The Office of Graduate Admissions guides prospective graduate degree-seeking and nondegree-seeking students through the application and admissions processes. This office works closely with graduate departments to ensure timely review of applications and communications with prospective graduate students. This office also coordinates the admissions recommendations entered by graduate departments and ensures that the UCF minimum admissions requirements are being met.
Admissions Policies
See the following links for the minimum university admissions requirements:
Admissions Policies
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 how to make this exception.
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 nondegree 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. It is important to note these additional requirements in the Graduate Programs section of the UCF College of Graduate Studies’ student website and catalog so applicants are clear on what is expected of them when applying.
Graduate programs should notify the UCF College of Graduate Studies when making changes to their admissions requirements. This only should be done when the catalog revisions (Spring of each year) are being submitted once per year and for the next application cycle. 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 at www.graduatecatalog.ucf.edu/programs/ by just clicking on the individual graduate program and then clicking on “application deadlines.” Both domestic and international deadlines are given. If you need to change your deadline, suspend applications for only a single semester, or make other changes quickly, please contact your designated admissions counselor or Barbara Rodriguez in the College of Graduate Studies at barbara@mail.ucf.edu.
Prospective students must apply online by the stated application deadline for your program. The graduate online application can be found at www.students.graduate.ucf.edu/gradonlineapp/. We strongly encourage you to place a link to the online application on your program's website so prospective students can have easy access to it.
Common mistakes applicants make when completing the application:
- Applicant saves the application pages but does not follow the instructions to submit the application and pay the fee.
Solution: Applicant must go back to the online application with his/her assigned PIN and password and submit the application. - Applicant submits the application but does not pay the required $30 application processing fee. Solution: Applicant can contact our payment line at 407-823-5353 to make a credit card payment.
- Applicant submits an application and fee for the wrong program.
Solution: Applicant must submit a new application and fee for the correct program. Once an application is processed it cannot be changed. - Applicant submits an application and fee for the wrong term.
Solution: Applicant must submit a new application and fee for the correct term. Once an application is processed it cannot be changed. - Applicant applies after the program’s application deadline.
Solution: Applicant should contact the program director to see if the application can be reviewed after the deadline. If approved, the program director should send an email to the appropriate Admissions Counselor so that the application can be processed. - Applicant does not submit supporting documents online as part of the application.
Solution: Applicant should arrange to submit these supporting documents directly to the UCF College of Graduate Studies prior to the program’s application deadline. - Applicant submits supporting documents directly to the program.
Solution: Program director should forward these supporting documents to the UCF College of Graduate Studies as soon as possible. The applicant can also submit these supporting documents directly to the UCF College of Graduate Studies.
Supporting documents (with the exception of transcripts and test scores) must be submitted online and received by the stated application deadline for your program. Transcripts must be official and submitted directly to the UCF College of Graduate Studies. 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 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 so they can experience a smooth application process.
Graduate programs are encouraged to have earlier application deadlines. If you would like to publish an earlier application deadline for your program, please contact our office so that we can update our student website and catalog. Application deadlines can also be extended to the final university deadline if needed. Please contact the designated Admissions Counselor for your college or Barbara Rodriguez at barbara@mail.ucf.edu for these changes.
Reasons why applications/documents may be placed on hold:
- Applicant affirmatively responds to those questions on the application asking about disciplinary and criminal background. The application is placed on hold and forwarded to the Office of Student Conduct (OSC) for further review.
Solution: Applicant should visit the OSC website at www.osc.sdes.ucf.edu/?id=admissionsclearance or contact that office at 407-823-2851 for additional information on the documentation that they may be required to submit. - Applicant submits the application but does not pay the required $30 application processing fee.
Solution: Applicant can contact our payment line at 407-823-5353. - Applicant’s academic credentials cannot be evaluated because his/her transfer work is not clearly indicated on the bachelor’s degree transcript.
Solution: Applicant must submit official transcripts from all institutions attended.
Admissions Committees
Admissions committees should include faculty that represent 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, you will have access to review them in the Graduate Web Information System (G-WIS) and in DocView. Applications should be reviewed soon after they become available in G-WIS. Departments that use committees in the admissions process should schedule meetings regularly in order to review files and make admissions recommendations in a timely manner.The final review of applications is the responsibility of the program director and only the program director is authorized to sign off on admissions recommendations submitted to the College of Graduate Studies.
- Graduate Web Information System (G-WIS)
G-WIS is an interactive way to review graduate applicant information and to enter admissions recommendations. G-WIS provides real-time summary information of all of your applicants for current and future terms. You can review your applicants’ information, request transcript evaluations, and make admissions decisions. You can also view historical data for your program in read-only format. The College of Graduate Studies will review the recommendations and send out admissions letters to the applicants.
- DocView
You can view images of your applicants’ supporting documents in DocView. DocView is a view-only application that allows you to view these images but not modify them.
- 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. Use GradInfo to access G-WIS and DocView. You can also access admissions statistic reports for your program and forms and files pertinent to graduate admissions.
It is important for departments to communicate with applicants throughout the application process. Tracking your applicants’ progress throughout the application process and communicating with them is a good way of building relationships with them. Applicants will be more likely to enroll (if admitted to your program) if they feel they have received good customer service from your department and the university. Communicating through e-mail is the most efficient way to disseminate information to your applicants. E-mails should be sent out when applications are first reviewed informing applicants of any missing documents and deadlines. Also, e-mails should be sent out as applications are complete giving applicants a time-frame of when they should expect an admissions decision. You can also consider holding online open houses or chats for your applicants to answer questions about your program and/or guide them through the application process. To schedule an online open house or chat, please contact the Office of Graduate Admissions.
Questions from applicants about your program or their application status will be responded to in a timely manner. The College of Graduate Studies will send letters of admission and denial to students via e-mail. A date indicator will be posted in the student’s record in G-WIS so that programs can see when the letter was sent out.
Making Admissions Recommendations
Admissions recommendations should be entered in G-WIS right after the applications are reviewed by the faculty member or committee and no later than the decision 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.
An important consideration when making admissions recommendations is how many students to admit. The College of Graduate Studies publishes your historical yield (admits to enrollees) at the GradInfo website and it is important to make as many admissions recommendations of highly qualified students as necessary to maintain your enrollment targets, as determined on your GEM worksheets submitted in early Fall. Please arrange a meeting with your college associate dean responsible for graduate education to ensure that your admissions recommendations and plans for financial offers are in line with your GEM worksheets as well as the goals and strategic plan of your academic college. Please consult your worksheets before you make admissions recommendations to ensure that you remember what your goals are for enrollment. It is also important to ensure that funds are available to provide appropriate financial support to those you enroll.
Typically the graduate program enters the admissions recommendations in G-WIS and then the College of Graduate Studies reviews it. Decisions are made by the UCF College of Graduate Studies and an automated admissions letter is sent to the applicant. Programs should not send admissions letters to students, although 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 recommendations can be made in one of the following categories:
- REGULAR status
All applicants that are admitted in regular status must meet the minimum university admission requirements.The minimum university admissions requirements can be found in the Graduate Catalog at www.graduatecatalog.ucf.edu/content/Admissions.aspx.
- CONDITIONAL status
A student who meets the minimum university requirements for regular admission but has not submitted all required documents may be admitted conditionally upon recommendation of the program director to which admission is sought and the College of Graduate Studies. Conditions must be met by mid-term of the first semester or the student 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. Students may be denied admission to regular graduate status if the restrictions are not met.
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
A student who does not fulfill the minimum university requirements for regular admission may be admitted provisionally upon recommendation of the program director to which admission is sought and the College of Graduate Studies.
Provisional students may be admitted to regular status following satisfactory completion of nine semester hours, in the graduate program and upon recommendation by the program director and Vice Provost and Dean of the College of Graduate Studies.
- RESTRICTED/CONDITIONAL status
Even though minimum university admission requirements are met, a program may attach restrictions to the admission of an applicant, such as higher GPA requirements, completing a standardized test, completing certain prerequisite courses, maintaining a certain GPA in the first few hours of a graduate program, etc. Students may be denied admission to regular graduate status if the restrictions are not met.
The student also has not submitted all required documents for admission. All required documents for admission must be submitted by mid-term of the first semester or the student will be prevented from registering for future semester classes.
- PROVISIONAL/RESTRICTED status
A student who does not fulfill the minimum university admission requirements for regular admission (as listed above) and has not met the graduate program’s specific requirements may be admitted in provisional/restricted status upon recommendation of the program director to which admission is sought and the College of Graduate Studies. A graduate program may attach restrictions to the admission of an applicant, such as higher GPA requirements, completing a standardized test, completing certain prerequisite courses, maintaining a certain GPA in the first few hours of a graduate program, etc.
Provisional/restricted students may be admitted to regular status following satisfactory completion of nine semester hours, in the graduate program and upon recommendation by the program director and Vice Provost and Dean of the College of Graduate Studies AND satisfactory completion of the graduate program’s restrictions. Students may be denied admission to regular graduate status if the graduate program’s restrictions are not met.
- PROVISIONAL/CONDITIONAL status
A student who does not fulfill the minimum university admission requirements for regular admission (as listed above) and has not submitted all required documents for admission may be admitted in provisional/conditional status upon recommendation of the program director to which admission is sought and the College of Graduate Studies.
Provisional/conditional students may be admitted to regular status following satisfactory completion of nine semester hours, in the graduate program and upon recommendation by the program director and Vice Provost and Dean of the College of Graduate Studies AND the submission of all required documents for admission. All required documents for admission must be submitted by mid-term of the first semester or the student will be prevented from registering for future semester classes.
For students being admitted in restricted status, it is imperative that the program follow up with the student to ensure that the restrictions are clearly written. For additional information on these admissions categories, please visit the Graduate Catalog at www.graduatecatalog.ucf.edu/content/Admissions.aspx.
Notifying Applicants of Admissions Decisions
Graduate programs should never make admission offers until to students directly. Also, applicants should never be given their admissions decision verbally. If the need arises, only program directors should be the ones giving applicants information about their decision over the phone. Information about the admissions decision and whether an automated letter has been sent to a student informing them of the admissions decision is available in G-WIS for each student. It is best for Program Directors to not go into the exact reason why an applicant was denied, but to instead discuss the capabilities of the applicant pool as a whole, such as “the average GPA of our entering students was 3.x.”
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.
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.
International Admissions
For specific information about visa issues and other information once an admissions decision has been made, please see the section on International Services. International applicants are admissible to master's and doctoral degree programs only. International applicants seeking an F or J visa cannot be admitted as nondegree-seeking. They also cannot be admitted to certificate programs unless they have been previously admitted to a degree program.
International applicants have additional requirements and must follow earlier deadlines due to the amount of time it takes to process their immigration paperwork in order for them to be able to obtain a student visa. International students who cannot prove that they are from a country where English is the only official language or establish that their previous bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree was earned from a country where English is the official language or that the university where they earned their previous degree used English as the official language of instruction, must submit a qualifying score on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or a score on the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) to prove their English proficiency. For all doctoral and master's applicants to programs that require the GRE, the applicants must also submit official transcripts to be evaluated by our college. The College of Graduate Studies employs two International Credential Evaluators that review the academic credentials of applicants (excluding applicants to master's programs in the College of Business Administration and Rosen College of Hospitality Management) that receive their undergraduate degree at a college or university outside of the United States. They conduct a complete assessment of all required credential documents (official transcript(s) and official certification of degree) submitted by the applicant, including the record of all academic course work.
Once the online applications for international applicants are received and processed by your designated College of Graduate Studies Admissions Counselor, you will have access to review them in the Graduate Web Information System (G-WIS), DocView and the PeopleSoft UCF Graduate Summary page. These applications will be assigned both a checklist of required application documents and a checklist of required visa documents. The International Services Center handles the visa documents checklist for each international applicant. They update these documents as they are received and will send each program a list of outstanding documents for their applicants.
International applicants face additional challenges and need sufficient time to obtain appointments to receive their visa. Therefore, it is extremely important for Program Directors to make admissions recommendations for these applicants as soon as their files are completed and no later than to the international decision deadline for the term.
Please refer to the International Services chapter of this guide for additional information about international admissions.
International Transcript Evaluations
The College of Graduate Studies offers transcript evaluations at no cost that provid U.S. degree equivalence of foreign education, for all international applicants to our doctoral and master's programs that require the GRE (excluding those applicants to master's programs located in the College of Business Administration and the Rosen College of Hospitality Management).
For master’s programs that do not require a GRE, a course-by-course evaluation is required from an evaluation service. If a more in-depth analysis of the applicant's transcript is needed or for a course-by-course evaluation, applicants will need to contact World Education Services, Inc. (WES) or Josef Silny.
Graduate programs should prioritize requests for evaluations. Prioritizing the best applicants will help with the fellowship nominations process and the admissions decisions. Transcript evaluations can be requested by individual academic programs based on a priority system, through G-WIS. Those requests will be made by selecting from options given in an interactive, drop-down menu found on the new “Priority Evaluation” column located on each academic program’s applicant list of G-WIS.
Detailed instructions on how to request a transcript evaluation (for doctoral programs, master’s programs that require a GRE, and fellowship nominees) are available and an explanation of the priority system.
Generally, the peak time for transcript evaluations happens between the months of October and March, in conjunction with International application deadlines, for upcoming fall semesters. It is important to follow the deadlines within this timeline when requesting evaluations. Doctoral fellowships are awarded through a committee starting in January, therefore, it is important to submit requests as soon as possible so transcript evaluations can be done for the best applicants prior to this time.
The transcript evaluation area strives to have as efficient a process as possible in providing information quickly to graduate programs for their review, as well as making the applicant's experience as smooth and easy as can be expected.
Please see the International Services section for more information on International Admissions, particularly with regard to visas and other concerns of international applicants.
Admissions to Graduate Certificate Programs
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 (www.students.graduate.ucf.edu/gradonlineapp/) as soon as possible, preferably as soon as they begin taking the required courses. Students who do not submit an application and gain admittance to the graduate certificate program will not be processed for graduate certificate completion.
Students often do not know that they need to be admitted to the program and often do not know that they have to complete a certificate completion form to receive their certificate. This is the most common reason for students telling you that they have not received their certificate from the university after finishing all of their courses.
The student must be admitted to graduate certificate status using the same process for admission to graduate degree programs. Students who are pursuing a graduate degree program will not have their graduate status changed in the current student database, but this additional certificate program will be entered into PeopleSoft. (If you have questions, please direct them to the College of Graduate Studies Admissions Counselor who serves your college.) This will enable us to obtain an accurate count of the students who are in each graduate certificate program. (The number of students who have been applied, been admitted, enrolled, and completed certificates is part of the annual report produced by the Graduate Council Policy Committee.)
All prospective students interested in earning a graduate certificate, including current UCF nondegree, masters, specialist, or doctoral students, must complete an online application for admission that designates the graduate certificate. Students who do not submit an application and gain admittance to the graduate certificate program will not be processed for graduate certificate completion.
Students often do not know that they need to be admitted to the graduate certificate program and often do not know that they have to complete a certificate completion form to receive their certificate. This is the most common reason for students not receiving their certificate from the university after finishing all of their courses.
The student must be admitted to graduate certificate status using the same process for admission to graduate degree programs. Students who are pursuing a graduate degree program will not have their graduate status changed in the current student database, but this additional certificate program will be entered into PeopleSoft. (If you have questions, please direct them to the College of Graduate Studies Admissions Counselor who serves your college.) This will enable us to obtain an accurate count of the students who are in each graduate certificate program. (The number of students who have applied, been admitted, enrolled, and completed certificates is part of the annual report produced by the Graduate Council Policy Committee.)
Appeals of Admissions Decision
In many cases, an appeal can be avoided by simply stating the admissions criteria that are used in addition to university minimums; these criteria should be carefully listed and described in the Graduate Catalog, as well as other graduate program and university publications. Programs should never deny an admission based on criteria that are not stated in the Graduate Catalog. A statement in the Graduate Catalog, saying that your program is a limited-enrollment program for which many apply but only a few will be selected, is often helpful in avoiding problems.
The College of Graduate Studies notifies applicants that are denied. Applicants denied admission, who meet the minimum university admission requirements to graduate status but who 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 (7)).
Students can appeal an admission denial based on the assertion that a disability (blindness, deafness, or other disability) was not taken into account during the admission process. It is important to examine all documentation supplied by the applicant and to consider the disability in the decision. Students should not be rejected from a program because of a disability, unless that disability would affect their ability to function as a student in the program or as a professional in that discipline upon graduation. For instance, if hearing the speech patterns of a patient in treatment is important to Communicative Disorders students, then deafness would be a debilitating disability. In instances such as these, the Graduate Catalog must clearly state that criteria for admission will depend on the program's judgment concerning the ability of the student to be a professional in that discipline.
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 appeal process begins when an applicant completes a Graduate Petition Form (ADV-Graduate Petition Form at http://www.admin.graduate.ucf.edu/formsnfiles/ )and gives it to the program director. At this point, the program director should explain the entire appeal process to the applicant along with their rights during this process. The program director may ask the department or graduate program committee to examine the necessary information and recommend a response to the appeal. If feasible, it is often best for the prospective student to be invited before the graduate program committee to make an oral appeal. In many situations, if applicants feel that their complete situation has been heard and understood, then further appeals are unlikely, even if the appeal is denied at the program level.
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 Provost and Dean of the UCF College of Graduate Studies indicating the desire to appeal further and the reasons why an appeal is sought. When applicants inform the UCF College of Graduate Studies that they wish to further appeal a denial of admission into a master's or doctoral program, the College of Graduate Studies investigates the situation.
The Vice Provost and Dean of the UCF College of Graduate Studies may ask the Graduate Council to examine the necessary information and recommend a response to the appeal. The UCF College of Graduate Studies and Graduate Council Appeals Subcommittee do not normally assess the academic judgment of an admissions decision, which is the province of the graduate program. The UCF College of Graduate Studies does investigate admission appeals to ensure that the admission process has been conducted fairly. The UCF 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 Provost and Dean of the UCF College of Graduate Studies is final.
| Schedule | Task | Information Resources |
| Daily or Weekly | Review list of applicants in G-WIS | Graduate Web Information System (G-WIS) — in GradInfo » Admissions » G-WISv2 |
| Daily or Weekly | Review applicants' documents in DocView | DocView — in GradInfo » Other » DocView |
| Daily or Weekly | Communicate with applicants who have incomplete files | |
| Daily or Weekly | Communicate with applicants who may need to set up interviews if your program requires one | |
| Daily or Weekly | Make admission recommendations in G-WIS for applicants who have complete files or enough information on which to base a decision (preferably two weeks after the application is processed). There will be an indicator in G-WIS when the Graduate College has sent the admissions offer and you may see a copy of the letter in DocView. | Graduate Web Information System (G-WIS) — in GradInfo » Admissions » G-WISv2 |
| Daily or Weekly | Identify strong applicants and nominate them to the colleges to be considered for fellowship awards. The university begins to award fellowships in late January. (Please refer to the Student Finances chapter of this guide for additional information about university-wide fellowships.) | |
| Daily or Weekly | Send letters to applicants, particularly those admitted with restrictions, after the decisions/letters are approved in G-WIS by the College of Graduate Studies. Letters should be sent to applicants via mail or e-mail. | Graduate Web Information System (G-WIS) — in GradInfo » Admissions » G-WISv2 |
Application/Decision Deadlines
Link to Application/Decision Deadlines – 2009-10 (PDF)
Should you need to change a program admission deadline, please contact your designated admissions counselor or Barbara Rodriguez at barbara@mail.ucf.edu.
Temporarily Suspending Applications to a Graduate Program
Sometimes a program needs to temporarily suspend applications to its graduate program, mostly because it is revising the curriculum. This should not be done without first consulting the College of Graduate Studies. Suspending applications for a single term is possible, with a short note placed in the Graduate Catalog stating the suspension. However a conversation needs to take place with the Graduate College about what will happen to current applicants to the program and current students enrolled in the program.
For suspensions longer than one semester, a proposal is required stating the rationale for the suspension and it will be forwarded to the Graduate Council Curriculum Committee for its review. For more information on this, please see the Suspending and Inactivating (Deleting) Tracks and Programs section of this handbook.
Faculty and Staff 
