Coterminal Master’s Degree: Residency

Residency Requirement

Each type of degree offered at Stanford (for example, Bachelor of Arts, Master of Science) has a requirement, called residency for graduate degrees, based on the minimum number of academic units required for the degree. Requirements are described in the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Bachelor of Science (B.S.) and Residency Policy for Graduate Students. It is Stanford University's general policy that units are applicable toward only one degree, that is, units may not normally be duplicated or double-counted toward the residency requirement for more than one degree. Courses counted towards the undergraduate degree(s) and graduate degree(s) are separately recorded on the undergraduate and graduate transcripts, respectively.

Students pursuing coterminal bachelor’s and master’s degrees are expected to meet the minimum requirements for each of the degrees, as follows:

Undergraduate Degrees

• Bachelor's degree: 180 units for the bachelor’s degree 
• Dual undergraduate degree: 225 units for the bachelor’s degree 

Master's Degrees

• 45 units (or higher unit-requirement, as determined by the graduate program)
• All 45 units must be from course work completed at Stanford and must be courses at or above the 100-level. Additionally, at least 50 percent of those must be courses designated primarily for graduate students. Department specifications for the level of course work accepted for a particular master's degree program may be higher than the University's specifications. Students may not petition to change the career for a completed course from the undergraduate to the graduate level.

To a limited extent, coterminal students are permitted to move courses between the undergraduate and graduate careers as described in the Coterminal Course Transfer section on the Enrollment and Degree Progress policy page.