AGRADE programs enable highly qualified seniors in the university to enroll simultaneously in undergraduate and graduate programs and to apply a maximum of 16 credits toward both the undergraduate and graduate degrees. They encourage such students to continue to graduate school at Wayne State by reducing the time to the master's degree.

Guidelines for establishing AGRADE programs

AGRADE programs may be developed between two programs in a single department, between two departments/programs in a single school/college or between departments/programs in two different schools/colleges. The graduate office of the school/college that houses the master's program has administrative responsibility for the AGRADE program. The following issues should be addressed by proposals for establishing AGRADE programs.

Rationale
All proposals should identify the rationale or need for an AGRADE program and, if the undergraduate and graduate programs are in different departments, clarify their appropriateness for participating in an AGRADE program. A contact person should be identified.

Maximum AGRADE credits
A maximum of 16 credits in approved graduate courses may be used to complete the baccalaureate degree requirements as well as serve as the beginning of graduate study. Proposals may restrict AGRADE credits to fewer than 16.

Student eligibility
AGRADE applicants must have an overall grade point average of at least 3.3. Proposals may require higher GPAs.

Assessment information for the graduate degree program 

Approval procedures

Before submission to the Graduate Council, a proposal must be approved in its entirety by:

• Departmental faculty and chair (in non-departmentalized colleges the proposal must be approved in its entirety by the school/college faculty)
• School/college faculty governing body
• School/college dean

Upon submission to the Graduate Council, the New Programs and Program Review Committee will review. After approval from the New Programs and Program Review Committee, the proposal is also evaluated and reviewed by:

• Dean of the Graduate School
• Provost

To submit to the Graduate Council, email Mary Wood, mewood@wayne.edu. 

Procedures for AGRADE programs

Proposals for establishing AGRADE programs should make clear that the following procedures will be followed and that students will be made aware of them:

Time of application
The earliest students may apply for AGRADE is in the semester in which they complete 90 credits toward the baccalaureate.

Application procedures
The student should present to the master's program graduate director all the materials the program requires for normal admission (except the GRE score, which, if required, should be submitted at the time of formal admission application to the master's program). The master's program will make an AGRADE admission decision regarding the applicant and notify the school/college graduate office as well as the applicant. The college graduate office will notify the Records Office of the student's admission into the AGRADE program.

Advising
Students will be assigned an advisor by the master's program.

Master's Plan of Work
Students admitted into an AGRADE program will develop a Plan of Work for the master's program, specifying the courses that will be taken in the AGRADE status as well as the courses required for the balance of the master's degree. The AGRADE courses must be approved by both the student's undergraduate program advisor and the graduate director of the master's program. In courses permitting both undergraduate and graduate students to enroll, AGRADE students will be held to the graduate standard.

Approval of regular graduate admission status
At the normal time during the senior year, the student must submit the application for graduate admission, and it will be reviewed for formal admission into the department's graduate program. Students must have maintained a 3.5 average in the courses taken subsequent to AGRADE admission in order to remain eligible. All admission application materials required by the department for regular admission must be available at this time. In the term of regular graduate admission, all AGRADE courses that were completed with a grade of B or higher will be assigned to the student's graduate record. It is expected that under normal circumstances, approval of AGRADE status will be followed by formal acceptance into the graduate program.

Transfer of courses
Only those AGRADE-approved courses in which the student has earned a B or higher will transfer to the graduate transcript. Once in the master's program, students may be required to repeat an AGRADE course in which they earn less than a B grade.

Administration
The graduate office of the school/college in which the master's program is housed will have administrative responsibility for its AGRADE programs.