Transferring courses from a UT master’s degree
C&I GSC policy on transferring courses from a UT master’s to the PhD:
Students continuing from a C&I Master’s program to a C&I doctoral program can request transfer, within the first year of doctoral enrollment, of up to 12 hours of coursework (usually 4 courses) that they have taken as a C&I Master’s student, with approval of their Program Area Advisor. These courses must fulfill a specific doctoral-level course requirement anywhere on the doctoral Program of Work and, if approved, will fulfill credits toward the doctoral degree.
Step 1: Meeting with your Course Advisor (optional)
Set up a meeting and consult with your Course Advisor before you begin the submission process. You may talk through the courses you would like to transfer and select ones that best fit you and the program requirements.
Step 2: Meeting with your Program Area Advisor
Set up a meeting and consult with your Program Area Advisor before you begin the submission process. (If you aren’t sure which faculty member is serving in that capacity, please see here for a list of Program Area Advisors for the current academic year: https://wikis.utexas.edu/display/CGSR/Doctoral+Checklist). Note the Program Area Advisor may not be the same person as your course advisor. You may invite your Course Advisor from Step 1 if you would like and if faculty have availability. In your conversation, decide on which courses are most appropriate to request for use on your PhD Program of Work (POW).
Step 3: DocuSign Submission
Fill out the DocuSign PowerForm.
The DocuSign PowerForm will require you to have the following information:
- List of courses to be transferred, with Program Area Advisor’s oral approval
- Course names, abbreviations (e.g., EDC, EDP), and number (e.g., 386)
- Date course was taken
- The section of your doctoral program (e.g., Core, Research Methods, Specialization etc.) into which the courses you have taken and you are transferring will “count”
- Your email
- Your Program Area Advisor’s email
Be sure you have all required materials before beginning the form. Stopping before reaching the end of the form will create abandoned documents in the DocuSign system. Abandoned forms cannot be accessed again and you will have to start over.
Please abbreviate course titles and/or course abbreviations and numbers as necessary to fit the allotted spaces.
Click the link below to begin the DocuSign submission process.
DocuSign Request for Master’s to PhD Course Transfer PowerForm Link: http://links.utexas.edu/cblskub
Step 4: Post-submission & Approvals
DocuSign will automatically forward the form to your Graduate Coordinator. They will have an opportunity to ensure that the information was submitted correctly. The form will then be sent to your Program Area Advisor for their eSignature. Program Area Advisors will receive an email from the Graduate Coordinator "via DocuSign" (dse@docusign.net) confirming your request to transfer courses. Your Program Area Adviser will not approve your DocuSign request without a prior conversation (see Step 1). The GSC (Graduate Studies Committee) Chair will be the last one to eSign. The GSC chair will give the final approval to all master’s to PhD course transfer requests.
You will receive an email from DocuSign when the signing process is complete. Click the View Completed Document link in that email. We recommend you keep a copy of the form for your records. You can either print or save a PDF copy.
The Graduate Coordinator will also retain a copy of the completed form to verify that these courses were approved for transfer when you have completed your coursework and submit the POW form prior to taking your Qualifying Exams.
Contact the Graduate Coordinator if you have any questions about or problems with this DocuSign process.
