College of Graduate Studies

The Office of Graduate Admissions guides prospective graduate degree-seeking and non-degree seeking students through the application and admissions processes. This office works closely with graduate programs to ensure timely review of applications and communications with prospective graduate students. This office also coordinates the admissions recommendations entered by graduate programs and ensures that the UCF minimum admissions requirements are being met.

The Office of Graduate Admissions provides training to graduate program faculty and staff, as well as a graduate admissions guide. Faculty and staff must complete this training in order to access applicant information through G-WIS. Please contact the office for training registration information.

Admissions Policies

See the following links for the minimum university admissions requirements:

In addition, the Minimum University Admissions Requirements Policy provides guidance on admissions regulations. In certain cases, a score on the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) or the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) can be used in lieu of the GRE/GMAT. Please check with your admissions counselor for information and process.

Students without a baccalaureate or higher degree from a regionally accredited institution or a recognized foreign institution are not admitted to graduate degree programs, graduate certificate programs, or graduate non-degree status. The College of Business Administration requires that all degrees must have been earned from a regionally accredited institution.

Graduate programs are encouraged to ask for optional application materials and set higher minimum admissions requirements than the university requirements. Some graduate programs may choose to require letters of recommendation, essays, personal/research statements, and resumes. Programs may also choose to conduct interviews, auditions or require portfolios from their applicants. Applicants to doctoral programs must submit completed applications including three letters of recommendation, resume, and essay or personal/research statement.

Individual program deadlines can be found in the Graduate Catalog Programs by just clicking on the individual graduate program and then clicking on “application deadlines.” Both domestic and international deadlines are given.

Prospective students must apply online by the stated application deadline for your program. The graduate online application can be found at applynow.graduate.ucf.edu/apply. Transcripts must be official and submitted directly to the UCF College of Graduate Studies from the university. Test scores must be reported electronically to the UCF College of Graduate Studies by the corresponding testing agency. Under no circumstances should applicants send supporting documents to the faculty or graduate program directly; this will slow down the application process for them. Unofficial supporting documents submitted will not be processed. It is important to advise applicants of these policies when you meet with them to ensure a smooth application process. Graduate programs are encouraged to have earlier application deadlines.

Admissions Committees

Admissions committees should include the faculty that represents different specializations within the department. Admissions committees should also be diverse and include a good mix of faculty by gender and ethnicity. Admissions committees should meet together as a group to facilitate the review of applications and make admissions decisions in a timely manner. Committee meetings should be scheduled ahead of time so that they meet no later than two weeks after the program’s application deadline. Admissions committees do not need to wait for all committee members to be present before a meeting can be scheduled.

Committee members should review their program’s admissions requirements in the graduate catalog and develop standard criteria before reviewing the applications. Standard requirements should include criteria for students to be successful in meeting the learning outcomes for the program (institutional effectiveness goals). Requirements and admissions recommendations shall not include preferences on the basis of any category protected by law.

Reviewing Applications

Once the online applications are received and processed by your designated Admissions Counselor, your graduate program will have access to review them within SLATE which is our graduate admission’s management system. In SLATE, your graduate program will have access to all the documents and supporting materials you have required for a complete application. You will be able to both see applications in process and what supporting materials each applicant has remaining as it relates to your programs admission checklist. The review of application happens through reader bins which store all your applicants. Using the reader bins, you will move applicants to different bins based on whether you want to deny admission or have the applicant move to the next round/stage of review. Bins will also include forms which will allow for communication among your admissions committee, notes on individual applicants, and what decision you would like to render.

UCF Graduate Summary in PeopleSoft – The UCF Graduate Summary is available through PeopleSoft (myUCF). This summary page allows users to view applicant information for current and future terms.
GradInfo – GradInfo is a portal provided by the UCF College of Graduate Studies for internal administrative use. You can access admissions statistic reports for your program and forms and files pertinent to graduate admissions.

Making Admissions Recommendations

Policy: Admissions Classifications in Admissions > Information for All Applicants, in the Graduate Catalog.

Admissions recommendations should be made by the graduate program committee within two weeks of the application being processed and no later than two weeks after the application deadline for the term (decision deadlines are established by the UCF College of Graduate Studies each academic year).

Prospective graduate students often accept the first admission offer that they receive, therefore, it is imperative that files are reviewed promptly and recommendations rendered within two weeks of the application being processed and completed. This is especially true for prospective students seeking fellowships and awards.

Graduate programs should identify strong applicants early in the admissions process and nominate them to the colleges to be considered for fellowship awards. The university begins to award fellowships in late January so that those students nominated will be considered quickly for fellowships. If you have a particularly talented individual, it is best not to wait until all admissions decisions are made for all students.

Please note that admission recommendations entered into SLATE by your program are not official offers of admission to the university. Program recommendations will be reviewed by the College of Graduate Studies to ensure that applicants meet minimum university requirements and are admitted to the proper admission classification.

Admission recommendations are finalized by the UCF College of Graduate Studies and an automated admissions letter is sent to the applicant notifying them of their admission to the university. Programs should not communicate admission recommendations or decisions directly to applicants. We greatly encourage you to communicate with students about when they should expect the admissions letter, when you plan on making your recommendations, and also if you need more information before you can finalize an admissions recommendation.

Admissions decisions can be made in one of several categories: regular, conditional, restricted, provisional, restricted/conditional or provisional/conditional.

REGULAR status – All applicants that are admitted in regular status must meet the minimum university admission requirements.
CONDITIONAL status – Applicants admitted in this status meet minimum university admission requirements but are missing one or more of the required documents (i.e., final transcripts or test scores). It may also include conditions such as completing certain prerequisite courses, retaking the GRE/GMAT for a higher score, maintaining a certain GPA in the first few hours of a graduate program. If admitted in this status, the applicant must fulfill the condition by mid-term of their first semester or they will be prevented from registering for future semester classes.
RESTRICTED status – Even though minimum university admission requirements are met, a program may attach restrictions to the admission of an applicant, such as completing certain prerequisite courses, retaking the GRE/GMAT for a higher score, maintaining a certain GPA in the first few hours of a graduate program, etc. The student must fulfill these requirements prior to being changed to regular status. Students that have a graduate GPA less than 3.0 in a degree program at UCF and are admitted into a new degree program will be admitted into the new program in restricted status.
PROVISIONAL status – Applicants that do not fulfill the minimum university admission requirements for regular admission may be admitted provisionally upon the recommendation of the program director and the College of Graduate Studies. Provisional admissions may at no time exceed 20 percent of the graduate students admitted for any academic term in any single degree program/track. Provisional students may be switched to regular status following satisfactory completion of 9 semester hours and upon recommendation by the program director/and the Vice President and Dean of the College of Graduate Studies.

For students being admitted in the conditional or provisional status, it is imperative that the program follows up with the student to ensure that the conditions are clearly written. For additional information on these admissions categories, please visit the Graduate Catalog.

Notifying Applicants of Admissions Decisions

Applicants should never be given their admissions decision orally. If the need arises, only program directors should be the ones giving applicants information about their decision over the phone and only if the decision has been finalized by the College of Graduate Studies. Should an applicant call you to inquire about an admissions decision, please refer them to the program director.

The College of Graduate Studies provides applicants being offered admission a way to accept/decline their offer. The link to electronically accept/decline is found on myUCF. If an applicant notifies a program directly that they will accept or decline an offer of admission, please notify the College of Graduate Studies by email with this information.

The College of Graduate Studies encourages programs to communicate with admitted students about orientations, registration, and other matters after the admissions letter has officially been sent from the university.

All students, including current UCF master’s, specialist, or doctoral students, must complete an application that designates the graduate certificate. The student should apply online (applynow.graduate.ucf.edu/apply) as soon as possible, preferably as soon as they begin taking the required courses.

Students that do not submit an application and gain admittance to the graduate certificate program will not be processed for graduate certificate completion.

Appeals of Admissions Decision

Programs should never deny an admission based on criteria that are not stated in the Graduate Catalog. Applicants with disabilities may take the GRE or GMAT under special conditions to compensate for the disability. Scores obtained in this manner may then be used in the same way as scores for any other students because the compensation would have already been taken into account. The College of Graduate Studies notifies applicants that are denied.

Applicants denied admission that meet the minimum university admission requirements to graduate status but do not meet the more stringent program requirements may request reconsideration by written request to the program director within thirty days of the date of denial, as required by university regulations (UCF 2.003 (9)). The program director may ask the department or program graduate committee to examine the necessary documentation and recommend a response to the appeal. The program director will recommend an admission action to the department chair.

Should the department chair deny the appeal, and there are new circumstances, facts, or other matters that the student feels warrants consideration, the student may request further consideration from the graduate college by writing a letter to the Vice President and Dean of the College of Graduate Studies indicating the desire to appeal further and the reasons why an appeal is sought. The Vice President and Dean of the College of Graduate Studies may ask the Graduate Council Appeals Committee to examine the necessary information and recommend a response to the appeal.

The College of Graduate Studies and Graduate Council do not normally assess the academic judgment of an admissions decision, which is the province of the graduate program. The College of Graduate Studies does investigate admission appeals to ensure that the admission process has been conducted fairly. The College of Graduate Studies usually asks the graduate program for information regarding its admission process, as well as the number of applicants and admitted students for the semester in question, and the average GRE and GPA for applicants and for those who were admitted. The decision of the Vice President and Dean of the College of Graduate Studies is final.