Student Forms and Docs


The Graduate School forms listed below must be initiated by the academic department. Please contact your academic advisor/graduate director for submission of these Slate-based forms.

  • The Comprehensive and Proficiency Exams form is used to officially record a graduate student’s completion of required milestone examinations, including the Master’s Comprehensive Exam, Master’s Capstone Project, Ed.S. Comprehensive Exam, Doctoral Qualifying Exam, and Foreign Language Proficiency Exam. It ensures results are documented and submitted to the Graduate School for inclusion in the student’s academic record.
  • The Admission to Candidacy form is used to formally advance eligible students in doctoral and educational specialist programs (DMA, DNP, DSW, EdD, EdS, PhD) to candidacy after they have successfully completed all required coursework, examinations, and other program prerequisites. This designation confirms readiness to begin dissertation or final project work.
  • The Thesis/Dissertation Defense form is used to document the official outcome of a graduate student’s thesis or dissertation defense.
  • The Final Manuscript Approval form is used to certify that a graduate student’s thesis or dissertation meets all departmental requirements, has received final approval from the student’s department, and is ready for Graduate School formatting review. This form replaces the Committee Acceptance Form for Theses and Dissertations.
  • The Doctoral Leave of Absence form is used to request a break in the continuous-enrollment requirement for students in the doctoral candidacy phase. This form is only for students who request such a break for reasons of documented disability, family caregiving responsibilities, or military service. Doctoral leaves of absence may also be allowed in cases where medical issues require suspension of doctoral progress. To request a doctoral medical leave of absence, please contact the Graduate School (gradschool@ua.edu).
  • The Registration Override form is used to request special enrollment permissions, including permission for undergraduates to take graduate courses without having been admitted to a graduate program, permission to take more than the maximum hours allowed for a graduate student, approval to take a 400-level course for master’s credit, permission to audit a graduate course, or to elect Pass/Fail grading for an undergraduate course.

The following forms are also faculty-initiated, via the links below.
The required authorizations for these requests are obtained through DocuSign routing.


The Graduate School Student Forms listed below are available for students to initiate through the Graduate Student Portal

*coming soon


Miscellaneous (DocuSign)

If faculty or students have questions about any of these forms or need assistance in completing them, please contact Graduate Registrar Eric Harris at eharris@ua.edu