Coursera Admissions

Performance-based admissions

Enroll & Pay into a series of 3 one-credit pathway courses with a focus on either finance for technical managers or project management. Complete your pathway with a CU cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better to be admitted to the program, all while making direct progress toward your degree. No transcripts or applications are required.

  • Create your account with CU Boulder as a new student, and declare your initial degree program. You may change them from the Buff Portal in the future.
  • Choose and enroll in one of the pathway specializations from Buff Portal:
    • Finance for Technical Managers(3 Credits)
      1. EMEA 5021: Product Cost and Investment Cash Flow Analysis
      2. EMEA 5022: Project Valuation and the Capital Budgeting Process
      3. EMEA 5023: Financial Forecasting and Reporting
    • Project Management (3 Credits)
      1. EMEA 5031: Foundations and Initiation
      2. EMEA 5032: Project Planning and Execution
      3. EMEA 5033: Agile Project Management
  • Check your CU outlook email and complete the additional Getting Started steps.
  • Complete your pathway courses by the last day of the term and achieve a computed pathway specialization grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.0.
  • Earn a 3.0 CU cumulative GPA.
    • B- is passing for most classes. Up to 3 credits of C+s can count towards your degree. After grades are posted to your CU Boulder transcript, you will receive an email from emp-coursera@colorado.edu confirming your admission in 1-2 weeks.

Getting Started

New to CU Boulder on Coursera? Click New Student to create your account, and complete identify verification. 

Current or Return Student? Start here and skip to step 4.

After enrolling in a course and paying tuition, you will receive an email from the Office of Information Technology (OIT) with with your Student Identification Number (SID) and instructions on how to activate your IdentiKey (which will be your CU login name) and password, typically in 1 business day. You will use your Identikey to access online services and applications at CU Boulder. 

Activate Your IdentiKey 

Didn't get the email from OIT? Contact them directly at oithelp@colorado.edu to locate your Student Identification Number (SID).

After activating your IdentiKey, you will need to setup your CU Boulder email account. All official forms of communication will be sent through this account.

Activate Your CU Email 

Enroll in a course from Buff Portal > Enroll and Pay ($667 per credit hour). Tuition is due at the time of enrollment. You will receive a confirmation message after your enrollment has been processed, typically within 24 hours.

We recommend that new students take one course at a time to start. This allows you to adjust to the graduate-level coursework and get a better sense of how much time you need to budget for the program. Check the EMP on Coursera Curriculum page for Pathway, Core vs. Elective courses.  

Visit the Bursar's Degrees on Coursera for more information about payment, account statements, and refund policies.

If you are a current student, you are done!

Important! New students must link your CU email to your Coursera account to:

  • Gain access to the ME-EM Student Onboarding Course (you must complete this before accessing for-credit content)
  • Allow CU Boulder to grant credit for the work you do in Coursera

To get started, open the linking invitation email from Coursera with the subject line “ACTION NEEDED: Link your Coursera account…”. 

Link your account 

Prior to accessing for-credit content for the first time, you must pass the non-credit "CU Boulder ME-EM Student Onboarding Course." Please keep the following in mind:

  • You only need to complete this course once.
  • We recommend bookmarking this course so you can refer back to it when you have questions about the program.
  • If you have completed the onboarding course and still do not have access to the for-credit content, the class may not have started yet. See Calendar.

Please keep the following in mind:

  • The courses you enrolled in will be added to your Coursera account once the session begins. If the session you enrolled in is already in progress, your courses should appear in your account within 24-48 hours. See Calendar.
  • Schedule all proctored exams and submit peer-graded assignments at least 72 hours prior to the class end date. See Calendar.
  • All for-credit courses include a final. Please make sure you complete the final to earn a letter grade (A-F). Students will receive a W if they do not open the final or the honor code verification that unlocks the final. Once the final or the honor code verification has been unlocked, you are no longer eligible to drop or withdraw from the course. Do not open the final if you intend to drop or withdraw. Read more here.
  • Tuition cannot be carried over to future sessions. All for-credit coursework must be submitted by the last day of the 8-week session you enroll in.
  • Final grades are typically posted about 1-2 weeks after the end of each 8-week session.

Admission will be processed after grades are posted to your CU Boulder official record each session. See calendar. Newly admitted students typically receive an email confirming their degree admission about 3-4 weeks after classes end for the session. 

All CU Boulder students must complete the mandatory Community Accountability training online in Canvas. This non-credit online course covers university policy and resources addressing discrimination, harassment, and sexual misconduct. Students also learn skills for helping as a bystander and for supporting friends to prevent and respond effectively to harm.

Mandatory Community Accountability Training

  1. Log into Canvas.
  2. Access the Community Accountability training from your Canvas dashboard. If you don’t see it listed there, select “Courses” on the left, then “All Courses.” Please contact OIEC if you are having trouble accessing the course.
  3. Complete the course. Your hold will be lifted within 1 hour. You must wait for our registration system to update overnight to enroll the next day. 

*The Community Accountability course is only required after you are admitted to the ME-EM program. If you are not admitted to the program, you do not need to complete the course (and will not be able to complete the course) until after admission. The course will be automatically added to your Canvas dashboard when you are due to complete it. Failure to complete the course by the deadline will result in a registration hold being placed on your account.

See more information on the University's Community Accountability page.

  Complete Community Accountability after admission