Hi, actually there are 3 conferral dates in my university: one in May (for Spring semester), one in August (for Summer semester) and another in December (for Fall semester). The commencement (graduation) ceremony is held once a year in May only. It is for those who graduated in the Fall semester of the preceding year, those who have graduated (or anticipate graduating) in the Spring semester (of the current year), and those who anticipate graduating in the Summer semester (of the current year).

Thanks everyone. My university also says that I can use the title now. But I will follow the advice of keeping a low profile till May. It's only less than 2 months away :-).

======= Date Modified 22 Mar 2012 06:29:09 =======
Hi,

After 6 years of misery (at a US university), my Ph.D. life is coming to an end. I defended my dissertation last December and have since completed the revisions and submitted it to the University. An email arrived this morning (March 12) from our Degree Progress saying that:

'Congratulations! The Degree Progress Department is pleased to inform you that your Doctor of Philosophy in XXX degree has been conferred and posted to your academic transcript at the University of XXX. The conferral date of your degree is May XX, 2012.

...'

In my University (and I am sure in other schools as well), students' progress towards the degree is monitored regularly and if all requirements are completed, the degree is instantly posted. But at the same time, there are only 3 fixed conferral dates of any given academic year (May, August, December, in our case).

The result of this is that the posting of the Ph.D. degree can happen (well) before the actual conferral date, which is my case. Of course, this issue never arises for Bachelors and coursework-based Masters who usually can only complete the degree requirements close to the actual conferral dates.

My question now is: Am I already considered a Ph.D. now (if so, I should be able to use the Ph.D. title)? Or should I wait till May to begin to use my Ph.D. title? And if I am not already a Ph.D., what should I state in my CV (hopefully not still the 'Ph.D. expected May, 2012')?

I have already sent the inquiry to the university, but I would like to hear from others as well.

Thanks!