Important - Change to GPS Graduate Certificate Programs

The Division of Graduate Professional Studies currently offers credit-bearing Graduate Certificates that are comprised of courses embedded within our Master’s Degree programs. While we have awarded more than one hundred Graduate Certificates since 1998, applications to Graduate Certificate programs have contracted deeply in recent years. The Division has decided that Graduate Certificate programs will no longer be offered as stand-alone, credentialed programs.  In that context, the Division will not be accepting new applications for admission to Certificate programs.

Although students will no longer be admitted to Graduate Certificate programs, instructors and academic advisers at GPS will continue to support existing students in taking classes towards completion of their programs. Current Graduate Certificate students will continue study in their programs as anticipated when they enrolled.

For undeclared students who have not formally applied for admission to a Graduate Certificate program, but have  intended to do so, we offer the opportunity to apply for the master’s program appropriate to their current area of study, with the added possibility of receiving a Certificate along the way if that is important to them.  Directions for submitting an application can be found at http://www.brandeis.edu/gps/apply/mastersdegree.html. Questions regarding the application process can be directed to Frances Stearns at 781-736-8787.

Over the next several weeks, GPS will carry out a retrospective analysis of our Graduate Certificate programs. Part of the process will include reaching out both to current students and to past students who have earned Graduate Certificates to understand better the extent to which their Certificates have been useful to them in their careers.  As ever, the Division is interested in this feedback, as our program offerings grow and change.