Continuing Studies Admission

Admission Criteria

General Criteria

Prospective students must have:

• completed 12 or more undergraduate credits from a regionally accredited (e.g., Middle States Association of Colleges) institution or its equivalent.*
• achieved a grade point average (GPA) of at least 2.0 on a 4.0 scale (2.75 GPA for education program) in prior undergraduate credits
• completed three or more years of full-time work experience.

Criteria for teacher education programs:

• Submit an “Application for Admission” to the chair of the education department upon completion of the 200-level courses in education.
• Achieve a cumulative GPA of 2.75 or higher. All courses prefixed EDUC or SPED must be passed with a minimum grade of C. Other courses taken as part of an approved program of study may be subject to this requirement, as determined by the Department of Education.
• Demonstrate communicative competence and professionalism during the admission interview, earning a rubric score of 2.0 or better from the evaluation panel (3-point rubric).
• Achieve a passing score on the admission portfolio (10 out of 15 possible points).
• Meet or surpass Maryland qualifying scores for tests of basic skills [Praxis Core Academic Skills for Educators (pre-professional tests in mathematics, reading and writing), SAT (mathematics and reading), ACT or GRE]. Maryland qualifying scores can be found at https://www.ets.org/praxis/md/requirements . Students are encouraged to meet this requirement in their freshman year. For those taking Praxis Core Academic Skills for Educators, Mount St Mary’s University and MSDE must be identified as score recipients. For those who are exempt from Praxis CORE due to qualifying scores on the SAT/GRE/ACT, a photocopy of the SAT/GRE/ACT official report must be given to the administrative assistant in the Education Department, Second Floor, Archbishop Borders Hall. Please note, students (upon completion of program requirements) will be required to send a photocopy of the SAT/GRE/ACT to MSDE when applying for certification.

* It is required that official transcripts from all other schools be received in the Office of the Registrar by the end of the 8th course (24 credits) completed at Mount St. Mary’s University. Students who fail to submit relevant transcripts from other institutions by the end of the 8th course will be unable to register for further courses.