A maximum of six semester hours of 400-level course credit may be accepted for a master's degree program, and only if approved by the department and Graduate School prior to the semester in which the 400-level coursework will be taken. The approval form is located on the Graduate School website.
All of the conditions below must be met:
- The department offering the courses also offers a graduate degree.
- Approval is obtained from the student's graduate advisor and the Graduate School prior to the semester in which the coursework is to be taken.
- The course is taught by a member of the graduate faculty.
- The course is not offered at the 500 level.
- Graduate students in such courses do appropriate extra work and demonstrate a higher level of mastery.
Courses will differ for graduate students, typically in at least two of the four ways mentioned below.
- Graduate students should submit additional papers that require more analysis, synthesis, evaluation and application of knowledge.
- Graduate students should complete additional, higher-level readings.
- Graduate students' oral and written work should demonstrate greater depth of thought.
- Graduate students should attend additional meetings with the professor to discuss course content in greater depth.
The Graduate School must be notified, by the department, of a student's intention to use such credit by emailing the Graduate Registrar at grad.registrar@ua.edu.
No 400-level credit (except the six hours accepted toward the master's degree) may be accepted for doctoral degree programs. Under no circumstances will coursework below the 400 level be accepted for graduate credit. Master's students may use no more than six hours of 400-level courses for graduate credit.