Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

To complete your Plan of Study you will need to contact your advisor.  If you have not chosen an advisor yet, please contact the Graduate Program Director for your department.  A list of departments and program directors is below.

• Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering: Dr. Jihua “Jan” Gou
• Biomedical Engineering: Dr. Jihua “Jan” Gou
• Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering: Dr. Andrew Randall
• Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dr. Mingjie Lin
• Computer Science: Dr. Wei Zhang
• Computer Vision: Dr. Niels Da Vitoria Lobo
• Cyber Security and Privacy: Dr. Cliff Zou
• Data Analytics: Dr. Ivan Garibay
• Digital Forensics: Dr. Cliff Zou
• Industrial and Systems Engineering: Dr. Mansooreh Mollaghasemi
• Materials Science and Engineering: Dr. Jiyu Fang
• Modeling and Simulation: Ms. Tonya Walker
• Travel Technology and Analytics: Dr. Naveen Eluru

In order to participate in the upcoming commencement ceremony, you will have to fill out a walk only intent.  You have 3 semesters from the time you graduate, i.e., if you graduated Spring 2023, you must participate in a walk only commencement by Spring 2024.

Once you have filled out the form, please send it to cecsgrad@ucf.edu for processing.

Please see the Non-Degree Seeking Students page for information regarding this option.  All programs are different when it comes to help with boosting your GPA.  Please speak with the department of interest directly and they will provide you the information needed.

For information on general UCF graduate admissions requirements that apply to all prospective students, please visit the Admissions and Registration section of the Graduate Catalog. Applicants must apply online. Please be sure to submit all requested material by the established deadline(s).

For application requirements for any CECS graduate program, please visit our applying page on our website.

The university application deadlines for most UCF graduate programs are as follows:

Fall:  July 1

Spring:  December 1

Summer: April 1

Most graduate programs have earlier deadlines.  Please visit for https://graduate.ucf.edu/application-deadlines-and-requirements/ complete deadline information.

For application requirements for international students, please visit The College of Graduate Studies page for an in-depth list of requirements and how to submit them.

Please contact the College of Graduate Studies at gradevals@ucf.edu for information on submitting official transcripts.

Generally, students fall under one of these two visa classifications: an F-1 student visa or a J-1 exchange visitor visa. For more information on which visa classification is right for you, please visit the UCF Global website.

All applicants for graduate study at the University of Central Florida must hold a U.S. bachelor’s degree, or its equivalent, from a regionally accredited or governmentally recognized institution of higher learning. This is a minimum requirement for admission to a graduate program at UCF.

The minimum UCF Requirement for TOEFL/IELTS are:

TOEFL iBT score of 80

IELTS band score of 6.5

Please note, some programs may require higher TOEFL or IELTS scores.

For a further in-depth list of admissions requirements, please go to our Degrees and Certificate Programs page.

International students are eligible for graduate assistantships and certain university fellowships.

International students with fellowships must complete additional paperwork with the UCF Global. Deferments for tuition and fellowship awards will be placed on the student’s account, but payment cannot occur until all required paperwork is completed and the valid Social Security Number (SSN) has been provided to the Registrar’s Office.

Review the Financial Information section of the current Graduate Catalog for additional information.

For information regarding deadlines, please see the UCF Academic Calendar or the CECS Office of Graduate Affairs website.

If you receive an email from cecsgradregistration@ucf.edu, this is because there is an issue with your registration.  Please read the email as there is very important information therein that will prevent the Office of Graduate Affairs from registering you for the requested classes.

UCF CECS Registration Agreement Dynamic Form – This form is a dynamic form for CECS Special Registration Agreement.  This form is needed for graduate students to register for any Variable Credit Hour Course in our college (XXX 6908, XXX 6918, XXX 6946, XXX 7919, or XXX 7980).

UCF CECS Graduate Override Dynamic Form: The Graduate Override form is only for access to a class where a prerequisite is required, 0V91 section of courses AFTER APPROVAL FROM COVE, or for IDS 6999.

If you are a SACM or Fullbright student, please use this Override Dynamic Form to register for Section 002 courses ONLY.

To fill out the dynamic forms, you will need to click one of the links to the form which you would like to fill out.  Enter your NID and password for your NID.  Then you will simply provide all the required information and submit the document.  Once you do so, it will automatically be directed to the instructor you chose on the form.  There is no need to contact anyone or send a copy of the form to anyone as this is done automatically.  You will receive an email from cecsgradregistration@ucf.edu if there are any issues or to let you know that the form has been processed.  Please make sure to always check that the information on your class list is correct.  If you have any questions or issues, please email us at cecsgradregistration@ucf.edu.

A graduate assistantship is an appointment that offers opportunities for students to engage in research, teaching, and other projects during their graduate study. Both half- and full-stipend assistantships are available. Half-stipend assistantships require students to perform assistantship assignments for a minimum of 10 hours per week during the period of the assignment. Full-stipend assistantships require students to perform assistantship assignments for a minimum of 20 hours per week during the period of the assignment.

You must be accepted as a graduate student in a degree program and be enrolled full-time to qualify for a graduate assistantship. Graduate students enrolled in fully online programs that exempt them from paying campus-based fees are not eligible for university assistantships offered through the College of Graduate Studies.

You should contact your Graduate Program Director for application guidelines.

Students must be accepted as a graduate student in a degree program and enrolled full-time to be eligible for university fellowships or assistantships. Nondegree-seeking students, students who are only admitted to a graduate certificate program, and students enrolled in fully online programs that exempt them from paying campus-based fees are ineligible for UCF fellowships.

UCF offers fellowships for doctoral and master’s students, international and domestic students, underrepresented students, and newly admitted students. For a complete listing of our fellowships, please visit the Fellowships section of our website at https://graduate.ucf.edu/fellowships/. Additional information is available in the External Funding as well.

If you are selected as a fellowship recipient, you will be notified by the College of Graduate Studies by email. Offers will be sent to your Knights e-mail account (if it is established). If you do not have a Knights email account, the offer will be sent to the preferred email address on record with UCF. Please make sure that your email, telephone number, and mailing address are current in myUCF.

The GPS (degree audit) is an advising tool for students and advisors to track progress toward the degree or certificate completion.

You can access your GPS (degree audit) by logging into the myUCF portal, navigating to the Student Center, and choosing Degree Audit from the drop-down box under Academics.  For more information on accessing your degree audit visit https://graduate.ucf.edu/graduate-plan-of-study/.

A Program of Study is a listing of coursework agreed to by you and your program advisor. A Program of Study form can be obtained from your graduate program director.

Each graduate student must file a Program of Study within their first semester at UCF.  This is especially important if you are bringing in transfer credits as they will only be considered in that first semester. If you miss the deadline for transfer credits, you will need to petition the use of these courses by filling a Graduate Petition.  On the petition you will choose other as the code and the description will be requesting use of transfer work.  This will need to go to the Graduate Appeals Committee. There is a possibility that you will not be able to transfer your work, so please make sure to file your Plan of Study before the end of your first term.

If you do not submit a Plan of Study (POS) by the designated deadline, you will receive a registration hold that will prevent you from registering for classes. If you miss the deadline for transfer credits, you will need to petition the use of these courses by filling a Graduate Petition.  On the petition you will choose other as the code and the description will be requesting use of transfer work.  This will need to go to the Graduate Appeals Committee. There is a possibility that you will not be able to transfer your work, so please make sure to file your Plan of Study before the end of your first term.

Yes, even though a “to do” item will appear on your myUCF record, it will not prevent registration. However, if you do not submit the Program of Study in the time frame outlined above a Registration HOLD will be placed on your account. It is best to work with your College/Program adviser to submit your POS as soon as possible to prevent registration delays.

The degree audit is an advising tool for students and advisors to track progress toward the degree or certificate completion. You can access your degree audit by logging into the myUCF portal and navigating to the Student Center and choosing Degree Audit from the drop-down box under Academics.  For more information on accessing your degree audit visit the https://graduate.ucf.edu/graduate-plan-of-study/.

When unusual situations arise, petitions for exceptions to policy may be requested by the student. Depending on the type of appeal, the student should contact his/her program adviser to start the process. The petition process should start early, as soon as the problem is identified, and should always be filed using a Graduate Petition Form. Please refer to Academic Grievance Procedure and Petitions of Graduate Requirements Procedures in the Graduate Catalog for details. The Petition Form is available in the Forms and References section of the website.

Students can miss 2 consecutive semesters without being administratively discontinued from their program.

If you plan on missing more than 2 semesters, you will need to submit a Special Leave of Absence request.

If do you not submit the Special Leave of Absence and are administratively discontinued from the program, you will have to reapply for admission.

The associated university policy is available here.

Satisfactory Progress means all course work should be a B or better for use. However, after admitted, you can earn two C graded courses and remain eligible for graduation provided that your Graduate Status and Overall GPAs are a 3.000.  Your C graded course work cannot be transfer course work.

If you earn a 2.999 Graduate Status GPA, you have an additional 18 hours to increase your GPA to a 3.000 or you will be dismissed from your graduate program.  You must create a Probation Plan with your Graduate Program Director.

If dismissed, you must either sit out for a calendar year and then reapply to the same program or be accepted to another graduate program.

• Log in to your myUCF Portal and select Student Self Service.
• In the Hold box on the right, select Details to view Holds.
• Select the Hold from the Hold Item column to view hold details.
• Review details for Reason, Contact Information, and Instructions to resolve hold. Return to Advising Guides and Documents.
• Only the office that places the hold can remove or postdate it.
• A more detailed description can be found here: https://academicsuccess.ucf.edu/ssa/holds/

For you to pass successfully into candidacy, you will need to complete the following steps:

• Have less than 6 credit hours of formal coursework remaining;
• Filled your initial POS;
• Formed your dissertation committee;
• Have completed their qualifying exam, and;
• Have completed all the workshops requirements.  

If any of these are not met, you cannot enter candidacy.  If you have any questions regarding these steps, please speak with your advisor.  If you have questions regarding the workshops, please email gradworkshops@ucf.edu