Once the Graduate office has the completed files, they will be sent directly to the Specialty areas to which the candidates are applying.  Only applications of candidates eligible for admission will be sent from the Graduate office.  The Graduate office will also provide the names of all eligible candidates to the Certification Officer or designee, who will calculate the certification gpa for each candidate (except those applying to elementary or special education) and forward it to the Specialty area in a timely manner.

 The Chair of the department and the Specialty area Director (or a designee for elementary and special education) will make a timely recommendation regarding admission for each applicant directly to the Department of Education Chair.  Specialty areas may follow their own procedures to make the recommendations based on the Core and Specialty area requirements.  Any student who is denied at this point will be notified of that decision by the Specialty area Director or designee and given information about the appeals procedure.  Specialty areas may still choose to recommend the student be denied but encouraged to reapply. 

 If a student chooses to appeal the decision of the specialty area, notification of the appeal must be made in writing to the Department of Education Chair.  The MAE Admissions Committee will then meet and make an independent recommendation regarding the admission of the student.  The Committee’s recommendation will be forwarded directly to the Department of Education Chair and the Graduate Dean.

 The role of the Department of Education Chair is to ensure the Core and Specialty area requirements have been met.  If the requirements have been met, the Department of Education Chair will forward the recommendations to the Graduate Dean.  If the requirements were not met, the Department of Education Chair will discuss the candidate with the Specialty area Director, including the Chair of the department to which the candidate is applying and/or the Graduate Dean as needed.

 The Dean of the Graduate School will make the final determination regarding admission and send letters informing students of the decisions. 

 If a student is placed into the “deny but encourage to reapply” category, the department must clearly stipulate the conditions that would allow the student to be admitted.  When a student has met those conditions to the satisfaction of the Specialty area, the Specialty area Director or designee will forward a new recommendation together with supporting documentation to the Department of Education Chair.  The Chair will then forward the recommendation together with a note of agreement or disagreement to the Graduate Dean.  If the Dean concurs that the conditions have been met, the student will be admitted immediately without waiting for the next admissions round.