Department of Economics at Illinois State University

Admission Requirements

To be admitted to the Master's Degree Program in Applied Economics, a student must have at least a 2.8 grade point average on a 4.0 scale for the last 60 semester hours of undergraduate work. Students also need a combined verbal and quantitative score of at least 950 on the Graduate Record Exam (GRE). The subject exam in economics is not required.

For admission without deficiencies, the student must have successfully completed basic college courses in calculus and statistics, and intermediate courses in microeconomic and macroeconomic theory. Students who do not meet these requirements may still be admitted into the program, but they will be expected to take additional coursework to remedy designated deficiencies.

In addition to the above requirements, international students must have achieved a minimum score of 550 (paper-pencil) or 213 on the computer test on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). Before a decision on admission (and financial aid) can be made, the university must receive official reports of GRE and TOEFL scores sent directly from ETS (photocopies of student reports will not suffice).

U.S. residents can be admitted into the program anytime prior to the beginning of a semester. The Fall semester starts in mid-August and the Spring semester begins in mid-January. International students must be admitted at least two months prior to the start of the semester to have sufficient time to comply with immigration requirements.

Illinois State requires a $40 nonrefundable application fee for both domestic and international students.

Admissions Applications and other information

A print version of the application materials can be downloaded from the ISU Graduate School home page or it can be mailed to you by contacting the Graduate Program Director. Applications for graduate school are available online with the ISU Admissions Office, in PDF form (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader).

ISU's graduate school has a comprehensive informational page for prospective students. On this page, you will find information including:

Admission Applications for US and international students
Applications for Graduate Assistantships
Declaration of Finance and other requirements for international students
Grants, scholarships and tuition waivers

The following are admissions requirements for domestic and international students:

admissions requirements for domestic applicants

  1. Completed application for admission for domestic students available at http://www.admissions.ilstu.edu/apply/default.asp
  2. Completed application for assistantship/tuition waiver available at http://www.grad.ilsyu.edu/financial/assistantships.shtml
  3. $40 non-refundable application fee (check, money order, credit card)
  4. Official copies of previous undergraduate and graduate studies
  5. Official scores of GRE
  6. Three letters of recommendation

admissions requirements for international applicants

  1. Completed application for admission for international students available at http://www.admissions.ilstu.edu/apply/
  2. Completed application for assistantship/tuition waiver available at http://www.grad.ilstu.edu/financial/assistantships.shtml
  3. $40 non-refundable application fee (check, money order, credit card)
  4. Declaration of Finance form
  5. Official copies of previous undergraduate and graduate studies (both in English and in native language)
  6. Official scores of GRE and TOEFL
  7. Three letters of recommendation