The Physics Program offers a Baccalaureate to Masters Fast Track Program option in association with the Education Department for Lewis University undergraduate physics majors interested in secondary education licensure. All qualified physics majors may take advantage of this Fast Track Program option. This program option allows qualified undergraduates to complete the M.A. in Secondary Education in less time than would be possible if the two programs were taken separately. Nine graduate hours may be used both to complete the Bachelor’s degree (120 hours) and to satisfy specific course requirements for the Master’s program. The total number of required graduate credits (38) will remain the same.

Students may apply for admission to the Fast Track Program option if they have accrued 75 credit hours and have a cumulative GPA of 3.0. Students admitted to the Fast Track Program may apply graduate courses to the 18-hour block in the semesters when they take these select graduate courses. With planning and summer coursework after completing the undergraduate degree, the M.A. in Secondary Education could be awarded within one year of graduating with the Bachelor’s degree in Physics. Students who take nine credit hours of selected graduate courses in Education in their senior year and earn a grade of “B” or better in each of those courses will have to complete only 29 more graduate credit hours to earn the M.A. Students accepted into this program are required to apply for admission to the M.A. in Secondary Education program.

Students admitted into this Fast Track Program will work with their advisor to select the nine hours of graduate coursework to be taken while completing their undergraduate degree. However, in order to complete the degree requirements in one year, SCED 51000 Frameworks in Education and SCED 51200 Instructional Strategies and Learning Communities for Adolescents should account for six of these hours because of course sequencing requirements in the M.A. program.