Students have to apply to get into Ohio State, and they have to apply to get out.

The graduation application process is different for each college, but there is one thing they all have in common – glitches can happen.

Krista Maxey, a graduating senior in communications and consumer affairs, waited until the last minute to apply for graduation. She applied last summer for her winter 2002 graduation. After she applied with her two separate advisers, something went awry. When she went to confirm her graduation this quarter, she was told she had not yet applied. Her consumer affairs application was lost in the shuffle.

To make things worse, her adviser told her at the beginning of the year she had completed all of her upper-level GEC courses. This quarter she found out she still had three hours to complete in that area. Now she has to petition to graduate with 87 hours in her GEC requirements instead of 90 hours.

“I think everything got screwed up because I’m a double-major,” Maxey said.

Her major adviser told her she should have checked with her Arts and Sciences adviser to confirm what she had been told.

Maxey disagreed and said, “One adviser should be able to tell you if you have all your requirements.”

Jennifer Conrad, academic counselor in the Office of Undergraduate Student Academic Services, said not having enough upper-division courses to graduate is the most common problem of graduating seniors. She said it is possible to complete all your GECs without getting enough upper-division courses. Conrad added that another problem is that students do not come to apply for graduation until the quarter before they intend to graduate.

Beth Ray, assistant dean of Undergraduate Student Academic Services said this is a big mistake.

“Students should be meeting with their adviser once a quarter the year they are graduating,” Ray said.

She said most of the problems students have with graduation are because of lack of communication. Students will run into problems when they drop classes or try to change their curriculum without asking an adviser.

Ray said a case like Maxey’s is usually the student’s fault. She said when students come to her with those kind of problems, there is little that can be done.

“My job is to tell the students where to go and get rid of them,” Ray said.

Both Conrad and Ray said if students keep in close contact with their advisers, most of the problems will be eliminated.

Ray said students don’t hear about the cases that go smoothly, only about the ones that don’t.

“Most graduation applications go smoothly,” Ray said. “Most only take about five minutes.”

In the next few years, Ray said she hopes the graduation application and degree audit report will be linked together and available to students over the Web. This way, students can check their graduation status concurrently with their degree program.

Ray also suggested students with financial aid loans should meet with a financial adviser about their payment plan. Conrad said another major advantage to applying for graduation early is your window time for scheduling classes is moved up.

Conrad said there are several checkpoints to ensure all possible snags are remedied. However, she agreed with Ray and said the best way for students to avoid problems is to talk to all their advisers early and often.

“I encourage them to get in early enough for us to help if there is a problem,” Ray said.