School of Continuing & Professional Studies

The School of Continuing & Professional Studies (CAPS) is the professional and continuing education division at Washington University in St. Louis. The division offers a wide range of courses in online, online/face-to-face hybrid, and fully face-to-face formats in a variety of academic departments and interdisciplinary and professional areas of study. Part-time and full-time study options in undergraduate degree programs, master's degree programs, and certificate programs are available. CAPS is also home to both the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute for adults 50 years old and older and the Washington University Prison Education Project (PEP), which offers credit-bearing college courses and degrees to incarcerated students at two regional Missouri prisons. For more information, visit the School of Continuing & Professional Studies website.

Graduate Study

The School of Continuing & Professional Studies (CAPS) administers several master's degree programs, generally consisting of 30 to 36 units of graduate-level course work, including, in some cases, a 6-unit master's thesis or a 3-unit directed research project. CAPS also offers a range of graduate-level certificate programs.

A maximum of 6 units of related, comparable, graduate-level course work completed with a grade of B or higher may be transferred from another university or from a related graduate program at Washington University in St. Louis. These must be graduate-level units not used to fulfill undergraduate degree requirements. Transfer credit may be granted only for authorized courses in which the student received a grade of B or higher; CAPS's approval is required.

Only courses taken for a letter grade may be applied to a graduate program of study. Courses taken as pass/fail or audit will not count toward a graduate program of study.* Grades below C will not count toward a graduate program of study. Students are responsible for knowing the specific grading criteria and course requirements set by individual instructors. A minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0 and at least a C in all field-of-study courses are required to graduate.

Please visit the School of Continuing & Professional Studies website or call 314-935-6700 for more detailed information, requirements, and policies concerning specific graduate degree programs.

*: School of Continuing & Professional Studies students may apply a maximum of 6 units of pass/fail credit from graduate-level course work in the Olin Business School to a master's degree program in the School of Continuing & Professional Studies. The course work must be authorized by the School of Continuing & Professional Studies, and the student must have received a grade of Pass or High Pass in the Olin School course. Courses with grades of Low Pass are not eligible. This policy applies only to courses completed on a pass/fail basis in the Olin Business School prior to a student's admission to a School of Continuing & Professional Studies graduate program of study administered and conferred by the School of Continuing & Professional Studies. Once admitted to a School of Continuing & Professional Studies program of study, students who are authorized to take courses in the Olin School and apply them toward their program of study are required to convert pass/fail grades to letter grades at the time of registration.

Graduate Degrees in the School of Continuing & Professional Studies

Contact Information

School of Continuing & Professional Studies
Washington University in St. Louis
MSC 1054-134-100
One Brookings Drive, January Hall, Suite 100
St. Louis, Missouri 63130
Phone: 314-935-6700
Toll-Free: 866-340-0723
Fax: 314-935-6744
School of Continuing & Professional Studies website
Email: caps@wustl.edu