Prospective Students
Prospective Students
ADVANCE offers:
ADVANCE is designed for students with one year or less of completed coursework toward their intended curricular pathway. Please note that developmental coursework (ESL, ENF, and MTT) do not count towards this credit total. Credits earned at another college/university including international credits that can be transferred toward your curricular pathway will count towards this total. Official transcripts will be requested at time of review.
Yes. Please note that international credit will be reviewed and may possibly count toward the 30 credit hours of applicable credit at time of declaration into ADVANCE. An official evaluation of international credit must be completed by an international transcript evaluation agency (e.g. AACRAO or WES) prior to ADVANCE eligibility review.
Absolutely! Mason enrolls more transfer students annually than all other colleges and universities in the Commonwealth of Virginia. If you are not selected for ADVANCE because you have more than 30 earned hours or a grade point average below 2.00, you are encouraged to visit our Office of Transfer Services to discuss your options for either GAA or regular transfer admission. Please see HERE for more information regarding Mason transfer admission requirements, deadlines, and contact information for Mason’s Office of Transfer Services.
No. You may apply for regular transfer admission or GAA (if applicable) to your intended major at Mason. Please note that some majors at Mason have selective admissions requirements. While the program currently features a limited number of associate’s/bachelor’s degree offerings, more will be added for the 2019-2020 academic year.
The ADVANCE Declaration is how you “raise their hand” to be screened for Program eligibility. Any prospective student with an active NOVA student record is encouraged to apply, however we do encourage you to review the ADVANCE eligibility requirements prior to submitting a Declaration. Please note that while the ADVANCE Declaration is absolutely free to submit, you will need to have activated your MyNOVA account to log into the e-form. You can access the ADVANCE Declaration by clicking on the green “Sign Up” box on NOVA's ADVANCE website. ADVANCE eligibility is determined by Mason’s Office of Admissions.
Once you are identified as eligible for the Program, you will receive a follow-up communication to your VCCS e-mail account containing information on the last two “steps” of the ADVANCE onboarding process: the pre-orientation video and the ADVANCE Agreement. The pre-orientation video provides you with detailed information on ADVANCE requirements and benefits. Once completed, you will then review, electronically sign, and upload your ADVANCE Agreement into an e-form provided in the e-mail communication. For any questions and/or assistance with this process, please contact ADVANCE Admissions at advance@nvcc.edu.
The ADVANCE Agreement is your ADVANCE “contract,” which outlines general program policies, resources, your pre-defined 4-year curricular pathway, and all program-specific ADVANCE milestones. The ADVANCE Agreement also “locks” you by your admit term into a catalog year, ensuring the transferability of your coursework as indicated in your curricular pathway at time of transition to Mason.
If you are identified as ineligible for ADVANCE, you will receive a follow-up communication to your VCCS e-mail account containing information on transfer admission to Mason and referral to Mason’s Office of Transfer Services (OTS) for additional support.
ADVANCE welcomes declarations for Fall and Spring enrollment. The following priority dates will assist you in planning to submit their ADVANCE Declaration:
Fall 2020 Declaration Deadline: July 15, 2020
Spring 2021 Declaration Deadline: December 01, 2020
You will receive a transfer credit evaluation similar to all admitted Mason transfer students. Prior to matriculation, you are encouraged to review NOVA's Transfer Credit Evaluation Policies and Mason's Transfer Credit Policies and to contact your assigned Success Coach to discuss the applicability of prior external transfer as well as test credit. Please note that both NOVA and Mason have the right to accept or not accept external or test credit. Consequently, external transfer or test credit may count towards fulfilling a degree requirement at one institution, but not the other. Please contact your assigned Success Coach for questions and academic planning as needed.
Yes, you can still be considered for ADVANCE. Please note that international credit will be reviewed and may possibly count toward the maximum 30 credit hours permitted at time of Declaration into ADVANCE. An official evaluation of international credit must be completed by an international transcript evaluation agency (e.g. AACRAO or WES) prior to ADVANCE eligibility review.
Yes, some ADVANCE curricular pathways can be completed entirely online. If you have any questions regarding the availability of online ADVANCE programs or online classes at either institution, please contact your assigned Success Coach.
The ADVANCE Team monitors your progress through universal and program-specific milestones and notifies you via your VCCS e-mail account. Your assigned Success Coach follows up with you to offer resources, support, and intervention.
You can change your major within ADVANCE and remain part of the program, as long it is a curricular pathway currently offered by ADVANCE. However, please note that this change might affect your graduation timeline and/or scholarship eligibility (if applicable). To do so, you will need to meet with your Success Coach and sign a revised ADVANCE Agreement for the new pathway. If you wish to pursue a major that is not a current ADVANCE offering, you will be advised to withdraw from ADVANCE and pursue either the Guaranteed Admission Agreement (GAA) or regular transfer admission to Mason.
Overall, you will have two different GPAs, your NOVA GPA and your Mason GPA. When your credit transfers from NOVA into Mason, or from a previous college/university and/ or a test score (e.g. AP, IB, CLEP,) you will notice these classes have a GPA-less “T” grade. You will be able to view this transfer credit evaluation in PatriotWeb. This “T” grade indicates that the credit posted to your student account is transfer credit. Generally speaking, transfer credit does not have a grade and consequently, does not impact your GPA as the grade was not earned at the institution it was transferred into. After finishing your NOVA degree, you will start Mason with a new GPA. However, if you have completed co-enrollment coursework at Mason as part of your ADVANCE curricular pathway, these grades will impact your Mason GPA before and after transition. You will notice that when these credits are transferred back to NOVA, they will also transfer in as a GPA-less “T” grade. You will be able to view this transfer credit evaluation in your MyNOVA/SIS account. Again, this “T” grade indicates that the credit posted to your student account is transfer credit. If you have any questions regarding how a grade is impacting your GPA at either NOVA or Mason, please reach out to your assigned Success Coach.
While all ADVANCE students are required to complete a minimum of 6 credits each consecutive fall and spring semester at NOVA towards their chosen curricular pathway, if you are planning an absence during the course of your studies at NOVA, you must submit a formal request or Leave of Absence (LOA) to the ADVANCE Program.
· Prior approval is required. LOA deadlines are: August 1 for fall LOA or December 15 for spring LOA. You do not need a LOA for summer semesters.
· You may request a one semester LOA or up to the maximum time allowed, a total of one academic year. This can be taken as two consecutive semesters, fall to spring or spring to fall or two separate semesters during the course of your ADVANCE enrollment at NOVA.
· You are not permitted to study elsewhere while on approved LOA. No transfer credit earned while on an approved LOA will be applied to your NOVA or Mason degree program.
· If you are on an approved LOA, you will not be considered for matriculation to Mason. Upon your return to NOVA and completion of the required milestones to earn your associate’s degree, your Success Coach will assist you in transitioning to Mason.
· Each ADVANCE LOA request requires you to contact your assigned Success Coach and submit a new LOA Form
· If your request for an ADVANCE LOA is denied, the student continues be held to the milestone progression requirements outlined in the ADVANCE agreement.
For more information, please see here.
No. If you have requested matriculation or hold degree-seeking status at Mason, you are ineligible for an ADVANCE LOA. Please refer to the Office of the University Registrar LOA Form, which can be found here, and to your appropriate Mason academic advising unit for review and approval. If you have additional questions, please reach out to your assigned Success Coach.
Your ADVANCE Success Coach serves as your primary point of contact throughout your participation in the program, assisting with: academic planning, especially as it pertains to how previous and current credit counts towards your ADVANCE curricular pathway, making direct referrals for services/resources at both institutions as you need them, milestone monitoring, helping you with the co-enrollment process, helping you access dual institutional resources, and transition to Mason.
Your ADVANCE Success Coach is co-located at Mason and your respective NOVA campus. A Success Coach has assigned Mason and NOVA days and can meet with you in-person at either location. Your Success Coach is also available via phone or WebEx if you cannot meet at a given location for an appointment.
Your Success Coach should always be your first point of contact regarding specific curricular pathway requirements and/or questions. Success Coaches will also refer you to NOVA frontline staff (e.g. First Year Advising/GPS, Pathway to the Baccalaureate (PtB), and Mason programs as needed.
As an ADVANCE student, you will work with your assigned Success Coach, who serves as your primary point of contact throughout your participation in the program. Your Success Coach provides personalized advising, coaching, and direct referrals as needed at NOVA and Mason to meet your individual academic and non-academic needs. You will be able to access ADVANCE student services as soon as you officially become an ADVANCE student and will review these resources during your initial success coaching appointment.
Co-enrollment is one benefit of the ADVANCE Program, which allows you, depending upon your chosen curricular pathway, to take up to 9 credits at Mason while in degree-seeking status at NOVA. To ensure you maximize your time and money by taking the right class the first time, this is an option for students with co-enrollment built into their curricular pathway. These are select classes identified by both institutions as either not having a direct equivalent at NOVA and/or completion of the course during your first two years of study at NOVA will benefit your overall degree progress at Mason upon transition (e.g. fulfills a pre-requisite for upper-level Mason coursework). All co-enrollment coursework is indicated in green on a given ADVANCE curricular pathway. For questions regarding co-enrollment, please contact your assigned Success Coach at advance@nvcc.edu.
You are able to take courses at Mason if/when you complete one of the following:
If you have any questions regarding your eligibility to take Mason courses, please contact your assigned Success Coach or the ADVANCE Team (advance@nvcc.edu).
Currently, students with no co-enrollment built into their curricular pathway are not able to take Mason courses while in degree-seeking status at NOVA. In other words, ADVANCE does not support “elective co-enrollment.”
ADVANCE students with co-enrollment built into their curricular pathway are required to complete these courses at Mason. However, you may have extenuating circumstances, limiting your ability to take a co-enrollment course at Mason. Some of these extenuating circumstances include, but are not limited to:
If you have co-enrollment in your ADVANCE curricular pathway and you have these concerns, please contact your assigned Success Coach or the ADVANCE Team (advance@nvcc.edu) immediately.
Your ADVANCE curricular pathway outlines which courses are taken as a degree-seeking student first at NOVA and later at Mason and which ones are taken as co-enrollment at Mason during your time at NOVA.
Yes. If you are taking co-enrollment or are in your first semester of degree-seeking status at Mason and taking a course at NOVA as a study elsewhere student, then you can take courses at both NOVA and Mason simultaneously.
You need to work with your assigned Success Coach to complete the co-enrollment process. Students must be screened for eligibility and fill out paperwork to have their co-enrollment request processed and approved. If you are looking to co-enroll at any point, please contact your assigned Success Coach.
You can register for co-enrollment in a given Fall, Spring, and Summer semester and are given a time ticket/priority registration date coinciding with either degree-seeking Freshman or Sophomore status depending upon your academic standing at NOVA (i.e. the total number of credits completed at NOVA in the prior semester). ADVANCE students with 0-29 credits earned at time of co-enrollment registration will have a degree-seeking Freshman time ticket and students with 30-59 credits earned at time of co-enrollment registration will have a degree-seeking Sophomore time ticket. ADVANCE students with 60 or more credits earned at time of co-enrollment registration will also have a degree-seeking time ticket and will not receive Junior academic standing until matriculation.
You (like other Mason students) will be assessed Mason tuition and fees for all co-enrollment courses. ADVANCE students using financial aid at NOVA may be able to use their aid to cover their Mason co-enrollment, so long as the course covers a course requirement at the degree-seeking institution (i.e. NOVA). Your assigned Success Coach will connect you with NOVA’s Financial Aid Office as appropriate. It is important to note that you will also have to pay additional fees associated with their co-enrollment in a given semester such as parking or student health insurance coverage if an F-1 or J-1 student.
You must earn a “C” or better in your co-enrollment course in order for the class to “reverse transfer” back to NOVA and complete a degree requirement. If you earn below a “C,” you will need to re-take the class at Mason. Students on financial aid will want to consult with NOVA’s Financial Aid Office for more information on how retaking a course impacts their financial aid eligibility.
The ADVANCE Team at both NOVA and Mason work together to ensure all your co-enrollment coursework “reverse transfers” to NOVA and is applied to its corresponding NOVA degree requirement.
If you wish to withdraw from ADVANCE, you need to notify and work with your assigned Success Coach to complete this process.
You can change your major once you have successfully transitioned to degree-seeking status at Mason and this change can be into a major not currently offered in ADVANCE. However, please note that this change might affect your graduation timeline and/or scholarship eligibility (if applicable). Students will follow the same major change process as all other degree-seeking students at Mason.
We encourage you to discuss this with your assigned Success Coach immediately to determine the personal and/or educational factors underpinning your desire to transfer prior to NOVA degree completion and the implications. However, if you wish to withdraw from ADVANCE, you need to notify and work with your assigned Success Coach to complete this process. Once you are withdrawn from ADVANCE, your Success Coach will encourage you to reach out to NOVA transfer advising resources or Mason’s Office of Transfer Services (OTS) for questions and/or information about transfer eligibility requirements and applying to Mason as a Guaranteed Admission Agreement (GAA) or regular transfer applicant.
If you wish to withdraw from ADVANCE, you need to notify and work with your assigned Success Coach to complete this process. Once you have withdrawn from ADVANCE, your Success Coach will encourage you to reach out to NOVA transfer advising resources for questions and/or information about transfer eligibility requirements and applying to another college or university.
If you have been officially transitioned into degree-seeking status at Mason and want to take a course at NOVA, you are subject to the study elsewhere policies of the University and your respective Mason College, School, and/or Program. However, ADVANCE students with one (1) course remaining at NOVA in order to earn their associate’s degree are eligible to complete their final ADVANCE requirement through the ADVANCE study elsewhere process and memo.
Once you are ready to transition to Mason as a degree-seeking student, you will complete the ADVANCE matriculation process with your assigned Success Coach. Once this process has been completed, you will receive an e-mail from Mason’s Office of Admissions to request your official NOVA transcript.
Please note that you will need to review your MyNOVA account to ensure grades from all completed semesters are posted and if all grades are listed, you will then want to request your official transcript to be sent to the Office of Admissions for your transfer credit evaluation.
NOVA electronic transcripts are $10 and you request these through your NOVA Dashboard using your MyNOVA login credentials. Please note that Mason only accepts electronic transcripts from NOVA. For instructions on how to request an official transcript from NOVA, please see here. Please note you may have to request an additional transcript upon the completion of additional coursework and/or after the posted conferral of your associate’s degree.
If you have not done so already, you will want to request your official transcripts from any other colleges and/or universities you have attended as well as any test credit to be sent to Mason’s Office of Admissions for your evaluation of transfer credit. Transfer credit evaluations for ADVANCE students are completed after your transition to degree-seeking status at Mason has been approved. For more information on Mason’s transfer credit policies and processes, please see here.
It is also important to note that you will want to have all other college, university, and/or test credit evaluated and transferred into NOVA. For more information on NOVA’s transfer credit policies and processes, please see here.
Please note that each institution has the right to accept or not accept transfer credit towards your degrees. If you have any questions regarding the applicability of credit at NOVA or Mason, please contact your assigned Success Coach.