Graduate Admission

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Overview

The basic requirement for admission to a Strayer University graduate certificate or master’s degree program is completion of a baccalaureate degree with a cumulative GPA of 2.50 from an accredited institution. Where the degree has not yet been issued due to institutions only conferring degrees at certain times during the year, a letter from the registrar of the institution confirming that the degree requirements were completed prior to the start of the graduate degree will need to be presented and followed by submission of the degree or transcript showing degree conferral when available. International students applying for graduate admission must hold, at a minimum, the equivalent of a United States baccalaureate degree.

Strayer strives to maintain a multi-faceted student body; all undergraduate academic majors will be considered. Candidates who have not earned degrees from appropriate fields of study or who do not meet professional experience requirements may be required to take additional coursework (undergraduate/graduate) as a prerequisite for completing the program. Program prerequisites will be determined during the evaluation process.

Strayer requires a student's correct identifying number to file certain information returns with the IRS and to furnish a statement to the student. This will be a Social Security number (SSN) or, if not eligible to obtain a SSN, an individual taxpayer identification number. Nonresident aliens who do not have income that is subject to tax are not required to supply this information. Failure to provide the correct identifying number could result in a penalty from the IRS imposed on each incorrect document.

Candidates for a master’s degree or a graduate certificate (excluding those applying to the JWMI program) must provide the admissions office with all of the following:
1. A completed application form (https://application.strayer.edu/) available on www.strayer.edu and an enrollment agreement as applicable (varies by state).
2. At the time of admission, a valid, legible, current, color, government-issued photo identification.
3. Documentation of completion of a baccalaureate degree from an institutionally accredited institution, or documentation of completion of a master's degree or doctoral degree from an institutionally accredited institution, or an approved equivalent.
4. Official transcripts from all colleges or universities attended, both undergraduate and graduate.
5. Evidence of graduate potential; a graduate student applicant may demonstrate evidence of graduate potential by satisfactory performance in at least one of the following:
  1. A 2.50 undergraduate grade point average (GPA) on a 4.0 scale in a completed bachelor's degree program from an institutionally accredited institution.
  2. Completion of a graduate certificate at an institutionally accredited institution or completion of at least 9.0 quarter hours or equivalent of graduate-level coursework at an institutionally accredited institution with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher.
  3. Successful completion of an Advanced Professional Military Education program for military officers that is accredited for graduate academic credit by the American Council on Education.
  4. Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) – minimum acceptable cumulative score of 450 on the GMAT taken within the past five years. Information about this test can be obtained through the website (www.gmat.org) or by writing to: Graduate Management Admission Test Educational Testing Service, P.O. Box 6103, Princeton, NJ 08541-6103.
  5. Graduate Record Examination (GRE) – minimum acceptable cumulative score of 300 on the GRE taken within the past five years. Information can be obtained through the website (www.ets.org/gre), by writing to: GRE-ETS, P.O. Box 6000, Princeton, NJ 08541-6000, or by calling 1.866.473.4373.
  6. At least three years of professional experience in a leadership, management, or problem-solving role. Admission on this basis requires the completion of an Extended Goal Statement which will be reviewed by our Academics team.
    Application materials submitted become the property of Strayer University. These materials will not be returned to students or forwarded to another university. If unexplained discrepancies appear between statements or documents provided to Strayer University as part of the admission materials and information otherwise obtained, applicants may be rejected for admission, admission may be revoked, or students may be dismissed.
    Extraordinary circumstances: In the event that a student's official high school and/or college records are unable to be obtained from the issuing agency due to extraordinary circumstances, including but not limited to, flooding, fire, other natural disaster, pandemic, documented cyberattack (including ransomware attack) affecting the school/school system/institution that is independently verified by the school/institution, or in the case offoreign credentials, if there was governmental failure, civil war or social unrest, the student must provide to the University Registrar for a final admission decision: a copy of the Students With Extraordinary Circumstances Form for Basis of Admission Due to School Closure (Exception Form) or other similar form signed by the student and supporting documentation from the state department of education or other governmental agency verifying the information provided by the student, or documentation that the school/school system/institution is unable to process any requests due to the documented cyberattack. Where possible, students should submit other documentation to support what they select on the Exception Form.
Candidates for Jack Welch Management Institute programs must provide the following for admission:
1. A completed application (https://application.strayer.edu/) and enrollment agreement, as applicable.
2. At the time of admission, a valid, current, government-issued photo identification.
3. Documentation of completion of a baccalaureate degree from an institutionally accredited institution with a 3.0 or higher GPA on a 4.0 scale.
4. Official transcripts from all colleges or universities attended, both undergraduate and graduate.
5. A minimum of five years professional experience.
6. A résumé or LinkedIn profile.
7. A personal essay.
8. Satisfactory test score from the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) or Graduate Record Examination (GRE) taken within five years prior to enrollment. NOTE: This requirement will be automatically waived for applicants with a minimum of five years’ professional or business experience.
9. Evidence of graduate potential – in addition to the above, special consideration may be given to applicants who do not meet minimum GPA requirements but show graduate potential. A personal interview with the dean may be required.
10. Students transferring from a Strayer graduate degree program to the Jack Welch Management Institute must be in satisfactory standing with the university at the start of the first quarter in which they are enrolled.
11. Application materials submitted become the property of the Jack Welch Management Institute. These materials will not be returned to students or forwarded to another university. If unexplained discrepancies appear between statements or documents provided to the Jack Welch Management Institute as part of the admission materials and information otherwise obtained, applicants may be rejected for admission, admission may be revoked, or students may be dismissed.
Candidates for Media Design School at Strayer's Master of Fine Arts in Screen Scoring & Music Design program must provide the following for admission:
1. A completed application and enrollment agreement, as applicable.
2. At the time of admission, a valid, current, government-issued photo identification.
3. Documentation of completion of a baccalaureate degree from an institutionally accredited institution with a 2.50 undergraduate cumulative grade point average on a 4.0 scale.
4. Official transcripts from all colleges or universities attended, both undergraduate and graduate.
5. Transfer credit will not be accepted.
6. Students must be admitted and matriculated directly into program; they cannot be admitted into awaiting basis of admission status.
7. Demonstrated competency in music theory and harmony equivalent to at least a second-year undergrad level.
8. Three pieces of original recorded music of not less than 1:30 minutes each and no more than 4:00 minutes. The submitted works must be created solely by the student and may not include the use of artificial intelligence (AI) or AI-assisted composition, generation, or production tools. Students are required to attest that no AI was used in the creation of the submitted recordings by signing an affidavit.
  1. It is strongly suggested that at least one of the submitted works has been composed expressly for the purpose of this application and either written to accompany a video clip or based on one of the story synopses provided during the admissions process.
  2. At least one piece of music must be accompanied by a matching and properly notated score written using professional software such as Sibelius, Dorico, or MuseScore.
9. Statement of intent using the template provided during the admissions process.
10. Two letters of recommendation.
Candidates for Media Design School at Strayer's New Zealand-based programs can find the admissions policy by visiting: https://www.mediadesignschool.com/policies-and-procedures. Each program has specific entry requirements and those can be found listed with the details for each program.

Admission Classifications: Graduate

Full Acceptance – An applicant who meets all requirements for admission to the degree program, including satisfying the undergraduate prerequisite course requirements, is granted full acceptance status.

Acceptance with Provision – An applicant who meets all admission requirements, except for satisfying the undergraduate prerequisite courses, will be accepted into the degree program with the understanding that they must satisfactorily complete the designated prerequisite courses with a minimum grade of C. Prerequisite courses must be taken prior to the related graduate courses and are taken in addition to the courses required for the master’s degree. Graduate students should have a program evaluation completed within the first two terms of enrollment.

Readmission: Graduate

A student whose study is interrupted for three or more consecutive quarters must apply for readmission. Students may be subject to the current catalog and curriculum, and all other academic requirements and regulations in effect at the time of readmission. Graduate course work must be successfully completed within ten years from the student's initial term of attendance in a Strayer graduate degree within five years for a certificate program. This includes both course work taken at Strayer and course work taken elsewhere and transferred in. Courses required in a degree program that were successfully completed at Strayer more than 10 years prior to the term of admission or readmission must be retaken. Students should seek academic advising prior to registration. Students who have been dismissed/expelled are not eligible for readmission, or admission to a new program at Strayer, unless the dismissal/expulsion was overturned via the appeal process as described in the Student Handbook.

Awarding of Transfer Credit: Graduate Programs

Transfer students seeking evaluation of previous graduate-level credit must provide evidence the courses are comparable in content to those offered in the program of study at Strayer University and come from an institution that is recognized by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education or the American Council on Higher Education. Evaluation of transcripts or academic experience is conducted in accordance with university policy. Graduate transfer credit must be 4.5 quarter hours in length. No more than 18 quarter hour credits may be applied to a 12-course master’s degree program, no more than 13.5 quarter hour credits may be applied to a 10-course master's degree program, and no more than 4.5 quarter hour credits may be applied to a graduate certificate program. Students must have earned a grade of "B" or higher, Satisfactory (S), or Pass (P) to be accepted in transfer. Individual programs may require specific courses be completed at Strayer and may not be satisfied by a transfer equivalent. The university policy regarding requirements for degree completion is located in the Graduation, Degree Conferral and Commencement information under the Policies and Procedures section of this catalog.

All courses evaluated for transfer credit must have been completed within 10 years of the student's first term of attendance in a Strayer graduate degree program regardless of subject matter. Courses taken more than 10 years prior to the first term of attendance will not transfer in and will need to be retaken. Students in residence at Strayer who choose to take a course at another institution in order to transfer those credits into their program are required to submit a Request to Pursue Courses form to an academic administrator prior to enrolling at the outside institution.

Duplicate transfer credit is not permitted and will not be posted. If a student submits transcripts from two institutions or sources that include credit for the same or similar course, credit from only one source will be posted.

Strayer University accepts transfer credit from international institutions that is deemed equivalent to coursework in the United States. All international education documents are submitted to an approved third-party evaluation provider that is a National Association of Credential and Evaluation Services member and must meet the same criteria as listed above.

If a student is on disciplinary suspension at Strayer University, any courses taken during the period of suspension at one of Strayer University's affiliates, or at any other institution, will not be accepted as transfer credit towards any Strayer University academic program.

Awarding of Transfer Credit: Jack Welch Management Institute (JWMI)

Transfer students seeking evaluation of previous graduate level credit must provide evidence the courses are comparable in content to those offered in the program of study at Strayer University and come from an institution that is recognized by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education or the American Council on Higher Education. Evaluation of transcripts or academic experience is conducted in accordance with university policy.

Upon completion of the transfer evaluation, a student may receive up to 18.0 quarter hours of credit toward the completion of a Jack Welch Management Institute (JWMI) Master of Business Administration program at Strayer and up to 4.5 quarter hours of credit toward the completion of a JWMI graduate certificate. No courses with grades below a B will be accepted in transfer. Undergraduate credits may be accepted only with an Articulation Agreement between JWMI and an approved institutionally accredited university or college. Only those courses determined to be eligible for transfer will be accepted. Students should contact the academic office for the list of courses eligible for transfer.

All courses evaluated for transfer must have been completed within 10 years of the student's first term of attendance in a JWMI degree or certificate program. Courses taken more than 10 years prior to the first term of attendance will not transfer in and will need to be retaken.

JWMI students may earn up to three courses of advanced standing credit if they hold a current and verifiable professional certification. The list of certifications and corresponding courses will be updated as needed and posted on the university website.

Master's-Level Business Programs: BUS 508 Policy

Students enrolled in the 10 or 12-course Master of Science in Management, or the 12-course Master of Business Administration in North Carolina or Pennsylvania, who have earned an undergraduate bachelor's degree, with a cumulative GPA above 2.50, in a business-related program (for example, business administration, management, accounting, marketing, or finance), may seek authorization from an academic advisor to replace BUS 508: Contemporary Business with another graduate business elective course of their choice.

Students enrolled in the 10 or 12-course Master of Science in Management, or the 12-course Master of Business Administration in North Carolina or Pennsylvania, who have earned an undergraduate bachelor's degree in a business-related program but with a cumulative GPA below 2.50 or who have not earned an undergraduate bachelor's degree in a business-related program are required to take BUS 508: Contemporary Business within their first two terms at Strayer.

Students who transfer into the 10-course Master of Business Administration (MBA) program after the spring 2017 quarter who already successfully completed BUS 508: Contemporary Business should note that the credits earned in BUS 508 will not transfer into the 10-course MBA program as an elective and will not satisfy the program's required courses or concentration requirements.

Undergraduate Admission

Additional Admission Requirements for International Students