Early Entry

Up to 12 credit hours earned at the graduate level may be “double-counted” toward both the baccalaureate and graduate degrees! Get started next semester…

Exceptional undergraduate students at UNC Charlotte may be accepted into the graduate program and begin work toward a PhD degree in Optical Science and Engineering before completion of the baccalaureate degree. An applicant may be accepted at any time after completion of 75 or more hours of their undergraduate course work, although it is expected that close to 90 hours of undergraduate course work will have been earned by the time the first graduate course is taken. These students will have provisional acceptance status, pending the award of the baccalaureate degree.

To be accepted for Early-Entry, the student must complete an application for admission and be accepted into the program. In addition, the student must complete an Early-Entry Program Form and have it approved by the program coordinator and the Graduate School. The Early-Entry Program Form must be approved by the Graduate School before the student begins the early-entry graduate course work. Failure to obtain prior Graduate School approval negates the ability to “double-count” courses in an accelerated early-entry program.

An undergraduate student must have at least a 3.0 overall GPA and have taken the appropriate graduate standardized test and have earned an acceptable score. If an Early-Entry student has not met the normal admission requirements of a 3.0 GPA at the end of his/her baccalaureate degree, she/he will be dismissed from the graduate program. Students accepted into an Early-Entry program will be subject to the same policies that pertain to other matriculated graduate students. Generally, it will be assumed that Early-Entry students will finish their baccalaureate degrees before they complete 15 hours of graduate work. No courses taken before admission to the graduate program may be applied to a graduate degree.

Please visit the Graduate School’s Early Entry to Graduate Programs website for more information.