Guidelines to Pursue Graduate Degree and Certificate Simultaneously

Introduction

The Graduate GIS Certificate Program gives highly motivated Geosciences graduate students the opportunity to pursue a graduate degree AND the graduate certificate in a total of 2.5 years or less. With one additional semester beyond the Master degree (including a thesis), students will receive the graduate certificate, making them more marketable in the job market. 

How to Qualify and Apply for the Certificate Program

1. Students must maintain an overall graduate grade point average of 3.0 or better.
2. All certificate seeking graduate students must submit an application to the certificate program. This application is due no later than the term before they intend to graduate (Note: Geology MS students must complete items 3 and 4 below before applying to the certificate program).
3. Up to 8 semester hours of GIS certificate course work may be substituted for the graduate-level geology courses and double-counted toward the Geology Master degree and GIS certificate. For graduate-level Geology course substitutions, the major thesis advisor must provide a letter to the thesis committee and department chair explaining why certain GIS certificate courses (GEOG 6830 Geography Information Systems; GEOG 6820 Aerial Photography and Remote Sensing; GEOG 6880 Advanced GIS; GEOG 6700 Quantitative and Spatial Analysis) are needed for the student to complete the thesis work.
4. Students pursuing both MS degree and certificate must complete their Plan of Study in their first semester in the department. Upon approval by the thesis advisor, committee, and Department Chair, students then apply (via submitting curriculum change form) to the Graduate School.
5. Student must add the graduate certificate curriculum no later than the term before taking the last required course.

For current graduate students, the Graduate School would require a curriculum change form to add the certificate.

1. Curriculum form for domestic student: https://gradforms.auburn.edu/CurriculumChangeDomestic.aspx
2. Curriculum form for International students: https://gradforms.auburn.edu/CurriculumChangeIntl.aspx

For perspective students, formerly apply for the certificate program via Apply Yourself, at this link: http://graduate.auburn.edu/prospective-students/application-instructions/

Financial Support

GTA or GRA support of 21 months are guaranteed for Master candidates with good academic standing. Additional funding may be available for the 2nd year MS students who pursue the GIS certificate.  Students are typically self-funded beyond the 21 months period.  Students with graduate assistantship appointment > 33% full time equivalent is qualified for a Graduate Tuition Fellowship.  The maximum Graduate Tuition Fellowship support for Master students is 33 hours.  Extension of the tuition support from 33 to a maximum of 42 hours would require approvals from COSAM and Graduate School.  Students will be responsible for paying the full tuition if the request for tuition waiver extension is declined.

Graduation

Students must complete all required credit hours for the graduate degree (30 hrs for Geology Master) and for GIS graduate certificate (16-17 hrs).  The maximum number of credit hours of GIS certificate course work that may be double-counted toward the Geology Master degree is 8 hours. The graduate-level Geology course substitutions must be approved by the thesis advisor and Department Chair.  Geology graduate students must complete a directed study or a GIS certificate course project for GIS applications in areas closely related to his/her thesis research.

Graduate students who have taken certificate required courses (equivalent to AU courses) as an undergraduate must take a one-hour direct study (under GIS certificate course instructor) so the undergraduate level course can be counted toward the graduate certificate.

All graduate students (degree or certificate seeking) must submit an application to graduate. This application is due no later than the term before they intend to graduate.

Students log into the graduate application system via the below link, enter their personal information (mailing address, phone number, email address), then click the save and continue tab, which takes them to the degree information page, here they select the major the degree or certificate is in, and select the degree or certificate they are applying to graduate with and the term they intend to graduate, save and submit.

https://web.auburn.edu/gaaap/default.aspx