How to Apply
Admissions Requirements
To earn the degree, an applicant must be admitted as a transfer student through the Office of Undergraduate Admissions.
To be admitted to the LPS distance education degree completion program, a competitive candidate must have:
- An Associate of Arts degree (A.A.) or Associate of Science degree (A.S.) from the last 15 years or approximately 60 university credit hours of college-level work including a significant amount of social science courses.
(A maximum of 70 credit hours can transfer into the LPS program.) - A 3.0 GPA on your completed approved college-level work. However, emphasis will be placed on the most recent academic coursework completed.
- A college-level English course (4 hours)
- A college-level math course (3 hours)
- A complete application form
Please note that admission is competitive and meeting these requirements does not guarantee admission.
The most competitive candidates for admission into LPS are those who have approximately 60 transferable credit hours (OR an AA or AS degree with 60 transferable hours; not an AAS) and a combined cumulative transfer GPA of 3.0 from every college/university attended. However, emphasis will be placed on the most recent academic coursework completed.
Transfer credit should include a sufficient number of social science courses to satisfy the general education component of the major. In addition, transfer students must have taken and passed a college level math course and a college level English course comparable to NC State's ENG 101 (4 hours) to be eligible.
To earn the B.A. degree in LPS, you must be admitted to the program by the Office of Undergraduate Admissions.
Transfer Equivalency
These video tutorials will show you how to determine your transfer course equivalencies. Use the following directions to navigate to the most current site:
Transfer Course Equivalencies
Courses Transferring Into The LPS Curriculum Video
On the NC State credit equivalency site, click on the tab that says Courses Taken At Other Institution. This link will allow you to choose the state/country and school name you attended and will show you exactly which courses are transferable to NC State. If the school or the exact course names/numbers are not listed on this link, they will have to be officially evaluated by the Undergraduate Admissions office if you choose to apply to NC State and LPS.
How to Apply
Complete the Pre-application Assessment
The LPS program provides unofficial transcript evaluations. We can discuss with you whether you are currently qualified to enroll and/or approximately how long it would take you to complete the LPS degree if you were to enroll. Please note, however, that although we offer a pre-application assessment, the final decision for admission rests with the admissions office at NC State.
If you would like assistance with a pre-application assessment or have more general questions about the program, please contact LPS Advising at lps@ncsu.edu
Bachelor Degree-Completion
Leadership in the Public Sector is a degree completion program that offers a Bachelor of Arts degree to non-traditional students who do not have access to a brick and mortar college or university. Active military personnel and their families stationed in North Carolina, working adults and community college graduates are encouraged to apply. Likewise, if you have been unenrolled from NC State for more than three years, consider applying.
However, the LPS program cannot accept international students or traditional students who are currently enrolled in a regular degree program at NC State.
**Special Note** We realize that in certain exceptional cases, current NC State students may have legitimate concerns about their continued matriculation via face-to-face or in-person instruction (possibly, but not necessarily, due to a serious health condition). In those situations, students for whom the substantive focus on public leadership and fully-online delivery of the LPS program is an attractive option may request a waiver of the standard 3-year waiting period for admission to the LPS program.
All waiver requests will be evaluated by the Director of the LPS program and the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs.
Note: Students granted internal transfer into LPS will not be able to transfer to another NC State program at a future date.
If you are considering completing your degree as an online student, we suggest you explore what it means to be a successful distance education student.
Apply for Bachelor Degree Completion Program
Admission Deadline Details
The admission deadlines are the same as other transfer programs on campus.
Fall: February 15
Applications received after February 15 will be considered on a space-available basis.
Spring: October 1
Applications received after October 1 will be considered on a space-available basis.
Summer: No Application Available
If you are accepted for the Fall term, you may request to change your entry date to Summer by emailing Undergraduate Admissions.