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Matriculated graduate status is granted to an applicant who has been accepted into a graduate certificate or degree program and has met all admissions criteria. Note that applicants first receive a provisional acceptance, and conversion to matriculated graduate status is dependent upon receipt of an official transcript for U.S. degrees or transcript evaluation for non-U.S. degrees that confirms that the student holds a baccalaureate or higher degree from a college or university. Instructions and deadlines for meeting this requirement are included on the Transcript Submission Policy web page. 

Provisional graduate status is granted to applicants who have been accepted into a graduate certificate or degree program, but who have NOT yet met all admissions criteria. As described above, one routine requirement for all students is the submission of an official transcript. However, some students must in addition take undergraduate courses or improve English language proficiency to satisfy prerequisites, and these students may be accepted by the program on a provisional basis that is contingent on satisfying those additional prerequisites. Letters of admission should be read carefully to make sure all requirements tied to provisional status are identified. 

Visiting student status allows students to take courses for graduate credit when they have not been admitted into a graduate degree program. These students were previously called “non-matriculated students”. Should this visiting student subsequently matriculate into a certificate or degree program, a maximum of 12 semester hours may be applied to the certificate or degree program. Students are not eligible for tuition or stipend awards allocated by the Graduate College while in visiting graduate status. This policy and other funding policies are further explained in the Financial Support section.