Certificate Conferral
A graduate certificate program (GCP) is defined as a group of three to five 400- and 500-level courses in a concentration within an academic unit or program organized with the objective of training students in a specific area of expertise.
Course requirements for a GCP are determined by the individual academic unit, and must have a minimum of nine credit hours with at least one course at the 500-level. No more than nine credit hours of 400-level courses can be included; no more than half of the credits or courses may be specialized (topical) accelerated courses. Transfer credit cannot be applied toward a graduate certificate.
The time limit for certificate completion is three years. A student may complete more than one graduate certificate if admitted to each.
A GPA of 3.0/4.0 or greater is required in the certificate courses before a graduate certificate can be awarded. Application for a Graduate Certificate must be filed by certificate students delineating the courses completed for a particular graduate certificate.
The completion of a GCP will be indicated on the student's transcript.
A certificate student who subsequently applies to and is admitted to a specific master's degree program may apply all approved coursework taken as a certificate student (in a single certificate program) and passed with a "B" grade or better to the master's degree program.
The same credits earned for a degree program may be applied to a certificate program in the same discipline, provided that the application for the certificate is made before the final semester of study for the degree program.
Students enrolled in a degree program may apply a max of 9 credits towards a certificate outside the academic unit of the degree program. There is a limit of one concurrent certificate per student in a degree program unless that program has authorized such certificate stacking.
The application to earn a certificate must be submitted before the last semester of the degree.
Please see the Graduate Admissions Office specific application deadlines for a certificate.
