Majors in Child Learning and Development, Cognitive Science, Neuroscience, Psychology, and Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology
The School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences offers four Accelerated Plans of Study that lead to graduate degrees in:
Applied Cognition and Neuroscience, M.S.
(GR 4.502; 972-883-2358)
Communication Disorders, M.S.
(Callier CA 1.29; 214-905-3060)
Early Childhood Disorders, M.S.
(GR 4.824; 972-883-2588)
Fast-Track students may accelerate completion of a BBS masters program by completing 12 credits of specified graduate coursework during their senior year. Materials about these three graduate programs are available in the respective graduate program offices (see room and phone extensions above). After reading the published materials about the graduate programs, the student should contact the Program Head for the specific program to answer questions about that program. It is important to note that the Fast Track Program is internal to UTD. Graduate courses taken for undergraduate credit will not transfer as graduate hours to any other college or university.
Procedures
To qualify for application, undergraduate students must have completed at least 72 semester credit hours toward their bachelor degree, including at least 18-semester credit hours in major core courses at UTD. Apply to the Fast-Track program through the Program Office of the graduate program you wish to enter. Before completing Fast-Track Program Application material, students are required to meet with the Program Head of the graduate program. Although admission requirements vary across programs, they usually include three letters of recommendation, Graduate Record Exam scores and a statement of purpose. Most students who successfully enter the Fast-Track program have a Major UTD GPA of at least 3.5.
Once accepted into the Fast-Track program, students can take up to 12 hours of graduate course work that will count toward both their bachelors and graduate degrees. These must be courses that are specified and approved by both the undergraduate and graduate programs. Both the Associate Deans and the Graduate Advisor must sign off on a Substitution of Graduate Courses for Undergraduate Requirements form that is available in the Associate Dean Assistant’s office.
Procedurally, the student signs up to take graduate courses for undergraduate credit. These credit hours are counted toward the 120 undergraduate hours needed to graduate. When you register each semester, you will need to fill out a Fast-Track Program Course Registration Form so that the Registrars Office knows that you intended to apply the courses to both your undergraduate and graduate degrees. This form is available in the Associate Dean Assistant’s office. It is important to note that in graduate courses you will be evaluated the same way as graduate students: only grades of B or better are considered “acceptable” and transferable. In other words, if you earn a grade of C or below in a graduate course you will not earn credit from the course toward a graduate degree.
At the time the student officially enrolls as a graduate student, the total number of hours needed to earn the masters is reduced by the number of graduate hours (up to 12) the student earn a grade of B or better in as an undergraduate. The specific course hours are not, however, transferred forward on to the graduate transcript. Rather, the graduate program reduces the total number of hours needed to graduate and gives the student program credit for having completed the courses taken as an undergraduate.
