Graduate turning up in a state, raving (8)
I believe the answer is:
maniacal
'raving' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'graduate turning up in a state' is the wordplay.
'graduate' becomes 'ma' (abbreviation for Master of Arts).
'turning up' is a reversal indicator.
'state' becomes 'cal' (I've seen this in other clues**).
'in' backwards is 'ni'.
'ma'+'ni'+'a'+'cal'='MANIACAL'
(Other definitions for maniacal that I've seen before include "Raving mad" , "In a crazy and violent manner" , "Wildly disordered" , "Extremely wild or violent" .)