Domestic Students
Application Guidelines
Financial Assistance
Graduate Assistantships
Fellowships
Graduate Student Orientation
Graduate Assistant Training
Helpful External Links:
Academic Calendar
Application for
Admission
(PDF)
Cost Information
Registration Information
Resident Tuition Award
Scholarships and Financial Aid Office
Housing:
On campus living
Off campus living
Application Guidelines
1) Domestic Student Applications for Admission are due at least six to eight weeks before the semester for which a student wishes to enroll. A $35 application fee is required.
2) Applicants must have all colleges and universities
attended send official copies of all certificates, diplomas, degrees,
and transcripts to::
College Of Graduate Studies
Central Michigan University
Mount Pleasant, MI 48859
3) On a separate sheet of paper, describe your purpose, and
general plans for graduate study at Central Michigan University.
Include an explanation of how you think your present and past activities
and achievements will improve your chances for success in your proposed
field of specialization. Describe your career plans after
graduation.
4) Some graduate programs require supplementary application
materials and some have application deadlines. Contact your
department at CMU and the
Graduate Bulletin for additional requirements and/or materials, and
for information on application deadlines.
5) If born outside of the U.S., you must provide proof of U.S.
citizenship (copies of immigrant visa, resident alien card,
naturalization papers of passport).
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Financial Assistance
There are a number of options for
financial
assistance available to graduate students at Central
Michigan University. Two of them--graduate assistantships
and fellowships--are
awarded on a competitive basis, have application deadlines early in the calendar year, and grant Michigan resident tuition. Full-time assistantships and fellowships are generally
awarded for one academic year (two semesters: fall and spring); stipend payments begin in
the fall semester of each year. Other options include on-campus employment
and loans.
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Graduate Assistantships
Administered by the departments
Interested students should request application forms and information directly from their departments and NOT the
College of Graduate Studies. Individual departments manage all aspects of
assistantships, including receiving and screening applications and making award decisions. Assistantships may involve teaching or research and may be full- or part-time.
Some
departments require submission of GRE (Graduate Record Examination) or other specialized
test scores.
A full-time graduate assistant is assigned a teaching load of six semester hours of courses, and equated number of contact hours of laboratory course work, or an equivalent load of assigned responsibilities each semester. Six to ten hours of course work per semester is the suggested academic course load for which a graduate assistant should enroll. International students are required by the INS to register for a minimum of nine credits per semester; for graduate assistants, that number is reduced to six.
The timing of decisions regarding graduate assistantship awards varies by department. Many decisions are made by March of each year for assignments beginning the following fall semester. After March, students should check with their departments to see if openings are still available. For the 2007-2008 academic year, a full-time graduate assistant pursuing a master's degree received an average annual stipend of $10,000 and a tuition scholarship of 20 credits per year (valued at $7,760). An assistant pursuing a doctoral degree received an average stipend of $12,250 and a tuition scholarship of 20 credit hours (worth $8,820).
Fellowships
Administered by the College of Graduate Studies
Fellowship application (PDF)
The
deadline for submission of all materials is February 6. Applications that are received
after the deadline, or that are incomplete as of the deadline, will not be considered.
All fellowships are valid for one academic year, grant in-state tuition, and provide a tuition scholarship of 24 credit hours. Master's and specialist's level fellowships provided an annual stipend of $10,300 in 2008-2009; the stipend for doctoral fellowships was $12,600.
Fellowship applicants must submit an official copy of a current GRE score. In order to be certain the GRE score reaches the College of Graduate Studies by the February 6 deadline, the GRE must be taken no later than early December. The GRE is a critical part of the fellowship application, and applications without GRE scores will not be considered. (Please note that if you are an MBA applicant, you may submit a GMAT score instead of a GRE score.)
On-Campus Employment
Administered by the Student Employment Office
Interested students should contact the Student Employment Office (SEO) after arriving on campus in order to register with the SEO for on-campus employment.
Central Michigan University grants tuition
waivers only as part of a graduate assistantship or fellowship.
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Out-of-State Tuition Merit Award
Central Michigan
University’s Out-of-State Tuition Merit Award
for graduate students automatically grants in-state
(Michigan resident) tuition rates for the entire academic program
of any student admitted to a CMU graduate program
(contingent upon the student remaining in good academic standing).
In order to receive this valuable award, students must meet
all three of the following criteria:
1. GRE Verbal score of at least 560 and GRE quantitative score of at
least 660 -OR-
GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test) score of at least 600
-OR-
MAT (Miller Analogy Test) score of at least 55
2. Cumulative undergraduate grade point average of at least 3.0 on
the U.S. 4.0 scale
3. TOEFL score of at least 600 (250 computer-based), if a non-native
speaker of English.
No application is necessary.
Neighboring Regions Award
Upon admission to a CMU graduate program, Central Michigan University’s Neighboring Regions Award automatically grants in-state (Michigan resident) tuition rates to any student who is a resident of the state of Indiana, Ohio, or Illinois and has at least a 3.3 overall undergraduate grade point average or any student who is a resident of the province of Ontario, Canada and has at least a 3.0 overall undergraduate grade point average. The award is valid for the student's entire program, contingent upon the student remaining in good academic standing. No application is required.
Graduate Student Orientation
All new graduate students are invited to attend Graduate Student Orientation. This program, which is a half day program each fall and spring, provides information helpful to graduate students. Individuals from across campus present information on numerous subjects including library resources, technology labs and workshops, offices on campus which assist graduate students, and graduate policies.
At Graduate Student Orientation,
students also receive a packet of written materials which includes the
Graduate Handbook, information on various university resources, and
information on campus and community activities which might be
of interest to graduate students. For the 2008-2009 academic year,
Graduate Student Orientation will be held on Thursday, August 21, 2008
for the Fall Semester, and January 8, 2009 for the Spring Semester.
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Graduate Student Assistant Training
All graduate students who receive graduate assistantships are
required to attend Graduate Student Assistant Training. This program
which is a full day program each fall, provides information with which
students, as employees of the university, must be familiar. For
instance, students must know about the American with Disabilities Act
and they must also be familiar with the definition of sexual harassment.
Depending upon the type of assistantship students receive, they must
also participate in sessions designed to either build teaching skills or
research skills. Workshops may focus on various teaching strategies,
statistical software packages, and/or database searches. For the
2008-2009 academic year, Graduate Student Assistant Training will be
held on Friday, August 22, 2008.
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