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General Requirements for Master of Arts Degrees

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General Admission Requirements for the M.A. in Linguistics and the M.A. in TESL

Students should consult the Graduate Programs section of the University website for the University requirements and should "meet the professional, personal, scholastic and other standards for graduate study, including qualifying examinations or other screening processes as appropriate campus authorities may prescribe."

Candidates must have a minimum GPA of 2.85 in the last 60 units of their BA work and satisfy the University requirements for Graduate Admission. Students who have GPA’s below 3.0 will be required to take the GRE and achieve at least one score at the 50th percentile or higher; a satisfactory GRE score must be submitted within 18 months of admission. International visa students must have a minimum TOEFL score of 563 (paper and pencil version) or 223 (CBT) or 85 (iBT) or a minimum IELTS score of 7.

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Academic Standards for the M.A. in Linguistics and the M.A. in TESL

Prerequisites: Students must earn a grade of B or higher in all prerequisite courses. Students who earn a grade of B- or lower in a prerequisite course may repeat up to two such courses for grade improvement. Students will be disqualified from the program after receiving a third grade of B- or lower in prerequisite courses.

Required Courses and Electives:

  1. University Regulations:
    Graduate students will be placed on academic probation whenever their GPA falls below 3.0 in all units attempted. To be removed from probation, students must earn sufficient grade points in the following semester of enrollment to raise their GPA to 3.0 or above. Failure to do so will result in disqualification from the university. University regulations allow graduate students to repeat up to 6 units of credit in which a grade of B- or below has been received. (See Graduate Studies section of the catalog.)
  2. Additional Regulations for the M.A. in Linguistics and the M.A. in TESL:
    1. Students will be disqualified from the Linguistics/TESL Department if they do not pass the comprehensive exam on their second attempt.
    2. No grade below B- can be counted in the formal program. Any grade of C+ or lower must be repeated. If the student does not receive a grade of B- or better on the second attempt, the student will be disqualified from the Linguistics/TESL Department. University regulations allow graduate students to repeat only up to 6 units. The repeat grade will appear on the transcript.

Students must request approval to repeat a course using the Course Repeat Request Form from the Graduate Advisor in advance of enrolling in the course.

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