Graduate School Admissions

Student standing outside If you are interested in applying to one of our many graduate, professional, online, or certificate programs, you must have earned or will earn your bachelor’s degree prior to the start of the term to which you will be seeking admission.

How to Apply

All individuals who would like to apply to an NCCU graduate program (except the law program) must apply using the correct online graduate admission application.

Graduate Admission Application

Requirements

The School of Graduate Studies admission requirements are noted below:

Online graduate admission application
$50 application fee (non-refundable)
Official transcripts from all universities and colleges attended
Personal statement (check whether the degree program has specific criteria/guidelines for this document)
Minimum 2.75 GPA (note: some programs may have a higher GPA requirement)
If you have not already done so or your residency determination has expired and you intend to claim NC residency for tuition purposes (in-state tuition), you are required to complete the NC Residency Determination Services application.

Departments may have additional admission requirements. These requirements vary from program to program. For example, some departments may require the following supporting documents:

Resume
Writing sample
Letters of recommendation (Some programs require at least two, and some require at least three. Also, some programs require that your recommenders be specific persons (e.g., former professors, field supervisor, or employer supervisor).
Interview
Specific foundation courses

For program application deadlines, please note that not all programs have the same deadline date.

Transfer Credits

Transfer of graduate credits from another institution may be considered if the following criteria are met:

The course is graduate level at an accredited university;
The student earned at least a grade of “B” or equivalent in each course for which credit is to be transferred;
The adviser, department chairperson, and dean of the college approve the course as part of the student’s graduate program; and
The courses do not exceed the time limit for completing the master or PhD degree program.

International Applicants

An international applicant is anyone who is a citizen or permanent resident of a country other than the United States. Individuals who have applied for but have not yet been granted permanent residency are considered an international applicant at the time of application submission.

The School of Graduate Studies admission requirements for international applicants are noted below:

Have at least a bachelor’s degree
Online graduate admission application
$50 non-refundable application fee
An official copy of a course-by-course evaluated transcript by an accredited US agency (evaluated transcript must include US equivalent degree level and GPA)

We accept transcript evaluations from the following agencies:

Additionally, the following are required:

Personal statement
At least two recommendations (some degree programs may require more)
Official GRE or GMAT scores, if required by degree program (cannot be more than five years old)
TOEFL or IELTS scores (if English is the applicant's second language)
A TOEFL minimum score of 79 on the computer-based test or of 550 on the paper-based test
An IELTS score of 6.0
Financial statement certificate of eligibility (found in the online application for admission)
Bank statement (must be notarized and show the last six months of activity)

Permanent residents must submit a copy of their green card at the time of application submission; however, permanent residents should expect to present the original card to an admissions officer upon request.

Note: Please check your program’s site for additional admission requirements (i.e., resume, writing sample, etc.).

Visiting and Non-Degree Seeking Applicants

A visiting (non-degree seeking) graduate student is considered a special student who desires to enroll in an NCCU graduate course without being admitted to a graduate degree program. This includes students admitted to a UNC System school who wish to enroll in an NCCU graduate course through the interinstitutional agreement. Any time a prospective student is interested in enrolling in an NCCU graduate course without being admitted to an NCCU graduate degree program, the student must notify the respective graduate program director/coordinator of his intent. The department is responsible for informing this type of student if space is available in the course(s) in which the prospective student intends to enroll.

Admission requirements for visiting and non-degree seeking applicants include the following:

Online graduate admission application
$50 non-refundable application fee
Official transcripts from all schools attended
Personal statement indicating what program you wish to take courses in and why
If you have not already done so or your residency determination has expired and you intend to claim NC residency for tuition purposes (in-state tuition), you are required to complete the NC Residency Determination Services application.
It is the visiting student's responsibility to confirm with the department in which the course is offered that there is not a course enrollment restriction limiting enrollment only to students admitted to the degree program.

Note: An individual admitted as a visiting (non-degree seeking) student is not eligible for university funding or student loans. Additionally, individuals who later wish to seek admission to the degree program are limited to the number of credit hours that will be accepted and counted towards degree completion. This information can be verified with the graduate program coordinator/director for the program.

If you are interested in taking courses in a program whose department is under the auspices of the School of Education, you will apply as a "special" student and you must select "Education Undecided Special" as your program. All others will apply as "special" and must select "Graduate Studies Undecided" as your program.