Graduate programs in education admissions

Checklist for admission
Individuals applying for admission to the graduate programs in education must submit the following materials to the office of adult and graduate education. (Forms below are available in Adobe Acrobat(R) format. If you do not have the Acrobat Reader(R), you can download Adobe Acrobat Reader(R) at no charge.)

  • Completed application
  • A nonrefundable application fee of $25 (waived for Bluffton alumni)
  • Completed responses to three essay questions
  • Official transcripts from all previous college work (transcript request form)
  • Two recommendation forms completed by academic and/or professional references
  • A copy of current teaching license/certificate and/or evidence of teaching experience
  • Praxis I scores in mathematics (172), reading (173) and writing (173) or completion of writing and math assessments

Upon receipt of all of the above information, the materials will be processed, including an evaluation by the graduate studies council, for admission to the graduate program.

The following criteria must be met in order to be fully admitted to the program:

  1. Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution;
  2. A 3.0 grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) in the last half of the bachelor's degree program;
  3. Advising session with GPE director.

Special student status
Special student status may be granted to permit students to take up to nine hours before regular admission if they did not meet the regular admissions criteria initially. Students must demonstrate during the first nine hours an ability to maintain a 3.0 grade point average (4.0 scale) in order to be reconsidered for regular admission.

Special student status may also be granted to non-degree seeking students, as space allows, if they hold a bachelor's degree and have completed the special student status forms and other materials requested as part of the application process. Up to nine hours may be completed under this status.

Transfer credit
Up to six semester hours or nine quarter hours of transfer credit may be applied to the program as long as the credit is for graduate courses, from an accredited institution and approved by the Bluffton University content professor or a designee (core courses) and the program director or designee (elective credit). In accordance with program policy, workshop credits will not be transferable. In addition, in order for work to be accepted it must be completed within five years prior to application.