Undergraduate Students in Graduate Courses

There are two conditions under which undergraduate students may enroll in graduate courses: (1) students in their junior or senior year may take graduate courses which will count toward their undergraduate degree if the graduate courses are relevant to their program of study and there is no similar undergraduate course available; (2) students in their last undergraduate semester may take graduate courses which may later be applied to a graduate degree. Graduate courses taken prior to the last semester may, ordinarily, not be applied to a graduate program, and no course may be applied to both an undergraduate and a graduate program. Students who meet either of these conditions must, in addition, have an undergraduate GPA of 3.00 or higher (exceptions are made in majors where grading is especially stringent). The student must also complete the Verification Coursework was not Applied to a Bachelor’s Degree Form, which requires advisor approval in addition to the signatures of the undergraduate recorder from the applicable program, and of the Associate Dean for Graduate Studies.

Concurrent Degrees

Students may not be admitted to two degree programs concurrently, except in the case where a student admitted to an advanced degree program wishes to gain a lesser degree in the same program area during the course of study for the more advanced degree. For instance, a student initially admitted to a doctoral program may wish to be granted a master's degree in the same program area. In such cases the student must go through the standard process for admission to the additional program. Admission status in the more advanced degree program is maintained.

Using Graduate Coursework in Two Programs

Coursework applied toward a master's degree may also be applied to a specialist or doctoral degree (with the exception of the 60 credit hour post-master's Ed.D. program), and coursework applied toward a specialist degree may also be applied to a doctoral degree, providing such coursework is relevant to the requirements of the more advanced degree and that it is less than seven years old or is revalidated. This does not apply when degrees are earned in the opposite direction. If coursework is applied to a completed, more advanced degree, then it may not be counted afterward to a lesser degree. Students seeking to earn a second master's degree may apply 6 credit hours of relevant coursework from the first master's degree program to the second master's degree. The number of credits applied from one degree to another may not exceed the limits of allowable credits transferred into that degree, even if the credits were earned at Indiana University. In all cases, a program advisor must approve the use of such coursework.

Certificate and Licensure Students Applying for a Master's Degree

Students in certificate and licensure programs who wish to seek a master's degree must go through the standard process for admission to graduate study. Furthermore, in order to be accepted into any of the School of Education's specialization areas in which a master's degree may be earned, students must be admitted to a master's degree program in one of these specialization areas in the semester prior to the semester in which they intend to graduate and they must be officially registered in the semester in which they graduate.

Credit hours earned by a licensure student who has been admitted to a master's degree program may or may not be counted in the student's master's program. The Department Chair or program head and the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies must approve the inclusion of courses taken while the student was earning credits toward licensure but was not admitted to a master's degree program. A licensure student who has been admitted to a master's degree program may use a maximum of 15 credits taken while the student was working on licensure but was not admitted to the master's degree program toward the master’s.

Transfer Courses for Licensure Students

Some graduate coursework completed at other universities may be transferred into degree and licensure programs at Indiana University. All coursework transferred must be from an accredited college or university. No transfer credit will be given for a course with a grade lower than B. Courses graded P (Pass) may not ordinarily be transferred into education graduate programs. Courses graded S (Satisfactory) may be transferred only if a letter is received from the course instructor stating that the student's performance in the course was at or above a grade of B.

Licensure students are generally required to complete at least half of their coursework at the Bloomington or Indianapolis campus of Indiana University.

Additional policies apply. Please refer to the "Policies and Procedures" section of this bulletin and the University Graduate School Bulletin for more information.