Progress toward the Master's Degree

• Admission Requirement
• Master’s Degree Candidacy
• Candidacy Holds
• Time Limits
• Full-Time, Part-Time Definitions

Graduate School policies governing Master’s programs are outlined below. Some departments may have more restrictive policies.

Admission Requirement

• Students must be officially admitted to a degree program to be considered degree applicants in the program. An Admission decision must be on file for a student to be considered a degree applicant.
   
• Enrollment in courses in a department does not confer degree applicant status without an official admission by the department.

Master’s Degree Candidacy

Definition

• Students achieve candidacy when they file a Plan of Work that is approved by the advisor and the college/school Graduate Office.
   
• Candidacy is a necessary requirement for graduation.

Requirements

• Students must file a Plan of Work by the time they accumulate 12 credits in the program.
   
• The Plan must meet the department's degree requirements.
   
• For the Plan to be approved, students must be officially admitted to the program and have attained a minimum GPA of 3.00.

Procedure

• Following department approval, the Plan is submitted to the school/college Graduate Office for approval.
   
• The Graduate Office notifies the Records Office to advance the student to candidacy.
   
• The Records Office changes the student’s status to Master’s Candidate.

Candidacy Holds

• A candidacy hold is automatically generated for students who have not attained candidacy by the time they accumulate 12 credits. Students will not be able to register until they file a Plan of Work.
   
• Once the school/college Graduate Office receives the Plan of Work, it will remove the hold and will notify the Records Office to advance the student to candidacy.

Time Limits

• Master's degree and Specialist Certificate requirements must be completed within six years of the date of the first course applied toward the degree.
   
• Graduate Certificate requirements must be completed within three years of the date of the first course applied toward the certificate.

Full-Time and Part-Time Definitions

• A full-time student is one who enrolls for at least eight graduate credits.
   
• A part-timestudent is one who enrolls for fewer than eight graduate credits.