Faculty and Staff Information

The Graduate Admissions Office collects all application materials from all applicants so that complete admission applications can be provided to the academic departments. Therefore, all applicants should be directed to send all of their application materials directly to the Graduate Admissions Office.

The basic admission requirements are: application, application fee, transcripts from all colleges attended, Statement of Career Objectives, Resume/CV, three letters of recommendation and English language exams (for international applicants with degrees from non-English speaking countries).

Specific admissions requirements for all students and for all departments can be found on the Graduate Admissions website. The required English language exam scores can be found there, as well.

The priority deadlines established by Graduate Council are Feb. 1 for summer and fall and Sept. 1 for spring. Completed applications received in the Graduate Admissions Office by the priority application deadlines will receive priority processing and these students are being informed they will receive priority consideration for admission. Applications received or completed after the priority application deadline will be processed as quickly as possible.

Making early admission decisions is highly recommended to ensure that departments get the most qualified students. Also, international students need time to obtain their student Visa and make travel arrangements. Domestic students often need to make travel and living arrangements, as well.

There are several ways that departments can track the status of applicants to their graduate program(s). An email containing application status information by semester is sent to each department contact weekly. Upon request, departments are granted access to run their own Graduate Admissions Statistics report (SZRWKGR) directly from Banner. Once an application has been received in the Graduate Admissions Office, an applicant record is created and maintained in the Banner computer system and can be viewed at any time by those with Banner Student training.

Reviewed files should be returned to the Graduate Admissions Office as soon as possible after the decision has been made. Initial admission recommendations are made at the academic program level with admission granted by the College of Graduate Studies. Official notification of the decision is sent out by the Graduate Admissions Office as soon as the decision has been entered into the computer system. Only after this Graduate Admissions decision has been entered, may departmental offers of admission or financial assistance be made.

If new international students are offered departmental funding of any kind, the Graduate Admissions Office needs to be notified. This information is used in issuing the student an I-20, the document that allows them to apply for a student (F-1) visa to enter the United States.

When recommending provisional admission or full admission to applicants with low GPAs, remember to submit the required memo of support and/or list of recommended provisions. Submitting the memo at the same time as the routing sheet will greatly aid the College of Graduate Studies in making timely decisions on these files.

If students want to change their major and/or program after they have enrolled as graduate students at U of I, they will need to process a Change of Curriculum with the College of Graduate Studies. These students do not apply through the Graduate Admissions Office again, but they do need to be accepted by the new program. Conversely, applicants who applied and were accepted for a specific term but did not enroll as a student will need to create a new application and apply through the Graduate Admissions Office again. If they apply within one year of the previous application, items such as official transcripts and test scores will still be on file at Graduate Admissions and may be transferred to the new application.