International Students
Application Guidelines
Financial Assistance
Graduate Assistantships
Fellowships
On Campus Employment
Graduate Student Orientation
Graduate Assistant Training
Helpful Links:
CMU Office of International Education
Academic Calendar
CMU International Student Organizations
Cost Sheet
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) (PDF)
International Application for Admission
(MS Word)
Online International Application for Admission
Registration Information
Resident
Tuition Award
TOEFL
SEVIS Fee Payment
Information
Visa Wait Times Worldwide
U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services (USCIS)
U.S. Educational Advising Centers Worldwide
Housing
On campus
Off campus
Application Guidelines
(1) International Student Applications (PDF) for Admission are due at least six months before the semester for which a student wishes to enroll. A $45 application fee is required.
(U.S. citizens and international applicants who are permanent residents of the U.S. should submit a Domestic Application for Admission (PDF), not an International Application.)
(2) Applicants must have all colleges and universities attended send official copies of all certificates, diplomas, degrees, and transcripts, as well as the corresponding number of certified literal English translations of any non-English documents to:
The College of Graduate Studies
100 Foust Hall
Central Michigan University
Mount Pleasant, Michigan 48859
U.S.A.
(3) All prospective students must demonstrate proficiency in
the English language. All prospective students must demonstrate competency in the English language in one of the following ways:
Achievement of a satisfactory score on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), International English Language Testing System (IELTS), or Michigan English Language Assessment Battery (MELAB). Score requirements are explained below. Requests to substitute another test will be evaluated individually with minimum scores to be established by the Dean of the College of Graduate Studies when necessary. |
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Satisfactory completion of a course of study (for example, high school or baccalaureate degree or graduate degree) in which the language of instruction was English. |
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TEST SCORE REQUIREMENTS REGULAR ADMISSION: Applicants with TOEFL scores of 213 CBT, 550 PBT, or 79 iBT and above, IELTS scores of 6.5 and above, or a MELAB score of 78 or higher, may be granted regular admission. Some programs, however, require higher TOEFL scores and others require all admitted international students to take an English proficiency test after arriving on campus. CONDITIONAL
ADMISSION: Applicants with
TOEFL scores from 173 to 210 CBT, 500 to 549 PBT, or 61-78 iBT, IELTS
scores of 5.5 or 6, or MELAB scores ranging from 69-77 may be granted conditional admission. Upon arrival
at the university, they will be required to take an English proficiency test
administered by CMU's English Language Institute (ELI). The results of the
test will be used to determine the number of courses they will be required
to take through the ELI. Such conditionally admitted students will be
allowed to take a restricted number of courses in their academic disciplines
concurrently with the ELI courses and must complete all required ELI courses
by the end of their first year at CMU. Once satisfactory proficiency
in English has been demonstrated, as determined by ELI policies these
restrictions will be removed. Please note that students are required
to pay tuition for ELI courses just as they would for any other CMU course |
Please note: Depending on the TOEFL scores submitted, applicants may be granted regular or conditional admission, or admission only to CMU's English Language Institute (ELI.)
(4) Applicants must show proof of sufficient funding to cover the cost of at least the first year of their graduate study. Proof of funding consists of a completed Financial Support Form and a current, original bank statement.
For the 2007-2008 estimated cost for international students attending CMU view our Cost Sheet.
(5) Students must complete a Central Michigan University Medical Information Form at the Office of International Education when they arrive on campus.
(6) All international students are required to have an approved health and accident insurance policy for the duration of their study. If a student already has health insurance, he/she must provide an English translation of the insurance policy as proof. If the policy is equal to or better than the CMU plan, the student will not be required to purchase additional insurance.
(7) International students must comply with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) regulations as well as with CMU regulations. Students should work closely with the International Admission Specialist in the College of Graduate Studies during the application process. Send e-mail to: grad@cmich.edu
Keep in mind that not all overseas bachelor's degrees are equivalent to 4-year U.S. bachelor's degrees. Also, not all international students have the correct visa to be awarded graduate assistantships.
For visa information and other
immigration questions, check with the Office
of International Education.
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Financial Assistance
Various options for
financial assistance are available to international graduate students at
Central Michigan University. The first three--graduate assistantships,
and College of Graduate Studies (CGS) assistantships and fellowships--are awarded on a
competitive basis and grant Michigan resident tuition. Departmental
assistantships and CGS Fellowships have application deadlines
early in the calendar year. Fellowships and full-time assistantships are generally awarded for one academic year (two semesters: fall and
spring); stipend payments begin in the fall semester of each year.
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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 teaching assistant is assigned a teaching load of six semester hours of courses, an 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 USCIS 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 2008-2009 academic year, a full-time graduate assistant pursuing a master's degree received an average academic year stipend of $10,300 and a tuition scholarship of 20 credits per year (valued at $7,760). An assistant pursuing a doctoral degree received an average stipend of $12,600 and a tuition scholarship of 20 credit hours (worth $8,820).
Please note: Assistantships do not always provide the full amount of financial support required for international students to receive an I-20. Additionally, assistantships are awarded on the basis of need and merit. It is very IMPORTANT to be aware that students not chosen to receive assistantships before arriving on campus are unlikely to receive them after reaching CMU.
CGS Assistantships
Administered by the College of Graduate Studies
Like departmental
assistantships, CGS assistantships are awarded on the basis of need and
merit. In the case of CGS assistantships, however, an additional
consideration is the applicant’s support of the advancement of diversity
in higher education. The
CGS assistantship application is available on the Graduate Studies website (www.grad.cmich.edu);
there is no application deadline. CGS assistantships are awarded for two
years, with the same stipends and tuition remission as those awarded by the
departments.
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Fellowships
Administered by the College of Graduate Studies
Fellowship application (PDF)
Graduate fellowships are offered by the College of Graduate Studies with the goal of promoting the support of diversity in higher education. More detailed fellowship information and fellowship application materials are available on the College of Graduate Studies website (www.grad.cmich.edu). Students who do not have access to the web may request that fellowship application materials be mailed to them by the College of Graduate Studies. Packets are available early in the fall of each year. 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.
The fellowship is valid for one academic year, grants in-state tuition, and provides 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 or GMAT score. In order to be certain the score reaches the College of Graduate Studies by the February 6 deadline, the GRE or GMAT must be taken no later than early December. The test scores are a critical part of the fellowship application, and applications without GRE or GMAT scores will not be considered.
Fellowships provide the
full amount of financial support required for international students to receive
an I-20. No additional proof of funding was required of international
students with fellowships in 2008-2009.
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On-Campus Employment
Administered by the Student Employment Office
Interested students should contact the Student Employment Office (SEO) and the Office of International Education AFTER arriving on campus in order to register with the SEO for on-campus employment.
Full-time international graduate students enrolled for a minimum of nine credit hours each semester can apply for on-campus employment through the SEO. Immigration rules allow such students to work a maximum of 20 hours per week on campus during the semester. On-campus jobs are extremely limited in availability, the pay is low, and the income received from them cannot be considered part of the financial support that must be proven in order to be issued an I-20.
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.
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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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