In order to be eligible for admission, international applicants must hold, or be in the process of obtaining, the equivalent of a U.S. baccalaureate degree. In addition to the standard application documents, international applicants are required to submit a transcript evaluation (see below ) and an English proficiency exam (see below), depending on where they completed their baccalaureate degree.
Please note:
In order to provide enough time for visa processing, applicants who will require a student visa to attend Teachers College must submit their application by the following deadlines:
Please note that if your program has an earlier deadline than the above, you must abide by the program deadline. Visit the Academic Programs page to confirm the application deadline for your intended program.
Because our office is currently operating remotely, we are unable to check our mailbox for paper application credentials. please see the guidelines below for submitting application credentials during the coming weeks.
Transcripts from Institutions in the United States
If you have attended an institution that offers official e-transcript delivery, please utilize that option. If your previous institution only offers paper transcript delivery, we encourage you to have a transcript issued to your personal address. Take a picture of that transcript and upload it as "unofficial" within your application for admission.
Course-by-Course Evaluations of Transcripts from Institutions Outside of the United States
Both WES and ECE are experiencing evaluation delays at this time. If you have been informed that your evaluation will be delayed beyond the point of your application deadline, please contact our office at admission@tc.columbia.edu for next steps.
Applicants who have completed, or are completing, undergraduate and/or graduate degrees at institutions outside of the United States that are not regionally accredited institutions as recognized by the U.S. Department of Education are required to submit a course-by-course translation and evaluation. The evaluations must be prepared and sent by one of the two providers listed below.
Please note this does not pertain to students from the United States spending a semester or year abroad, often referred to as "study abroad."
Teachers College will accept evaluations from the following organizations:
These organizations provide several types of evaluations. Please select the course-by-course evaluation option to ensure your evaluation meets our requirements for admission review.
Applications are not considered complete without a course-by-course evaluation. The determination of degree equivalency to a U.S. degree is at the discretion of the College. Once submitted to Teachers College, the evaluation becomes an official academic record and sole property of Teachers College upon its receipt.
If you received your baccalaureate degree from an institution where English is not the sole official language of instruction, you must submit official scores from one of the below accepted English proficiency exams. Please note that an English proficiency test is required, regardless of where you received a graduate degree (if any).
In order to be considered official, scores must be sent directly from the testing administrator and have been taken within the past 2 years.
The accepted tests and minimum scores are:
If you have taken the TOEFL exam multiple times and your MyBest Score meets the minimums posted above, please have ETS send us score reports from all applicable test dates. Then, please contact the Office of Admission at admission@tc.columbia.edu
If you require a student visa to attend Teachers College, the Office of International Students and Scholars will provide you with instructions after you have been officially admitted.