To be eligible for admission to master’s degree programs, students must hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university and present a record of prior academic performance that indicates potential for success in graduate level studies. Applicants with a grade point average of 3.0 or better (on a 4.00 scale) for the final 60 semester credit hours of undergraduate and/or graduate courses and who satisfy specific departmental criteria are generally eligible for admission to degree candidacy.

Applicants with a grade point average between 2.75 and 2.99 for the final 60 semester credit hours of undergraduate and/or graduate courses (on a 4.00 scale) and who satisfy specific departmental criteria are generally eligible for admission to degree candidacy; not all programs offer conditional admission. Students who meet the prescribed requirements should contact the Graduate School Office and file a written request (Change of Status Form) to have their conditional status changed.

Graduating seniors who will have completed the bachelor's degree before their first term of enrollment as a graduate student may apply and be considered for early admission. In this case, admission will be conditional upon receipt by the Graduate School of an official transcript showing the conferral of the bachelor’s degree. Undergraduates who do not subsequently receive the bachelor’s degree will have their graduate admission rescinded and any graduate credit earned will be lost.

Prospective students who wish to enroll at Chicago State University by taking a few graduate level courses before committing to a degree program, should apply for admission to CSU as a graduate-at-large student. Only 12 credit hours can be accepted into the program once admitted (9 credit hours from an outside institution). Graduate-at-large student's do not qualify for any financial assistance (loans included).

Student's absent from their program of admittance for 2 years or more must apply for readmission. Degree seeking student's applying for readmission must not have exhausted the allotted time for completion of their program.

Graduate students who have withdrawn from the university in good academic standing (i.e., with a grade point average of 2.8 or better and with all accounts cleared prior to withdrawal) and who wish to re-enroll, should apply to the Graduate School prior to the beginning of the semester or term for which they plan to reenter. If a student is not enrolled for one calendar year or more, the student is responsible for knowing degree requirements in effect at the time of resumption of enrollment. Exceptions are possible only at departmental discretion. The degree requirements in effect at the time of resumption of enrollment are the ones to be followed unless the department grants an exception. The department to which the student was originally admitted must review the returning student's application.

Graduate students who have withdrawn from the university in good academic standing (i.e., with a grade point average of 2.0 or better and with all accounts cleared prior to withdrawal) and who wish to re-enroll, should apply to the Graduate School prior to the beginning of the semester or term for which they plan to reenter. No additional fee is required.

Completed applications are screened by the Graduate School and applications that meet minimum requirements are then sent to the coordinator of the program to which the applicant is applying. After the departmental review, the graduate advisors inform the Graduate School of their decisions. Notification of admission decisions are not made over the telephone, each applicant will receive a letter informing them of the departments' decisions.

Deadlines for application for admission to a degree program are March 15th for the fall semester (March 1st for Counseling applicants) and October 15th for the spring semester.  Not all programs admit during the spring terms; summer admissions coincides with fall term admission.

Official transcripts from all college level institutions ever attended are required. An official transcript is not required for Chicago State University earned credits. Transcripts used for previous admission to the university undergraduate and/or graduate schools may not be reused.

The last 60 credit hours of the students academic record (graduate and undergraduate) are used to calculate the minimum GPA requirement. The Graduate School required minimum GPA for full admission consideration is 3.00 on a scale of A = 4; a GPA of 2.75 is needed for conditional admission. Several programs have more stringent requirements and require additional requisites for admission consideration. Be advised that not all graduate programs admit students conditionally.

All college credit for prospective students is calculated for admission based on the last 60 hours. All grades are to be converted to a 4 - point grading system. Pass/fail, satisfactory, completed credit and similar grades are not to be included in these calculations. Except as already noted, all numerical, alphabetical or equivalent grades are calculated as follows:

• Multiply quarter credit hours by (.66) to convert to semester credit hours.
• Multiply the number of semester credit hours for each course by the number of quality or honor points earned, as follows: A=4; B=3; C=2; D=1; F=O.
• If the applicant attended an institution that assigned quality points to represent + or - grades, the student should not utilize such information in computing the GPA.
• Divide the total number of quality points by the total number of semester credit hours. The quotient will be your grade point average.