beginning of the final regular registration period should contact the Director of Graduate Studies for clarification. Attendance in the Master of Science in Aquaculture/Aquatic Science Program at Kentucky State University is not a right; it is a privilege which the University can withdraw as deemed necessary in order to safeguard the University's standards.
Regular Admission: Applicants who meet the requirements for admission to the graduate program are eligible for unconditional admission. General requirements for unconditional admission are:
A baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution;
An overall undergraduate grade-point-average of 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale);
A GRE minimum combined score of 300 (Verbal + Quantitative);
Significant work experience in the field, or satisfactory completion of certain graduate courses, may be given consideration for students with lower than threshold scores in 1. B. and/or 1. C.
Provisional Admission: An applicant unable to supply all of the required application materials prior to admission consideration, but whom otherwise meets the admission requirements, may be granted provisional admission. Complete and satisfactory credentials must be received by the Aquaculture Graduate Student Coordinator before the end of the semester in which the student has registered in a provisional status. A student normally will not be permitted to enroll with a provisional status for more than one semester. Provisional admission does not guarantee, in any way, subsequent unconditional admission.
Probationary Admission: An applicant who does not meet conditions B and/or C of the admission requirements for unconditional admission, but does show promise for successful graduate studies may be granted probationary admission. Students must be removed from probationary admission prior to registering in any graduate coursework beyond an initial 12 semester credit hours. The minimum condition for transfer from probationary admission status to unconditional admission status is the successful completion of at least nine semester credit hours of graduate coursework in the School of Aquaculture at Kentucky State University while maintaining a graduate grade-point-average of at least 3.0 and with no more than one grade (regardless of the number of course credit hours) of C or lower. The student will be informed of all conditions for consideration for unconditional admission at the time the student is granted probationary admission status. A student admitted under the probationary admission status should not attempt any graduate coursework graded pass/fail. International students will not be admitted on a probationary admission basis.
Non-Degree Admission: An individual wishing to take graduate aquaculture courses for personal or professional development, but who does not plan to pursue a graduate degree, may be admitted as a non-degree student. A non-degree student must hold a baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution.
Visiting Student Admission: Because of the uniqueness of the aquaculture program, Kentucky State University is attractive to many students who have been previously admitted to other accredited graduate programs. In order for a visiting student to be officially enrolled for graduate credit at Kentucky State University, the student must file an application form and submit an official Visiting Student Form.
During the first semester at KSU the student will be assigned an advisor who will work with the student to design a course of study based on the student's academic background, experience, and future aspirations in terms of employment or further graduate study. By the first month of the second semester the advisor and adviser will agree on, and document, whether the student will pursue the thesis option or non-thesis option in the program. The student and advisor will then agree on the makeup of the student's graduate committee. The committee will consist of three voting members which will be members of the division's graduate faculty. Additional committee members, from within or outside of the division, can participate but will not vote. The committee will be responsible for establishing the courses required for this student's course of study.
To successfully complete the thesis option, 29 hours of coursework and six hours of Thesis Credit (three hours of thesis data collection and three hours for thesis writing) are required (total of 35 credit hours needed). Some of the courses can be taken as distance learning (interactive video or online), especially when students are in the field collecting data. Required courses and thesis topic must be approved by the student's graduate committee. The purpose of the thesis option is to demonstrate the student's ability to investigate a research topic and report the findings in proper scientific publication style. This enables the student to gain experience in a specific area of aquaculture and/or aquatic sciences and to report research results in a publishable document. Experience in literature review, experimental design, data collection, record-keeping, statistical analysis, and manuscript preparation are obtained by students completing the thesis option. Students who intend to further their graduate education (e.g. obtain a doctoral degree) should choose this option, because doctoral programs often require students to have demonstrated their ability to successfully complete a master's thesis.
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