Program Admission
Admit Terms and Deadlines
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis; students may start the program in the Summer, Fall, or Winter. See Application Deadlines.
Minimum Graduate School Requirements
For full admission, applicants must have 1) Earned a four-year baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited U.S. institution or an equivalent degree from a non-U.S. institution, 2) a minimum cumulative undergraduate grade point average of 2.7 on a 4.0 scale, or 3.0 in the last half of the undergraduate program. Conditional admission may be available to applicants not meeting minimum admission requirements.
Program Requirements
Applicants must also meet the following program requirements:
- Candidates must hold an undergraduate major or minor in German
- Two letters of recommendation
- A personal statement in German (Instructions [PDF] )
- Candidates must complete an oral proficiency interview in the language of their specialization with a rating of “Advanced-low” on the ACTFL scale (Additional Information ).
Conditional admission may be granted to candidates with deficiencies in German. Such candidates must complete deficiency courses including, but not limited to, GERN 343L5 German Composition on Cultures and Civilization and GERN 344L5 Professional Conversation with Principles of Phonetics . Graduate credit will not be granted for these courses.
Application
Your application will be submitted using GradCAS, a Centralized Application Service (CAS) hosted by Liaison. After reviewing the admission requirements, please review the application instructions and select the appropriate application.
- Go to 2023-2024 GradCAS to apply to a program beginning in Summer 2024, Fall 2024, or Winter 2025.
- Go to 2024-2025 GradCAS to apply to a program beginning in Summer 2025, Fall 2025, or Winter 2026.
Domestic Applicants Within the application, follow the instructions to submit an official transcript from all previously attended institutions.
International Applicants Before applying, applicants must review the international application/process deadlines at emich.edu/international as they may differ from general program requirements.
For additional information regarding the application process, please see Graduate Admissions or International Admissions.
Required Courses: 15 hours
Choose fifteen credit hours from the following:
Restricted Elective Courses: 6 hours
With a faculty advisor’s approval, select six credit hours in a related content area.
For students who are current or future teachers, a cognate area in methodology may include six hours of coursework from among the following: FLAN 511 , FLAN 613 , GERN 560 , TSLN 501 , TSLN 520
Graduate Research and Thesis: 3 hours
Cultural Immersion Experience: 6 hrs
Students in all programs must complete a cultural immersion experience of at least six weeks in a German-speaking country. Students may satisfy this requirement through an EMU study abroad program in German, or through participation in a similar program of study sponsored by another accredited US university upon approval of the faculty of the German Program. Students should select a study abroad program in consultation with a faculty advisor before enrollment in any such program. Students who believe they have already fulfilled this requirement through previous experience or study may petition to the program’s faculty advisor. If the petition is approved, the candidate may substitute up to six hours of restricted electives for the international cultural immersion experience equivalencies.
Critical Graduation Information
Each graduate student is responsible for fulfilling the requirements or equivalents of the Eastern Michigan University catalog in force at the time of their initial registration or a subsequent catalog, including the one in effect at the time of their graduation.
Master’s degree requirements must be completed within six (6) years of first enrollment in the master’s degree program.
In the event a student does not complete the master’s degree requirements within six years of the date of their original registration, the student may be required to have their credits re-evaluated by the academic department(s) of their degree in keeping with catalog requirements in force during the year of their graduation.
The following are minimum requirements for all master’s degrees awarded by Eastern Michigan University. Some programs require more than the minimum in one or more areas below.
- A master’s degree must require a minimum of 30 credit hours.
- No more than six credits of independent study courses and no more than 12 credit hours of special topics and independent study courses combined may be applied to a graduate degree.
- Residency Requirement:
- For students admitted to master’s degree programs of 36 or fewer required hours, at least 24 new graduate hours beginning the semester of acceptance and enrollment into the degree program must be earned at EMU. The remaining program requirement hours may be met through transfer or prior degree credit (EMU or elsewhere).
- For students admitted to master’s degree programs of 37 or more required hours, at least 30 new graduate hours beginning the semester of acceptance and enrollment into the degree program must be earned at EMU. Minimum degree hours must still be met for graduation. The remaining program requirement hours may be met through transfer or prior degree credit (EMU or elsewhere).
- Residency and enrollment in multiple programs: Students enrolled in multiple master’s/specialist degree programs must have 24 unique credit hours in each degree program.
- Only credits from one completed graduate certificate may be applied to a master’s or specialist degree in a relevant field of study, as determined by the Graduate School and with the approval of the degree-granting academic department, and be included in the residency hours above.
- Students must maintain a 3.0 cumulative GPA in all graduate-level courses taken at EMU and in their program of study to remain in good academic standing and be eligible for graduation. Students do not need to be registered for classes during the semester of graduation.
- The Graduate School does not permit the use of undergraduate courses (499 and below) to meet degree requirements on graduate programs of study.
- Some master’s programs require a thesis; others require a special project or internship; others require students to pass a final exam. See the Graduate School website for Thesis and Dissertation Manuals, all forms, and information about research and human subject approval. Every completed thesis or dissertation must be submitted to Digital Commons. Any form of graduate student work submitted to Digital Commons must first be approved by a faculty advisor and the Graduate School.
