Undergraduate students at the University of Pennsylvania are eligible to apply for an accelerated program of master's degree study by seeking admission to the Graduate School of Education as submatriculants. Submatriculation may occur in the junior or senior year, but not before. A submatriculant takes graduate education courses for graduate credit while continuing to register in the undergraduate college.

A maximum of two graduate level education courses may be "double-counted" toward requirements for the undergraduate and graduate degrees. In order to count these courses toward the master's degree, a grade of 3.0 (B) or better must be earned. Any additional graduate education courses that the submatriculant applies toward the baccalaureate degree cannot also be applied to the course unit requirement for the master's degree. In unusual cases, graduate education courses that are not counted toward the undergraduate degree may be applied toward the graduate degree with verification from the College that these courses were not used to satisfy the requirements for the undergraduate degree and with approval of the advisor and the GSE Associate Dean.

Only Graduate School of Education courses taken while an undergraduate student is a submatriculant can apply toward a graduate degree regardless of whether they are double- counted. After completing the undergraduate degree, submatriculants must be registered for a minimum of one term as a master's degree candidate at the Graduate School of Education and must take at least five graduate course units while enrolled as a master's degree student. Submatriculation at GSE does not in any way affect the requirements set by the undergraduate college for earning a baccalaureate degree. The submatriculant's program of study must be approved by the undergraduate advisor, the dean of the undergraduate college and the academic advisor at the Graduate School of Education. As long as the submatriculant is paying the full undergraduate tuition, no separate tuition charge will be made for graduate courses.