the umass university without walls program only admits students who have already completed a minimum number of undergraduate university credits at the university of massachusetts, or at another accredited institution, and have a minimum cumulative grade point average in those credits. once enrolled, students are required to take four program-specific courses, plus additional classes equal to the difference between their accumulated university credits and the university of massachusetts' 120-credit graduation requirement. program-specific courses are taught by dedicated umass university without walls faculty and deal with academic writing, critical thinking, research skills, and issues analysis. students who require additional courses to meet the 120-credit requirement make up the deficit through standard university of massachusetts classes taken from the school's other academic departments.