Apply to Graduate School

Admissions Account Instructions

Your Admissions Account is a portal that houses your application to the UND School of Graduate Studies. You'll log into your Admissions Account to submit your online application, check your application status and view your application checklist.

We recommend using Google Chrome when completing the application.

Create Admissions Account

Application Fee

A $35 non-refundable application fee is due at the time of submission. Payment can be made by credit card or electronic check in your Admissions Account.

Application fees are waived for McNairs Scholars.

Previous Applications

UND has transitioned to a new application process. If you've already started your UND application, login and continue your application in My Grad Space. 

If you have previously submitted an application to the School of Graduate Studies or if you want to submit multiple applications, you'll need to create a new Admissions Account.

To apply to a graduate degree program, send documents to the School of Graduate Studies not the department to which you are applying. The Master of Fine Arts portfolio is the only exception to this statement. We cannot guarantee that any documents received outside of the School of Graduate Studies will be attached to your application.

1. Official Transcripts

One official copy of ALL college and/or university academic transcripts must be submitted. Do not send high school, intermediate, or secondary transcripts.

• One official copy of all academic transcripts from all colleges and universities you have attempted credit at, including undergraduate and graduate course work, must arrive in an official manner.

• If the institution sends transcript via mail, it must arrive in envelopes sealed by the registrar.

• If the institution sends transcripts in an electronic manner, it must be received in a secure document format.

• Transcripts that have been opened or tampered with will not be accepted.

Transcripts from Outside the U.S. or Canada

• If you have attended  college or university outside of the U.S. or Canada, you must submit an official or attested copy of your transcript. If applicable, you must also submit an official or attested diploma or degree certificate.

• All documentation must be in English or have an English translation attached.

• Indian students must provide all official or attested mark sheets and a copy of their diploma.

• Chinese students must provide transcripts plus Graduation Certificate and Degree Diploma.

• A credential evaluation performed by a NACES member organization can be submitted in place of the transcript requirement.

2. Statement of Goals

A statement of goals or personal statement (about 1-2 pages in length) is required to assess your writing ability and determine if the program suits your needs. Some programs may require you to address certain questions or topics.

3. Test Scores and English Proficiency

All graduate admissions tests must be sent directly by the testing center. Photocopies are not accepted. Note that not all graduate programs require testing for admission.

4. Recommendations

All applications must include three letters of recommendation. It is preferable that the recommendations (references) come from those who can honestly evaluate your potential for graduate study. Reference letters may be submitted in lieu of the recommendation forms provided to you.

5. Program Requirements

Be sure to review academic programs for specific requirements. Some programs require additional materials such as an essay, resume, certification/licensure or experience in a specific field.

To apply to a graduate certificate program, provide the School of Graduate Studies with the following to complete your application.

1. Official Transcripts

• One official copy of all academic transcripts from all colleges and universities you have attempted credit at, including undergraduate and graduate course work, must arrive in an official manner.

• If the institution sends transcript via mail, it must arrive in envelopes sealed by the registrar.

• If the institution sends transcripts in an electronic manner, it must be received in a secure document format.

• Transcripts that have been opened or tampered with will not be accepted.

Transcripts from Outside the U.S. or Canada

• If you have attended  college or university outside of the U.S. or Canada, you must submit an official or attested copy of your transcript. If applicable, you must also submit an official or attested diploma or degree certificate.

• All documentation must be in English or have an English translation attached.

• Indian students must provide all official or attested mark sheets and a copy of their diploma.

• Chinese students must provide transcripts plus Graduation Certificate and Degree Diploma.

• A credential evaluation performed by a NACES member organization can be submitted in place of the transcript requirement.

2. Program Requirements 

Be sure to review academic programs for specific requirements. Some programs require additional materials such as an essay, resume, certification/licensure or experience in a specific field.

Seeking graduate courses without a degree? Non-degree applicants should provide the School of Graduate Studies with test scores and English Proficiency.

All graduate admissions tests must be sent directly by the testing center. Photocopies are not accepted. Note that not all graduate programs require testing for admission.

You must submit one complete application for each program and for each term to which you are applying to. For example, you may be:

• Applying to a program to which you have previously applied.
• Applying to a program after being a non-degree student.
• Applying to more than one program for a given semester.

Application Fees

An application will not be considered without payment of $35 USD. You will need to pay this fee for each application you submit. The application fee is non-refundable.

Written Statements

You must submit separate written statements for each application. We recommend that you prepare unique materials for each program and that you pay special attention to the Application Requirements by Program to ensure that you have prepared all of the required documents.

Test Scores

If you are applying to more than one program at the same time, your official test scores may be used for multiple applications.

The School of Graduate Studies will use official test scores from previous applications as long as they are still valid and they are still on file according to our record retention policy.

Transcripts

If you are applying to more than one program at the same time, your official transcripts may be used for multiple applications.

The School of Graduate Studies will use official transcripts from previous applications as long as your academic record at the institution has not changed and we still have the transcripts on file according to our record retention policy.

Letters of Recommendation

You will need to submit three letters of recommendation for each degree-seeking application you submit. Be sure to let your recommenders know precisely which program you are applying to. Recommendations will not be shared across multiple applications.

School of Graduate Studies 
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Grand Forks, ND 58202

We require a complete set of official transcripts for domestic applicants, which represents every college credit that you have attempted. An official transcript must be sent to us from the institution which originally issued the credit. We call this a complete academic record. We require this of each and every applicant to a certificate or degree program.

We want to know as complete a picture as possible of each applicant's academic career, and also:

• Obtaining an official transcript lets us know that you are not financially indebted to some other institution.
• Sometimes transfer credits lose grade information, or course titles change.
• Transcripts can and do change over time (grades are revised, degrees are added/revoked).
• transcripts contain more information than grades (i.e. degrees or certificates, accreditation, suspensions & dismissals, etc.)

We prefer that you submit a credential evaluation performed by ECE or WES for all international transcripts. If you cannot obtain a credential evaluation, we accept official or attested copies of your diploma or degree certificate sent by the registrar. All documentation must be in English or have an English translation attached. We require either an evaluation or official transcript be received in our office. We do not accept scanned, faxed, or emailed copies. We also will not return any official transcripts, so please do not send your personal copies. 

Indian students must provide all official or attested marksheets and a copy of their diploma. Chinese students must provide transcripts a copy of their Graduation Certificate or Degree Diploma.

If our staff are unable to perform an evaluation of your transcripts, we reserve the right to require that you have an evaluation completed and submitted. We will notify you if this additional requirement is needed.

For our purposes, "official" means sent directly from the issuing office to our receiving office. This definition comes from the policies of the North Dakota University System and cannot be petitioned. We judge transcripts to be official if:

• they arrive to us in an envelope sealed by the issuing institution,
• they arrive to us via a secured electronic transcript exchange program, of which we are already a member, or
• they arrive to us in an envelope sealed by a US State Department sponsored organization (e.g. USEF), and are attested by that organization.

Basically, we judge a transcript to be official by the way it was received. We must be vigilant about fraudulent credentials. You may include sealed envelopes with official transcripts inside of another envelope.

Also, keep in mind that the United States government considers educational records to be Federally protected and private. We cannot obtain your records unless you arrange for them to be sent them to us.

If you have previously attended UND, our admissions staff will attempt to obtain a copy of your transcript. You do not need to request an official UND transcript be sent to our office. Some of our older transcripts are not accessible by the School of Graduate Studies. If we are not able to retrieve your transcript for any reason, our admissions staff will contact you and you will need to request an official copy.

We keep application materials for anyone who becomes a student indefinitely, and we keep application materials for anyone who was denied admission for three years. When you apply again, we will search our archives to find transcripts you had previously submitted, and we will use those transcripts again. Please note, we will still need transcripts for any academic work you have done since that last application.

We consider all submitted applications to be incomplete until we have received all items (including official transcripts) required by the department to which you are applying. (Please consult the application instructions to see which items are required by your department.)

Your application will move to "Final Processing" when we have all required items. During this time, we determine your minimum eligibility for the program to which you applied, and we verify that we have a complete academic record. If we notice that we need another official transcript, your application will again become incomplete and you will be notified.

Also, please note that your application is only valid for the program and term indicated on your application. If your application has not yet received a decision on the fourth week of the semester to which you applied, your application will be administratively denied. Before you receive an official decision, you may submit an Application Change Request Form to change the admit term on the application. We will honor a request to change an admit term only once.

There have been some circumstances when obtaining an official transcript is not possible. Please read these items to see if a situation applies to you:

• If your institution will not release your transcript because of a financial, disciplinary, or academic hold, you will need to work with your institution to resolve the issue.
• If your domestic institution cannot locate your transcript, we will need to have a letter verifying that fact. This letter should come to us from the Registrar of your institution, or another person of sufficient authority. The letter should indicate the reason why the transcript is unobtainable. These letters will be considered on a case-by-case basis. If this applies to you, please email our Admissions team at gradschooladmissions@UND.edu, before you send any documents to us.
• If your institution awarded you transfer work based upon military service, we might request a letter from the Registrar of your institution, or another person of sufficient authority. This letter should explain that credit was issued based upon service and not coursework. These letters will be considered on a case-by-case basis. (Please note: credit for military service is not the same thing as credit earned from a college while in the military, e.g. Community College of the Air Force.)
• If your institution is/was located in a country affected by war or extreme natural disaster, we understand that your transcripts may be impossible to locate. If your institution is located in Iran, we understand that your transcript's envelope may be opened before it arrives to us. If either situation here applies to you, please email our Admissions team at gradschooladmissions@UND.edu, before you send any documents to us. These issues will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

The appearance of transfer credit on a transcript does not meet our requirement of a complete academic career. Therefore, if you have transferred credit, we must have a transcript from the institution which originally issued the credit.

Some students do not know that they have transferred credit, especially if they took college classes while in high school. If possible, you may want to speak to your institution to see if any credit has been transferred into your record.

Some students do not know that a study abroad experience also meant that credits were transferred. In some cases, a study abroad experience means that your college credits were originally issued by the foreign institution and not your home campus. If possible, you may want to speak to your institution to see if any credit has been transferred into your record.

If, during "Final Processing," we find that we have your complete academic record, we will send your application to the department for their review. You will be notified when this occurs. When your application is "Sent to Department," you will know that we have a complete academic record.

To be considered for admission, you will need to provide a complete academic record which is current at the time of your application. If you are admitted, we would need to then also receive an official transcript with your degree posted. (Some international students may need to send us an official copy of their diploma or degree certificates.) We would add this requirement to your official admission letter.

For domestic students, we would need to receive an official transcript with your degree posted by the end of your first semester. For international students, we would not be able to fully admit you until we received your transcript, diploma, or degree certificate.

An applicant may not petition our policies. However, a member of the graduate faculty may petition on your behalf. (This does not mean that the faculty will petition, and it does not mean that such a petition would be approved.) If you believe that you have a situation which warrants exceptional consideration, you may contact a faculty member of the program to which you are applying to ask if they would petition on your behalf.