Applying Credits Towards Your Degree

Graduate Studies recommends that you meet with your faculty and/or department advisor regularly throughout your academic studies to ensure that you are registering for UNM graduate courses that apply towards your degree.

During your graduate studies, you will complete a degree verification form that details all the courses that count towards your graduate degree. Graduate Studies uses this form to verify that you are on track to complete your program’s requirements. If you are a Master’s or GCERT student, you will complete a Program of Studies (POS) form. If you are an MFA or Doctoral student, you will complete an Application for Candidacy (AC) form. Please consult the policies and degree information in the UNM Catalog for more information about degree and credit requirements for your specific program.

General Rules about Applying Credit

· Courses must be at taken at the graduate level. Undergraduate courses cannot count towards a graduate degree.

· Credits cannot be applied to more than two programs. For example, you cannot apply the same course towards an undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral degree.

· No more than 50% of the required course credit hours can be taken with a single faculty member.

· If you are pursuing a Master’s degree, you cannot apply credits from a previously earned master’s or doctoral degree towards your program.

· If you are pursuing a Master’s degree or GCERT, at least 50% of your graduate coursework must be completed after admission to the graduate program. If pursuing a doctorate, at least 18 credit hours of graduate credit coursework must be completed after admission to the graduate program, and at least 24 graduate credit hours must be completed at UNM.

· For full information about applying credit towards your degree, you should consult the UNM catalog for detailed policies for applying credit, such as limits on non-degree-seeking graduate, transfer, and other applied credits. Please note that programs may set stricter limits than Graduate Studies.

Transfer Credits outside of UNM

· You must have an official transcript on file with UNM admissions from your previous institution with the transfer courses listed. Transcripts only on file with the department or program cannot be used for transfer eligibility reviews. You can send an official transcript to UNM at apply@unm.edu or mail to UNM admissions.

· When completing your POS or AC form, you must list the courses with the course prefix, number, and title exactly as they are listed on your official transcript from your previous institution.

· Courses must have been taken in graduate status. Graduate-level courses taken while in an undergraduate program may not be transferred for use toward a graduate program as they are awarded undergraduate credit. Graduate-level courses must have been completed in graduate or non-degree-seeking graduate status at the previous institution.

· A grade of B or better must have been earned in the course.

· For full information about applying transfer credits towards your degree, you should consult the UNM catalog for detailed policies for transfer credit. Please note that programs may set stricter limits than Graduate Studies.

Tips for your Completing your Program of Study (POS) or Application for Candidacy (AC) Form

We recommend that you consult your faculty or department advisor about any department deadlines to submit your POS or AC form, since your program may have internal deadlines before our Graduate Studies Deadlines.

Only list courses on the POS and AC form that are required and that you plan on using towards your graduate degree. Graduate Studies does not recommend listing more courses than necessary on these forms.

If you are pursuing dual degrees, such as getting two master’s degrees or a master’s degree and a graduate certificate at the same time, a single POS should be submitted for both. Please note:

1) If your programs fall under the same faculty advisor and program approvers, the electronic POS in GradForms may be submitted. Be sure to mark the shared and major (or first degree) courses in the final column.

2) If the programs fall under different advisors and/or approvers, a PDF POS with signatures from both programs must be submitted to grad@unm.edu. This is available on our forms page.

If you were admitted to a shared-credit bachelor’s/master’s program while in your undergraduate program at UNM, mark the courses taken in undergraduate (UG) status for use in the graduate program as Shared Credit in the final column. Shared-credit courses must be graduate-level credit eligible, and you must have earned a grade of B or higher. Please review the Shared-Credit Undergraduate/Graduate Programs policies in the catalog for more details about credit eligibility and limitations for shared-credit use. Programs may set stricter limits.

Finally, make sure you select a catalog year that you are eligible to use. You may use the catalog from your academic year of admission or later. If your program advises use of the catalog for an upcoming catalog year, it must be published before you can use it and may not fall after your intended term of graduation. Academic years include fall, spring, and summer, in that order. For example, the 2024/2025 catalog includes Fall 2024, Spring 2025, and Summer 2025.