Minimum Program Requirements

Minimum Program Requirements

All candidates for master’s degrees at SJSU must fulfill the following minimum requirements.

Unit Requirements

All Master's programs require satisfactory completion of at least 30 semester units in approved program courses, of which at least 50% of the units in a given program must be graduate level courses (numbered 200-299). Additionally, at least 40% of a given program's courses must consist of graded coursework. While upper division level (numbered 100-199) courses can be used in a graduate program, lower division courses (numbered 1-99) are not acceptable in graduate programs and do not count in any way towards a graduate degree.

Grade Point Average

While C grades are permitted in Master’s degree programs, a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 (i.e. a B grade) is required for both the program of study (i.e. those listed on the candidacy form), and the student’s overall cumulative GPA in order to graduate and maintain good academic standing (see below). Any grade of C- or lower requires that the course be repeated, and all graduate grades are computed in the GPA. Additionally, any No Credit (NC) grades posted on the candidacy form must be repeated for Credit (CR).

Unit Residence Requirements and Credit for Transfer Work

At least 70% of the units for the master’s degree must be completed in residence at SJSU, per policy S13-8. “In residence”, for this requirement, typically means while matriculated in an SJSU graduate program. Transfer of units earned while not in residence into a program are permissible with graduate advisor approval, up to the limit of 30% of the program units. Some common examples are listed below:

• Open University courses: Note that while students often take courses through Open University before matriculating into a program, these units are not considered courses taken in residence.

• Courses taken at SJSU during the undergraduate career: Some SJSU students take graduate level or upper division courses their final semester which do not count towards their baccalaureate degree. In these cases, students can petition to transfer these units into the graduate program.

• Courses taken at other universities: Students can request program relevant units to be transferred into a program with graduate advisor approval as long as the courses taken did not count towards a previous degree.

Note that in all of the above cases, these are considered non-resident units and only a total unit value of 30% (i.e. 9 units in a 30 unit program) from these categories may be transferred into a master’s program.