Guide for ADPR Undergraduate Seniors Taking Graduate Credits

Taking graduate-level courses during your senior year can help you earn graduate credits and slightly reduce the graduate credits you have to take when completing your master’s degree.

You can check the requirements below for eligibility. Please note that even though the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Graduate School allows nine graduate credits in total, graduate courses can be very demanding and it is advised that you take at most six graduate credits in your senior year.

Download Guide (PDF)

1. Complete the Senior Requesting Graduate Credit form. All seniors interested in taking graduate level courses must complete this.

2. Check “no” on the question that asks if you are in an accelerated program.

3. Ensure that the following requirements are true to apply for graduate credit:

You are currently enrolled as a full-time undergraduate Advertising or Public Relations senior at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, with a minimum 3.0 grade-point average (GPA).
You need fewer than 30 semester (credit) hours to complete the requirements for your bachelor’s degree.
The total number of credit hours registered will not exceed 18 semester hours for fall/spring or 12 semester hours for summer.
You understand that courses taken for graduate credit cannot be used toward both a bachelor’s degree and a graduate degree (master’s or doctoral).
You understand there is a maximum of 9 hours of graduate credit that can be obtained at the 400 and/or 500 level as an undergraduate student, to be counted as part of the requirements for a graduate level degree.

4. Decide which of these courses available you want to take. (See courses offered in the upcoming semester in section below these instructions.)

5. Carefully note which courses you select and if there are restrictions, including:

You may NOT take the distance education courses. If the campus code is “KTV,” the course is not an option for you. You may take UT Knoxville classes only under “campus.”
Courses denoted with a (!) are courses that the Graduate School will register students for once the form is processed.
Courses denoted with a (*) are courses that undergraduate students are able to register themselves for and the Graduate School will change it to Graduate credit once the form is processed.

6. Add the course(s) you want to take.

Begin the workflow by submitting the Senior Requesting Graduate Credit form Sifan Xu” as faculty advisor; net ID is sxu21. You will need to find the NetID for the instructor; this is NOT the full email address.
- If course is unavailable for undergraduate registration, then student waits to be registered by Graduate School. These courses will be denoted with a (!).

With instructor and school approval, the Graduate School will receive the form and processes, then notiﬁes student. Be patient. This may take a couple of days to work through the system.
Verify that the course schedule shows correct course and graduate level credit.

Please note that approval to take graduate level courses as a senior does not guarantee your admission into the Four Plus One master’s program.

Courses available for spring 2024

ADPR 516: Data Analytics in ADPR^!
ADPR 516: Visual Storytelling/Portfolio^! )
ADPR 560: Account Planning
ADPR 541: Strategic Communication Tactics (limited spaces; Knoxville campus section ONLY)^!
ADPR 562: Social Media Strategy and Tactics^!

ADPR 592: Advertising and Public Relations Internships^!
PBRL 400: Ethical and Legal Issues in Public Relations (if not taken for undergraduate credit)*
PBRL 530: Issues and Crisis Management

(See information above on Step 5 for what the ^! and * represent)

Application Deadlines

April 1 is the application deadline for summer and fall semesters.

November 1 is the application deadline for the spring semester.

Questions

For all Four Plus One ADPR course-related questions, please contact Associate Professor Sifan Xu (adprgrad@utk.edu), graduate program coordinator for the Tombras School of Advertising and Public Relations.

For all Four Plus One ADPR graduate application questions, please contact CCI Graduate Studies at ccigradinfo@utk.edu.

Program Planning for the ADPR Four Plus One master’s concentration

Download Four Plus One Planning Form (PDF)

Block 1 (12 hours): Advertising and Public Relations Courses (select four)

(3) ADVT 510 – Advertising and Society¹ (fall)
(3) ADVT 520 – Advertising and Communication Theory (fall)
(3) ADVT 540 – Advertising Decision Making (spring)
(3) ADVT 560 – Account Planning**(spring)
(3) PBRL 530 – Issues and Crisis Management (spring)
(3) PBRL 540 – Public Relations Management (fall)
(3) PBRL 550 – Public Relations Strategies (spring)

Block 2 (3 hours): Additional Strategic Communication Courses (select one)

(3) ADPR 515 – Social Media Analytics* (fall)
(3) ADPR 530 – Advertising and Public Relations Research (spring)
(3) ADPR 562 – Social Media Strategy and Tactics
*Cannot take if already completed ADPR 415

Block 3 (3 hours): Concept Application Courses (select 1)

(3) ADVT 470³ – Advertising Campaigns (only if not taken as undergrad)
(3) PBRL 470S³ – Public Relations Campaigns (only if not taken as undergrad)
(3) ADPR 590 – Advertising and Public Relations Project (fall)

Block 4 (12 hours): General Electives

Select four general electives to fulfill these requirements. Any class carrying graduate credit from ADPR, ADVT, PBRL, CMST, JREM, or INSC may be used. Other electives outside of the college may be taken with the permission of the advisor.

Total course hours must be no less than 30.

¹Cannot take if already completed ADVT 480

²Cannot take if already completed ADVT 460

³Advertising undergraduate majors take PBRL 470S; Public Relations undergraduate majors take ADVT 470.