Program Admission

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 who do not meet minimum admission requirements.

Applicants must also meet the following program requirements. Requirements may be more stringent than the minimum graduate school requirements.

• Applicants must have completed a master’s degree from an accredited university with a minimum GPA of 3.3 on a 4.0 scale.
• Submit recommendation forms from two professional supervisors and/or supervising professors that address the quality of the applicant’s professional work. The completed forms are due within the online Application for Graduate Admissions. By entering the recommender’s email address within the online application, they will be able to upload a letter and the required recommendation form directly to your application. The recommendation form must come directly from your reference.
• Submit a résumé that details their professional and educational experiences.
• A personal statement of accomplishments and academic goals portion describing the reasons for requesting admission. This essay must be a minimum of 250 words and will be reviewed as an indicator of writing ability.

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.

• 2022-2023 Application
• 2023-2024 Application

Domestic Applicants Within the application, applicants will follow the instructions to submit official transcripts from the institution(s) that granted their bachelor’s and graduate degrees.

If the bachelor’s degree-granting transcript does NOT list 30 or more credit hours with an overall GPA of 3.0 or over OR list 60 or more credit hours with an overall GPA between 2.7 and 2.99, the applicant is required to submit transcripts from all previously attended institutions. The University may ask applicants to submit additional transcripts after applying.

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.

Admission Process

The admission process is as follows:

1. The Office of Admissions will receive and gather ALL required documents. Completed applications that contain the required GPAs, confidential appraisal forms, and résumé are forwarded to the coordinator of advising for the educational leadership program.
2. The faculty review committee will review completed applications. Those applicants who have submitted acceptable GPAs, résumé, recommendations, and personal statement are admitted, assigned an advisor, and invited for an advising interview. An application may be deemed “questionable” due to a combination of low GPA, fair or poor recommendations, poor writing ability, and/or statements inconsistent with the student’s goals as an administrator. The entire faculty will review these “questionable” applications, giving special consideration to the life experiences, verbal skills, writing skills, educational background, and GPAs.
3. Those persons whose applications are accepted are notified.
4. All decisions by the faculty regarding admissions are final.

Department Information

Leadership & Counseling 304 Porter, 734.487.0255

Kimberly Kappler Hewitt, PhD, Department Head

Advisor Information

Ronald Clement, PhD, 304 Porter, 734.487.0255

Phillip Caldwell, PhD, 304 Porter, 734.487.0255

Certificate Requirements: 21 hours (minimum)

21 credit hours (minimum) of required EMU educational leadership specialist program courses (with an approved master’s degree) typically along with the basic (Initial) certificate in K-12 administration (principal/assistant principal licensure) to be determined with the program advisor. The two credit hour Administrative Internship is required. Courses must have the approval of the program advisor before the beginning of the program.

• The advisor must approve course substitutions/program changes before registration.
• The faculty has prepared a suggested list of courses outside the program. Other courses may be used for electives in this area if approved by the student’s advisor.
• Internship information is available from the director of the intern program or at emich.edu/coe/lc. Internship placements should be arranged at least one semester in advance and approved by the internship director.

• EDLD 609 Team Building and Consensus Decision-Making of Educational Leadership 3 hrs
• EDLD 615 Collective Negotiations in Education 3 hrs
• EDLD 616 Educational Facilities Planning 3 hrs
• EDLD 617 Administering Human Resources in Education 3 hrs
• EDLD 631 Human Relations Skills for Educational Leaders 3 hrs
• EDLD 710 Leadership Theory 3 hrs
• EDLD 714 Data-Driven Decision Management for Educational Leaders 3 hrs
• EDLD 725 The Superintendency and District Level Leadership 3 hrs
• EDLD 726 Leadership for System-Level Learning and Professional Growth 3 hrs
• EDLD 727 Allocation and Management of District and Community Resources 3 hrs
• EDLD 740 Advanced Organizational Theory 3 hrs
• EDLD 787 Internship in Educational Administration 2 hrs
• EDLD 788 Internship in Educational Administration 3 hrs
• EDLD 789 Internship in Educational Administration 4 hrs
• select 800-level EDLD doctoral courses

Critical Graduation Information

Each graduate student is responsible for fulfilling the requirements or their 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.

Graduate Certificate requirements must be completed within three (3) years of first enrollment in a course applicable to the certificate. Dually enrolled students (certificate and master’s program) must complete both degrees within six years of first enrollment in the master’s degree. 

In the event a student does not complete the graduate certificate degree requirements within three 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 the minimum requirements for all graduate certificate degrees awarded by Eastern Michigan University. Some programs require more than the minimum in one or more areas below.

• A graduate certificate must require a minimum of 12 credit hours.
• No more than six credits of independent study courses and 12 credit hours of special topics and independent study courses combined may be applied to a graduate degree.  
• Residency Requirement - For students admitted to a graduate certificate program, at least nine graduate hours beginning the semester of acceptance and enrollment into the program must be earned at EMU. Students completing multiple certificate programs must have a minimum of 9 unique credit hours per certificate.
• Application of completed certificates toward prior degree credit - 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 of the master’s program.
• The Graduate School does not permit the use of undergraduate courses (499 and below) to meet degree requirements on graduate programs of study.
• 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.