The general university admission requirements are:
Hold the equivalent of a U.S. Bachelor's degree
If you were educated outside of the United States, you must have earned a degree or diploma that SFSU considers to be the equivalent to a U.S. Bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution. An official determination of eligibility will be made during the application process.
Have the equivalent of a U.S. 3.0 GPA or "B" average
Your overall marks, average exam scores or average grade earned should be better than average or better than passing.
English language proficiency
You must demonstrate your English language ability by submitting a TOEFL or IELTS score that meets our minimum requirement or hold a U.S. Bachelor's or Master's degree. Individuals educated in English speaking countries do not need to provide a TOEFL, IELTS or PTE score.
China
Eligible Degrees: Bachelor’s Degree. We do not consider a “Certificate of Completion” equivalent to a Bachelor’s degree.
Required Academic Documents: Submit English and Chinese versions of a graduation certificate, bachelor’s degree certificate and transcripts. Official academic documents must be university issued and arrive in our office in a sealed university envelope.
GPA Equivalency: a GPA of "B" or higher is required for graduate study
| Grade Scale 1 | US Equivalency |
|---|---|
| 85- 100 75 - 84 60 - 74 0 - 59 | A B C F |
| Grade Scale 2 | US Equivalency |
|---|---|
| 90 - 100 80 - 89 70 - 79 60 - 69 0 - 59 | A B C D F |
English Language Proficiency Requirement (TOEFL / IELTS / PTE)
All graduate study applicants, regardless of citizenship, whose native language is not English must demonstrate English language proficiency. To demonstrate your English language ability, you should submit an official Test of English as a Foreign Language(TOEFL), International English Language testing System(IELTS), or Pearson Test of English(PTE) Academic score report to the Division of Graduate Studies. If you earned a U.S. Bachelor's or Master's degree, the English language testing requirement will be waived.
Minimum Scores:
The Division of Graduate Studies minimum TOEFL, IELTS, and PTE Academic scores are:
TOEFL (www.toefl.org)
550 Total score on the paper based test
OR
80 Overall score on the internet based test (iBT TOEFL)
OR
IELTS (www.ielts.org)
Overall band score of 7.0
OR
PTE Academic (www.pearsonpte.com)
Pearson Test of English (PTE) Academic overall score of 65.
