Accelerated MA in Higher Education and Student Development

Catalog Year: 2026-2027

Banner Code: LA-MA-ACEL-HESD

Bachelor's Degree (any)/Higher Education and Student Development, Accelerated MA

Overview

Highly qualified undergraduates may be admitted to the bachelor's/accelerated master's pathway program and obtain a bachelor's degree in a chosen major and an MA in Higher Education and Student Development in an accelerated time-frame after satisfactory completion of a minimum of 141 credits.

See AP.6.7 Bachelor's/Accelerated Master's Degrees for policies related to this program.

Students in an accelerated degree program must fulfill all university requirements for the master's degree. For policies governing all graduate degrees, see AP.6 Graduate Policies.

BAM Pathway Admission Requirements

Applicants to all graduate programs at George Mason University must meet the admission standards and application requirements for graduate study as specified in Graduate Admissions Policies and Bachelor's Accelerated Master's Degree policies. For information specific to this accelerated master's program, see Application Requirements and Process.

Students will be considered for admission into the BAM Pathway after completion of a minimum of 60 credits.

Students who are accepted into the BAM Pathway will be allowed to register for graduate level courses after successful completion of a minimum of 75 undergraduate credits.

Accelerated Master's Admission Requirements

Undergraduate students already admitted to the BAM Pathway will be admitted to the MA program, if they have met the following criteria that will be verified:

• Submission of BAM Transition Form by stated deadline.
• Minimum overall GPA of 3.00 for conferred undergraduate degree (which
  does not include any earned reserve graduate credits).
• Completion of approved advanced standing courses and any reserve graduate courses with the minimum grade requirement of B-.
• Successful completion of required minimum of 120 credits needed for undergraduate degree conferral (after exclusion of any satisfactory reserve graduate credits earned).
• Successfully meeting Mason's requirements for undergraduate degree conferral (graduation) and timely submission of the application for graduation.

Accelerated Pathway Requirements

To maintain the integrity and quality of both the undergraduate and graduate degree programs, undergraduate students interested in taking graduate courses must choose from the following:

Advanced Standing courses
Students must complete at least 3 credits from the following list of graduate-level courses, while in undergraduate status, up to a maximum of 12.

Reserve Graduate Credit courses

Students may complete up to 6 credits, while in undergraduate student status, of graduate-level coursework from the list below that will only count towards the graduate degree program. 

For more detailed information on coursework and timeline requirements, see AP.6.7 Bachelor's/Accelerated Master's Degrees and AP.1.4.4 Graduate Course Enrollment by Undergraduates.