Advancement to Candidacy

Advancement to Candidacy represents the formulation of an official program of study for a master’s degree in the College of Education (CED). It is the process that establishes your catalog rights and forms the basis of your degree audit when you are ready to graduate. After Advancement to Candidacy, students must indicate when they plan to finish their degree by officially applying to graduate with Enrollment Services.

Advancement to candidacy is a prerequisite for applying to graduate, the capstone (either thesis, project, or comprehensive examination), and for enrolling in certain fieldwork courses. Advancement to Candidacy must occur at least one semester prior to the semester in which you will graduate. Your faculty advisor will guide you on your eligibility for Advancement to Candidacy, which typically includes: 

  1. Completing 6 units of program requirements as well as program prerequisites (if applicable), and any other program requirements for advancement to candidacy.
  2. Maintaining a minimum 3.0 cumulative and program grade point average.
  3. Resolving incomplete grades, if applicable.

​Your faculty advisor will guide you on your eligibility for Advancement to Candidacy as well as the process for your program. In some graduate programs, students and faculty complete an advising planner or worksheet which is then forwarded to the CED Graduate Studies Office for processing. In other graduate programs, the program faculty simply notify the CED Graduate Studies Office when a student is ready to Advance to Candidacy. 

Once the CED Graduate Studies Office has processed your Advancement to Candidacy, you will receive an email from ced-gradstudies@csulb.edu, as well as from Enrollment Services. You can also check on MyÉ«ÖÐÉ« in "Academic Requirements Report" to see if your Advancement to Candidacy has been processed. 

Consult with your faculty advisor if you need to change any courses or requirements to your established program plan. If approved, notify the CED Graduate Studies Office by email about changes to your electives or exit requirement and the CED Graduate Studies Office will advise if additional paperwork is needed.

Please reference the for the regulations governing Master's Degrees.