Advancement to Candidacy & Culminating Experience

It is the policy of the University, the Graduate Division, and the Department of Special Education  to have students submit their Advancement to Candidacy (ATC) and Proposal for Culminating Experience (PCE) the semester prior to undertaking their culminating experience. The ATC is essentially a course roadmap on how students complete their 30 units for the M.A. degree. The PCE indicates how students intend to complete the degree through a thesis, field-study, creative work project, or comprehensive exam. This process is completed in advance in order for the Graduate Division to evaluate student graduation applications and to ascertain that students have met all the coursework requirements, as well as successfully completed the Culminating Experience.

A brief description is provided below for the ATC & PCE Forms:

The Advancement to Candidacy (ATC)

The ATC form must be submitted through DocuSign to Graduate Studies after completion of 18 units toward the degree and no later than the semester prior to beginning the Culminating Experience. The Advancement to Candidacy (ATC) form must be approved by the graduate major advisor and the graduate coordinator/department chair. On approval of the ATC, the student is advanced to candidacy or classified status.

Proposal for Culminating Experience Requirements (PCE)

Students must file a Proposal for Culminating Experience must be submitted through DocuSign to Graduate Studies. This form must be submitted subsequent to or simultaneous with the ATC. Students are not permitted to enroll in a Culminating Experience course (SPED 894, 895, 896, 898) until both of these forms have been approved by Graduate Studies.