Frequently Asked Questions

We love your enthusiasm! You can apply to the ADVANCE Program when you’ve graduated from high school and are a degree-seeking student at NOVA. 

ADVANCE is designed to save you time and money! We need to make sure you have enough credits left to fulfill the remainder of your degree-specific courses in your ADVANCE Curricular Pathway.

If you have more than 30 credits, a different transfer path to George Mason might be a better option for you. We recommend reaching out to the Office of Transfer Services if this is the case.

The 30-credit limit does not include AP, IB, CLEP, or any other earned credit by exam.

Credit earned at other U.S. or international colleges or universities does apply to the 30-credit limit.

We’re so sorry, but you’re ineligible for the program once you’ve earned more than 30 credits. We can’t maximize the ADVANCE Program’s benefits once you’re that far into your coursework. There are many different paths to George Mason, and we recommend reaching out to the Office of Transfer Services to discuss your individual needs.

Congrats on being so close to graduation! Unfortunately, you’ve earned too many credits for the ADVANCE Program to work for you. A different transfer path to George Mason might be a better option—try reaching out to the friendly folks in the Office of Transfer Services. 

To qualify for ADVANCE, you must be a NOVA student in good academic standing who meets these requirements:      

–Minimum 2.00 cumulative grade point average for students with college credit
–Enrolled in a NOVA associate degree’s curricular program
–Have earned no more than 30 college credits at the time of submission of the ADVANCE Declaration 

Send questions to an ADVANCE Admissions Counselor at [email protected]

Unfortunately, ADVANCE does not offer a Pathway in nursing. Please reach out to George Mason’s Office of Transfer Services to discuss your academic interests.

Since George Mason University and Northern Virginia Community College are two separate institutions, they each award transfer credits differently. Therefore, we ask for all of your official transcripts from all colleges/universities in your academic history.

George Mason asks for these official transcripts regardless of the age of the courses, or whether your academic focus has changed since those classes were taken.

We’re sorry this poses a challenge, but George Mason needs your full academic history with official transcripts from all previous colleges/universities where a course was taken. Failure to provide that information or an attempt to conceal that information is an Honor Code violation. Please note that George Mason uses the National Student Clearinghouse to verify all colleges/universities where a student enrolled.

All international transcripts must be translated and have a course-by-course evaluation completed by an evaluating agency. The evaluating agency will send the original transcripts and the translation and evaluation to Geroge Mason University.

Use one of the following agencies:

• Educational Perspectives
• Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE) 
• World Education Services (WES) 
• The Evaluation Company (Span Tran)
• International Education Evaluations, LLC (IEE)
• Or any company recognized by NACES

George Mason needs to see multiple attempts made to reach the international university, in which no response or no transcript was given. We recommend cc’ing [email protected] in these communications, because sometimes the original university will provide George Mason with the documents that the student has been unsuccessful in obtaining.

We recommend that students displaced from their home country (Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine, Venezuela and others) due to country conditions send WES the partial transcripts. WES can assist with evaluating and translating those partial transcripts.

Stay tuned! More emails are headed your way with further instructions.

If you want to get started right away, we recommend that you complete these 3 tasks: 

1. You can self-enroll in the ADVANCE Orientation Canvas course, which is full of helpful information about what to do next.
2. Once you receive the email that introduces you to your coach, we recommend scheduling an appointment with them.
3. Submitting the Pathway Selection Form online is the final step to being enrolled in the ADVANCE Program. Your coach can also help with that.

Find your coach HERE, either by taking a short quiz or searching by campus location. 

If you are currently attending NOVA, you can review and apply for ADVANCE scholarships HERE.

If you are currently attending George Mason, you can review and apply for ADVANCE scholarships HERE.

In addition, with the Virginia Promise Grant, you may qualify for additional money to cover tuition and fees at George Mason University. There’s no application for this grant and, if you qualify*, funds will be automatically applied to your account after you matriculate.

*Eligibility requirements include being part of the ADVANCE Program, submitting a FAFSA by the priority deadline, and having a family income of $60,000 or less (or being eligible for the Federal Pell Grant). Funds are applied when ADVANCE students matriculate to George Mason.

The first step is to apply for NOVA graduation. Then, make a pre-transfer appointment with your Academic Coach, who will walk you through next steps for navigating your transition to George Mason University. Find your coach HERE.

Sure! First, find your Curricular Pathway, which tells you exactly which courses to register for. Next, make an appointment with your coach, who is an expert at deciphering the Pathway document. Find your coach HERE.

Nope, you don’t have to take them in order, but you DO have to take them all! Remember that the classes on your Pathway are sequenced to help guide you through the process, and some earlier courses are often prerequisites for later courses. Failure to follow course prerequisites may delay your matriculation to George Mason. Got questions? The best thing to do is to schedule an appointment with your Academic Coach. Find your coach HERE. 

Some ADVANCE Pathways offer co-enrollment classes that allow NOVA students to take specific courses at George Mason. These courses are highlighted in green on your Pathway. If you have questions about whether or not your Pathway includes co-enrollment courses, please contact your Academic Coach. Find your coach HERE.

You pay George Mason University tuition for co-enrollment classes.