Southern Illinois University-Carbondale

Admissions

Undergraduate Admissions

Students wishing to attend Southern Illinois University Carbondale should be aware that there is a stringent application process and that acceptance is not guaranteed. The college recommends that prospective students apply by September one year prior to planned admission in order to ensure that there is plenty of time to complete the admissions and enrollment process. Though they do have a comparatively high acceptance rate, students will need to meet several prerequisite requirements in order to be considered. All students seeking to attend SIUC, with the exception of students participating in the High School Concurrent Enrollment Program, are required to have either graduated from high school or earned a GED. Applicants must also submit high school transcripts, ACT or SAT scores and must meet transfer requirements if college-level work has been taken after high school graduation. For these students, a minimum of thirty-nine quarter hours must be transferable or else the student is required to register as a freshman. All applicant files are also reviewed for letters of recommendation, high school grade point averages (GPA’s), improvement throughout high school and any other factors which exhibit that the student would be successful at SIUC.

Graduate Admissions

Students wishing to apply as graduate students to Southern Illinois University Carbondale may apply in one of two ways. The student with defined career goals may apply to a specific program. Students who are still not sure exactly what program is right for them may apply to the graduate school as an undeclared student. For students that are applying to a specific program it is advisable to proceed with caution; many of the departments offer more than one degree at the master’s level. Regardless of whether the student is applying to a specific program or as an undeclared graduate student, the application may be submitted online and will be routed to Graduate Admissions Office in Woody Hall. All other correspondence and submissions should be addressed to the contact person of the graduate school that the student is applying for. There are generally tests such as the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) that must be taken prior to admission to a graduate program, so students should be aware of this and take any required test well in advance.

Students applying for graduate school who have completed a bachelor’s degree must have maintained a certain GPA on the last sixty graded semester hours of the degree. Students who have not yet graduated will be judged on the last forty-five hours of coursework completed. Students applying for transfer must also have averaged a minimum GPA on all previous graduate course work.

The rules for a student applying for transfer to a PhD program differ a bit; SIUC requires a minimum GPA on all previous graduate work. Entering PhD students may be accepted in two different ways. Students may be accepted via the Direct Entry Program, which means that they enter immediately into the PhD program from a bachelor’s program. This generally requires that an entering student have at least the minimum GPA determined by SIUC in undergraduate course work. Students accepted via the Accelerated Entry Program must enter as a master’s student, then may move up to the PhD program after one or two semesters when approved by the department.

SUI School of Law Admissions

Southern Illinois University Carbondale offers three different degree programs at their law school. For further information regarding admissions to the school, students should speak with admissions counselors at the SUI School of Law in order to discuss career goals and choose the degree that suits those goals. The Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) must be taken prior to applying to Law School. This test should ideally be taken no later than the middle of the first semester of the final year of undergraduate study so that results will be submitted to the law school in time for consideration.

SIU School of Medicine Admission

Southern Illinois University School of Medicine utilizes the same application system that most US and Canadian med schools do which is the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS). All information must be submitted via this service including academic, extracurricular and biographical information. MCAT test results should be submitted via AMSAS as well. The earliest that the application is available is June and the deadline date for all applications is November 15th. These are only dates that apply to the tests, so students should determine the deadline dates for SIU as they may be different.