Exceptional undergraduate students at UNC Charlotte may be accepted into some master's programs (see list below) and begin work toward a graduate degree before completion of the baccalaureate degree. In those programs offering this option, an applicant may be accepted at any time after completion of 75 or more hours of their undergraduate course work, although it is expected that close to 90 hours of undergraduate course work will have been earned by the time the first graduate course is taken. These students will have provisional acceptance status in the graduate program, pending the award of the baccalaureate degree.
To be accepted in this program, the student must complete an application for the given graduate program and be accepted into that graduate program. In addition, the student must complete an Early-Entry Program Form and have it approved by the program coordinator and the Graduate School.
Important Note: The Early-Entry Program Form must be approved by the Graduate School before the student begins the early-entry graduate course work. Failure to obtain prior Graduate School approval negates the ability to "double-count" courses in an accelerated
early-entry program.
An undergraduate student must have at least a 3.2 overall GPA and have taken the appropriate graduate standardized test and have earned an acceptable score A given program may have more rigorous admissions criteria. If an early-entry student has not met the normal admission requirements of a 2.75 overall undergraduate GPA and a 3.0 junior-senior GPA at the end of his/her baccalaureate degree, she/he will be dismissed from the graduate program. Students accepted into an early-entry program will be subject to the same policies that pertain to other matriculated graduate students. Generally, it will be assumed that early-entry students will finish their baccalaureate degrees before they complete 15 hours of graduate work. No courses taken before admission to the graduate program may be applied to a graduate degree.
Some early-entry programs are also accelerated. Under this model, ordinarily up to six hours earned at the graduate level may be substituted for required undergraduate hours. In other words, up to six hours of graduate work may be "double-counted" toward both the baccalaureate and graduate degrees. Individual programs may allow additional
hours at the graduate level to be substituted. In no case may more than 12 hours be double-counted.
Important Note: Students admitted into an early-entry program pay graduate fees and graduate tuition for all courses (graduate and undergraduate) for which they register.
Please visit the Graduate Program listing for additional admissions information.
Program |
Hours that may be Double-Counted |
| Biology, MA, MS |
9 |
| Chemistry, MS |
6 |
| Civil Engineering, MSCE |
6 |
| Computer Science, MS |
12 |
| Criminal Justice, MS |
6 |
| Earth Sciences, MS |
9 |
| Economics, MS |
12 |
| Electrical Engineering, MSEE |
6 |
| English, MA |
6 |
| Engineering Management, MS |
6 |
| Geography, MA |
6 |
|
Geography & Urban Regional Analysis, PhD (effective 2009 fall semester) |
8 |
| Gerontology, MA |
0 |
|
Health Psychology, Ph.D. (effective 2009 fall semester) |
9 |
| History, MA |
6 |
| Information of Technology, MS |
12 |
| Latin American Studies, MA |
6 |
| Mathematics, MS |
12 |
| Mechanical Engineering, MSME |
6 |
| Nursing: Nursing Advanced Clinical, MSN |
10 |
| Nursing: Systems/Populations, MSN |
10 |
|
Optical Science and Engineering, Ph.D. (effective 2009 fall semester) |
|
|
Optical Science and Engineering, MS (effective 2008 fall semester) |
12 |
|
Organizational Science, PhD (effective 2009 fall semester) |
12 |
|
Physics (Applied), MS (effective 2008 fall semester) |
12 |
| Sociology, MA |
6 |
| Spanish, MA |
6 |