Frequently Asked Questions by COI Graduates

Master’s students in the College of Information are served by our Office of Academic Advising.

Our office can provide general information and resources, review degree and program requirements, explain university procedures and policies, referrals to other UNT offices or services, provide general guidance and recommendations, and help craft and file your degree plan.

Go to https://ci.unt.edu/advising/talk-to-an-advisor.html to find your advisors.

Master’s students may also have a faculty advisor based on your program and specialty. This information is supplied when admitted. You can also contact our office by email if you are unsure.

Faculty advisors are great resources to discuss career and research opportunities and aspirations, course recommendations based on your interests, and advice on networking, professional organizations, and internships.

All COI master’s programs have a time limit of 5 years from your starting semester. Example: If you start your degree in Fall 2024, you will have until Fall 2029 to finish all degree requirements and graduate.

This time limit includes any transfer courses that were approved for your degree plan. The age of your oldest approved transfer courses decides your starting semester. Example: You are admitted for Fall 2024, but transfer a class from your previous university which was take in Fall 2023. Your 5 year time limit would begin Fall 2023, not Fall 2024. You would need to complete all requirements and graduate by Fall 2028.

A part-time graduate student generally is enrolled in 2 classes (6 credit hours) and a full-time graduate student is generally enrolled in 3 classes (9 credit hours).

Master’s degrees in COI are 36-credit hours (12 classes). Each program may have additional requirements outside of coursework, such as: internship, capstones, thesis, or other options. It is important to meet with your academic advisor to review degree requirements.

Degree requirements are subject to change in future catalog updates.

This answer will vary depending on your goals and other life commitments. This table is based upon recommendations by our advising team:

Most forms of financial aid require graduate students to be enrolled in a minimum of 5 credit hours. For the purposes of our programs, this would mean you need to take 2 classes (6 credit hours).

Students with previous graduate degrees might choose to take more classes than what we generally recommend since they have previous experience with graduate level coursework and the time demands of this workload.

No, it is not a requirement that you must take summer classes; however, most COI departments provide several summer options in a variety of terms (3-week, 5-week, 8-week, 10-week).

Summer courses are popular for students who wish to decrease the amount of time working towards their degree or provides a chance to take a course that you may have missed in a previous term.

Currently, the MA in Linguistics programs offers very limited summer course options. Please check with advising for what options that are available and fit within your degree requirements.

Yes. Students can take a semester break from their degree, if necessary.

Students who take longer than 2 consecutive semesters off will enter an inactive status. This requires students to reapply to UNT and repay the $75 application fee.

We advise that students be cognizant of your 5 year time limit and to contact the advising office (via appointment) for assistance or questions-related to degree completion or future course enrollment, as some registration periods may cover multiple terms.

This depends on the course and your overall GPA.

Certain courses within a program, such as a core class, may require at least a B to be made. Therefore, if a C is earned, the class will need to be retaken. If you are unsure which classes might require at least B or higher, please ask your advisor in your next advising session or send us an email.

If the course does not have a B or higher requirement, then a C can be accepted so long as your overall GPA is at least a 3.00 or higher.

Academic Probation occurs when a student’s overall GPA falls below the required 3.00. Anyone on Academic Probation must continue to earn at least a 3.00 GPA or higher in every semester after until their GPA is at or above 3.00 to get back into Good Academic Standing.

If a student on Academic Probation is unable to earn a 3.00 GPA or higher in their consecutive semester, they will be placed on Academic Suspension. Academic Suspension requires students to take one year off from their degree program. Students must reapply to their program in order to return and continue working on their degree.

Please note: Departments do not have an obligation to readmit suspended students.

No. The honors distinctions (cum laude, magna cum laude, and summa cum laude) are used only for undergraduate students.

UNT uses Canvas as its learning management system. All online classes will be hosted through Canvas and can be accessed at unt.instructure.com.

Some face-to-face classes may also use Canvas for quizzes and exams, paper submissions, discussion boards, or other assignments as deemed necessary by the instructor.

Not to worry! Here is an enrollment guide for all your registration needs including adding, dropping, and swapping courses:

https://www.unt.edu/sites/default/files/myunt-enrollmentguide.pdf

Students can utilize the waitlist feature as a placeholder for courses which have no open seats available! To clarify, being on a waitlist does not mean that you will eventually be put in the class.

Here is how the waitlist works: if you are position 53 on a waitlist for a course, that means 53 currently enrolled students must drop the course for you to secure a spot. Keep in mind that being on a waitlist does not guarantee you being in the class. Furthermore, you are only allowed to waitlist 9 credit hours during long semesters (Spring and Fall), and 4 credit hours during the Summer.

Here is a link with further details about the waitlisting process: https://registrar.unt.edu/waitlists

Need help calculating your GPA? No worries, the link below shows you exactly how your GPA is calculated! You can also calculate your upcoming GPA!

https://vpaa.unt.edu/advising/gpa/calculations.html

Each term has important registration dates that students need to know about. Below is a link to the Registrar that has all the important dates highlighted in a curated fashion.

https://registrar.unt.edu/registration-guides-by-semester

If you are an International student on an F-1 Visa, after you have gone through the process of having your internship set up and you are enrolled in the internship class that is approved for your degree program, you will work on submitting paperwork to the UNT International Advising office for CPT. 

You must complete your degree requirements to be eligible for OPT. Once you have met the criteria previously mentioned, refer to the OPT guide with the link below.

https://international.unt.edu/international-students/employment-taxes/optional-practical-training/index.html

If you are unable to arrive in the country/university by the time classes start, you have a small grace period of arrival time. You can fill out a late arrival form with the link below:

https://international.unt.edu/international-students/newly-admitted-international-students/new-student-late-arrival-request.html

However, if you miss the deadline of the grace period, you must defer="" your application. Keep in mind that if you have been already admitted and you update/defer="" the term of entry on your application, your admission will be revaluated. Your application will be reviewed with the current pool of applicants, meaning another admittance for the updated/deferred term cannot be guaranteed.

If you do not intend on being a full-time graduate student (enrolled in 9 credit hours), you must submit a Less Than Full Time Enrollment Request form. The link below leads to the iNorthTX portal, which is where the appropriate form is located.

https://inorthtx.unt.edu/istart/controllers/start/StartEngine.cfm

Our Department Office is open from Monday through Friday at 8AM to 5PM CST, excluding national holidays. If you send any emails/communication after business hours, the staff will be unable to answer them until the next business day at the earliest. Keep in mind that we receive all your emails, so there's no need to send multiple emails about the same request. We are one of the busiest departments, so it takes at least 3-5 business days to respond to your request.

You must submit a graduation application at the beginning of your final semester. You cannot graduate if you have not submitted your graduation application and if you do not have an approved degree plan on file. Below is a link with more information about the graduation application:

https://registrar.unt.edu/apply-graduate

Of course you can! Just to clarify, you can apply for Summer graduation to receive your degree in August. However, there is not a Summer commencement ceremony, so all Summer graduates are invited to participate in the Fall commencement ceremony in December! Below is a link with information regarding graduation. The email below is the best contact regarding questions about the actual graduation ceremony.

https://tgs.unt.edu/new-current-students/graduation-information

commencement@unt.edu

Domestic students that are less than full-time and need an exception for awards, scholarships, TA positions, etc., fall under the Course Load Exception eForm. The CLE requests and issues/questions with them should be directed to 

https://tgs.unt.edu/reduced-course-load-request