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. Requirements may be more stringent than the minimum graduate school requirements.
- Prior completion of at least 2 courses with substantial content on women and/or gender (with a grade of B or better), or completion of at least 1 course with substantial content on women and/or gender (with a grade of B or better) and concurrent registration in either WGST 200 or WGST 202 .
- A minimum cumulative undergraduate GPA of 2.75 on a 4.0 scale, with 3.0 in the last half of the undergraduate program, or a minimum of 3.0 in previous graduate coursework.
- A written statement of 2-3 pages (double-spaced) that demonstrates graduate-level writing and proficiency and includes:
- An explanation of the student’s academic goal–specifically areas in the field of WGST that they find particularly appealing, professors at EMU with whom they would like to work with and why, and ideas related to the field of WGST and the role of women in society, that they hope to pursue in the course of graduate study.
- An explanation of the student’s professional goals and how their WGST certificate will help attain those goals.
- Discuss any prior professional and/or community-based experience related to women and/or gender and how that informs the student’s understanding of the field of women’s and gender studies.
- An explanation of how previous coursework related to women and/or gender shaped that student’s desire to pursue further study; e.g. the particular courses and writers that have influenced them.
- Two letters of recommendation from professors, employers, or others address the student’s professional or academic preparation and ability to complete the graduate certificate successfully.
International Applicants Students whose first language is not English, demonstrated English language proficiency as shown by official test scores of 7 on the International English Language Testing System (IELTS); for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), a 91 on iBT.
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.
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.
