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Graduate Studies Office
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Admissions Criteria

The School of Education employs the following criteria for admission to graduate programs:

  1. A baccalaureate (bachelor's) degree, requiring four years of full-time study or equivalent, from a college or university holding full regional or national accreditation, is required for admission to all graduate programs. Applicants with a bachelor's degree from an institution holding only state accreditation may be granted conditional admission if their other application credentials are strong. Applicants in the last semester of a four-year undergraduate program may be granted conditional admission until such time as a baccalaureate degree has been awarded.
  2. The minimum acceptable undergraduate grade point average (GPA) varies from program to program. All graduate degree programs require a GPA of 2.75 or higher (on a 4.00 scale) in all undergraduate course work. Some graduate programs require an undergraduate GPA of 3.00 or higher in the last 60 credit hours. Other programs require a GPA of 3.00 in all undergraduate course work. All licensure programs require a GPA of 2.5 or higher. Exceptions are made when undergraduate course work is judged to have been especially rigorous, and when other application credentials are very strong.
  3. Most master's and specialist programs require applicants to have a minimum GPA of 3.30 in graduate course work taken prior to application. Doctoral programs usually require a minimum GPA of 3.50 in prior graduate course work. Applicants to licensure programs must have maintained a minimum GPA of 3.00 in graduate course work. Individual judgments are made about the rigor of grading in the graduate work presented.
  4. Letters of recommendation must document academic and scholarly performance, strong social and interpersonal skills, emotional maturity, and moral character. Letters of recommendation from professors or instructors who know the applicant's academic and intellectual skills are preferred. Letters from employers and others who know the applicant's work habits and character are also acceptable.
  5. On August 1, 2011, the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) changed its format and scoring. The School of Education will accept GREs taken in both the old and new format as long as the test has been taken within the last 5 years. Students admitted to doctoral programs in education typically must obtain a combined score of 302 in the verbal and quantitative sections (or 1100 for tests taken prior to August 1, 2011), with a score of 4.0 or better in the analytical writing section. Specialist and most master's programs require a combined verbal and quantitative GRE score of 291 (or 900 for tests taken prior to August 1, 2011), with a score of 3.5 or better in the analytical writing section. Admissions committees review applications in their entirety, and GRE scores are considered as one of several elements in the applicant’s record. The School of Education requires the GRE of all applicants with the exception of Language Education and Curriculum & Instruction master's applicants who have a final, cumulative undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or better. (This exception is for U.S. citizens only; international applicants to these programs are required to submit GRE scores.) Students in licensure-only programs are also not required to submit GRE scores unless applying to the Counselor Education licensure program, which requires scores to be submitted. However, if licensure-only students switch to another program or apply to an Ed.S. or Ed.D. or Ph.D. program, they will be required to take the GRE.

  6. International prospective students must demonstrate a level of English proficiency adequate for graduate study. In addition to the general application requirements, international applicants whose primary and secondary schooling was not in English must submit recent scores on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). The TOEFL must have been taken within two years prior to application. A minimum TOEFL score of 550 for the written version, 213 for the computer-based version, or 79 for the Internet-based version is ordinarily required for admission to graduate programs. Official TOEFL test scores must be sent by the testing centers directly to the Office of Graduate Studies. For TOEFL tests, the Educational Testing Service’s assigned school code for the Office of Graduate Studies at Indiana University is 1324. The TOEFL is administered by Educational Testing Service at locations throughout the world. Information about registering to take the TOEFL may be obtained from Educational Testing Service at http://www.toefl.org. We do not accept substitutions for the TOEFL.

  7. The applicant's personal goal statement must specify academic and career goals compatible with the training goals of the program to which application has been made.
  8. Admission to all graduate programs is subject to availability of space. Program faculty size, the number of students already in a program, and the number of new applicants all affect selection ratios in a given year.
  9. The policy of Indiana University prohibits the use of the following characteristics in selecting students for graduate programs: age, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious preference, socioeconomic class, country of birth, or physical handicap.

* International applicants to any degree program are required to submit GRE scores.
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