What you need to apply to the master’s degree program

Congratulations. You mulled it over and over. The time seems right and you’ve decided to earn a master’s degree. That’s great. Now what? Well, first of all you need to apply for admission to the University of Oklahoma and to the College of Liberal Studies.

OU requires:
1. An application for admission;
2. Master of Arts supplemental application;
3. 300- to-500-word statement of purpose – this is required of everyone;
4. Official transcripts unless you are already an OU graduate.

And yes, if you already have a master’s degree and are applying to work on another, you still need to complete the statement of purpose.

We do accept students conditionally which means you need to maintain a 3.0 grade point average (GPA) on the first 12 hours of letter-graded course work in an online program.

For the Integrated Studies option you must complete the first 15 hours of course work within the first two years, maintaining a 3.0 GPA on any letter-graded course work.

You can submit a current resume and a 1500-word critical analysis of a book, movie, play or presentation and petition for alternate admission if you have a 2.25 to 2.74 GPA on the last 60 hours of undergraduate course work and if has been three years or more since your degree was conferred.

If it has not been three years, you can take an additional 12 hours of post baccalaureate courses at the junior/senior level (those are the courses numbered 4000or 5000) while maintaining a 3.25 GPA, then petition for admission.

When it comes to transferring credit from another master’s degree, if the course work is used to complete another degree it cannot be transferred. However, if it has not been used for another degree and is not more than five years old at the time of admission, the course work will be reviewed for relevancy. Transfer credit will not be evaluated until the student has applied for admission.

We look at each student on a case-by-case basis. A maximum of nine hours can be transferred into the degree program as long as it is not more than five years old and has not been used toward another degree.

This may seem like a lot of “ifs” but these guidelines are based on university policy and our experiences with adult students. How long it takes to be accepted depends on how quickly you get your materials together which, when you think about it, is the beginning step of being a graduate student – success depends on you.