term that follows Commencement must wait to participate in Commencement the following year. Students participating in Commencement lacking hours are NOT eligible to receive any of the graduation scholastic awards or to be recognized at Commencement as receiving academic honors. Any academic honors earned when all degree requirements have been completed, though, will be noted on the student’s degree and transcript. Regardless of when the student finally completes all the degree requirements, the student will not be eligible to participate in any future Commencement exercises for this degree.