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Graduate Degree Program
As indicated above, the Petition for Advancement to Graduate Candidacy ("candidacy form") is submitted to GAPE when the student is qualified to advance to candidacy. This form lists all courses and culminating experiences that must be fulfilled for degree award. The proposed program must meet the following requirements:
- demonstration of competency in written English. See section on Competency in Written English/Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement for further explanation.
- statement of the total number of units in the degree program.
- at least half of the units included on the form must be in 200-level courses.
- at least 60% of all units included must be in letter-graded course work.
- at least 80% of the units included must in be residence at SJSU. Therefore, a maximum of 6 units may be transferred into a 30-unit program from another university.
- transfer of units from courses approved by the graduate advisor, as indicated by the signature of the advisor on the candidacy form, is limited by university policy to 20% of the total units in the degree program, i.e., 6 units in a 30-unit program. The courses may be graduate courses taken as an undergraduate at SJSU that are requirements of the graduate program and were not used to satisfy requirements for the bachelor's degree (and therefore were not on the student's undergraduate major form). They may be SJSU Open University upper-division or graduate courses, or they may be courses taken at other accredited institutions, whether through a regular session, extension, or correspondence; in the case of extension or correspondence courses, the graduate advisor must petition the AVP or Associate Dean of Graduate Studies & Research (GS&R) on behalf of the student and provide documentation that the courses are approved for degree credit at that institution. All courses transferred from another university must be verified by official transcripts sent to GAPE from that university at the time of transfer; failure to provide transcripts will result in a denial of advancement to candidacy and/or award of degree. Whereas SJSU policy restricts the total number of transfer units from all sources, except previous graduate degree programs or double majors, Title 5 allows for transfer of 30% of the degree program unit total; inclusion of the additional units must be supported in writing by the graduate advisor and requires the approval of the AVP or Associate Dean of GS&R. Note that an exception has been granted students either currently enrolled in a credential program or having already completed one to allow 12 units to be transferred to a master's degree program. Units from courses taken at other institutions or through Open University after a first denial of admission to the university and before receipt of an acceptance for a second admission attempt cannot be used for transfer credit.
The course work included may be entirely within the major department, or it may include a combination of courses drawn from other fields acceptable to the major advisor, so long as it is within the parameters set by the department in the program descriptions in this catalog. If deficiencies in the student's record are identified, including in prerequisites for required courses, additional course work can be assigned by the major advisor. This course work would not appear on the candidacy form and would not be counted in the total number of units required for the degree. Letter-graded courses from previous graduate degree programs may be included up to a total of one third of the current degree total (i.e., 10 units in a 30-unit program) if approved by the graduate advisor, but the residence requirement above must still be met.
Course work that may not be applied to the graduate degree includes basic skills' courses such as lower-division work, directed (student) teaching, or 300-level residence or 400-level Extended Studies courses taken at SJSU. Graduate credit by examination is not permitted.
No more than 6 semester units of combined credit for project or thesis research (usually 298 courses) and thesis preparation (299 courses) may be included on the candidacy form. There is no restriction in the number of these units attempted. However, students completing a thesis must include at least one 299 unit on the form, and the total number must be commensurate with program requirements.
The completed, signed Petition for Advancement to Graduate Candidacy should be submitted to GAPE in the Student Services Center by the deadlines posted at http://www.sjsu.edu/gape/current_students/deadlines/index.htm. The student will be informed by letter of approval or denial of the petition.
Page last generated: 11/10/2009 18:13:52
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