Successful admission to Graduate Study requires admission to a specific degree program. Most graduate programs require additional application criteria such as letters of reference, personal interviews, standardized test scores, verification of certification, etc. You should contact the graduate coordinator in your discipline for these additional requirements. The Admissions Office forwards your graduate study application file to the graduate coordinator of your designated program area for final consideration for admission to that particular program.

Admission to Candidacy
Admission to a specific degree program does not automatically make you a candidate for a master's degree. You must meet residency and evaluation requirements before you are a degree candidate. The formal admission to candidacy process varies from one program to another, but generally you must:

• Earn at least 9 credits in residence at UW-Stevens Point.
• Remove any academic deficiencies and/or complete all subject matter prerequisites.
• Maintain at least a B grade point average.
• Select a graduate adviser (and a graduate committee if required by your discipline).
• Complete and get approval for your Program of Study.

Graduate Adviser
When you first enter your graduate program you will probably be assisted by a departmental graduate adviser who counsels all incoming graduate students. In some of our graduate programs this person continues to advise all students in the program until the degree is nearly completed. In other programs, you will need your own personal adviser who may also be known as your "major professor." This individual plays a key role in guiding you through your graduate career. Your graduate adviser should act as a personal adviser, mentor, advocate, constructive critic, and friend. Your graduate adviser is the person who should "go to bat" for you when you encounter problems with your program plan, courses, and/or research.

Selecting a Graduate Committee
Your graduate adviser may be required to use other graduate faculty to make final decisions about the acceptability of your program plan and the quality of your thesis, if you choose to write one. Therefore, give careful consideration to your choice of these critical advisers who will form your graduate committee. The graduate coordinator or your graduate adviser normally assists in this process.

The graduate committee consists of at least three graduate faculty members including your graduate adviser. Try to ask a person from outside your major discipline area to serve on your committee. A non-graduate faculty member who possesses expertise particularly relevant to your field of study may be appointed as a special extra member.

Your graduate adviser and/or the graduate committee is responsible for supervising your program of study and should:

• Guide you in an appropriate selection of courses and experiences to ensure that you are aware of all relevant material necessary for a complete understanding of your chosen field of study. This not only includes concentration of coursework in your major area of interest, but also selecting courses to bridge the gaps you may have in your previous educational experiences. This may require you to take some undergraduate courses to make up for deficiencies.
• Determine whether you have accumulated and demonstrated sufficient ability to engage in the analytic process of problem solving. A graduate degree entails more than just taking additional courses within a major. You will be expected to demonstrate your ability to synthesize the new knowledge you have gained in your graduate courses and apply this knowledge to solve contemporary problems.
• Make certain that if you elect to write a thesis it is consistent with the degree, confronts the interdisciplinary relationships of your subject area, and focuses on problem-solving methodology.
• Your graduate committee members, including your graduate adviser, will be listed on your Program of Study form. They must sign this form indicating their approval of your graduate program plan. If you desire a change in the composition of your committee, it is your responsibility to explain to the current committee members why the change is desirable or necessary. If the change is acceptable to the outgoing and incoming professors, you should then notify the graduate coordinator for your department, school, or college to complete the transfer of committee members.

Program of Study
You and your graduate adviser jointly develop a Program of Study which is primarily a listing of courses and other experiences that will be required for your degree. It is personally designed for you, taking into account previous academic strengths and weaknesses as well as your career goals. This plan is outlined on the Program of Study form which, once approved, becomes a contract-like agreement between you and the university. It is important that this agreement be made before you have accumulated 15 credits, since it is intended to be a realistic plan and defines all requirements necessary to complete your degree.

The Program of Study may include courses, both graduate and undergraduate, that are designed to add to your expertise or correct deficiencies. These are in addition to the minimum of 30 graduate credits required of master's degree candidates. The Program of Study also lists when courses are to be taken, the tentative title and completion date of the thesis or product, tentative dates for final examination and graduation, etc.

You may make minor changes in your approved Program of Study with the approval of your graduate adviser in consultation with the graduate committee members. Major changes such as course substitutions, changing of committee members, changing from thesis to nonthesis, etc. require formal concurrence of you, your major professor, your graduate committee, and the graduate coordinator of your department, school, or college.

General Requirements for All Master's Degrees:

• A maximum of 9 credits completed at the time of admission.
• A minimum of 30 credits in graduate courses (Communication, 30 cr + 1 credit colloquium), (Communicative Disorders, 37 cr + 21 cr practicum).
• At least 15 credits must be taken in courses numbered 700 and above.
• An approved Program of Study must be on file with your adviser and the graduate coordinator of your department, school, or college before you complete 15 credit hours toward the degree.
• A minimum overall grade point average of 3.00.
• No more than 6 credits total in special topics courses and independent study courses may apply toward a master's degree.
• Successfully complete a culminating experience.

All credits accepted toward a degree, including transfer credits, must be earned within a seven-year period. The time period starts with the beginning of the term in which the first course approved for your program of study was taken. For example: You are accepted into a UWSP graduate program in fall 2001. Part of your approved plan of study for your master’s degree includes a course taken in spring 1999. Thus, your seven-year time period to complete the degree starts with the beginning of the spring 1999 semester, NOT the semester in which you were accepted into your graduate program.