Students may apply for formal admission at any time once they have taken and achieved a satisfactory standing in the core course, AAS 201 Introduction to the Study of African American Cultural Practices.

In addition to taking AAS 201, students seeking a certificate in African American studies are required to take two courses in the African American Culture and Life subfield. These two courses must be selected from the history (AAS 366, AAS 367) and literature (AAS 353, AAS 359) survey courses, one of which must be a pre-20th century course. Students must also take three additional courses in AAS or approved cognates in order to qualify for the certificate. Students are strongly urged to take at least two of these additional courses either in the Race and Public Policy subfield or in the Global Race and Ethnicity subfield. The center further suggests that race figure centrally in the student's senior thesis.

In addition to offering a certificate program, the Center for African American Studies provides an array of courses, programs, and internships, open to all students, that expand and deepen their understanding of race in the United States and in the world.

Students who fulfill all the requirements of the program will receive a certificate in African American studies upon graduation.