Prospective Students
Prospective students are encouraged to read the entirety of the information provided below.
Applicants must meet requirements set by both Graduate Admissions and the Department of World Languages & Cultures.
Click Here to Go To The Application Page
How to Apply
All applicants must submit an electronic application through the Apply Yourself website.
All application materials - excluding the Proof of Language Proficiency and Application for Teaching Fellowship or Assistantship - must be uploaded to the AY site by the Department deadline in order to be considered for Fall admission.
Admissions Deadline
The Department of World Languages & Cultures has application deadlines that differ from Graduate Admissions. In order to be considered for admission, please adhere to the deadlines below.
International Students - December 15
Domestic Students - January 15
Applicants will be notified of the Department's decision by email no later than March
15th.
As a rule, the Department only accepts applications for fall admission.
Graduate School Requirements
Every applicant must meet the requirements set by the Graduate School.
Minimum requirements:
- An undergraduate GPA of at least 3.0, based on all undergraduate work. If the undergraduate GPA is below 3.0, a GPA will be calculated on the last 60 semester hours (90 quarter hours) of the undergraduate work for admission consideration.
- A bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university.
International students are subject to additional application requirements; for further information about International Graduate students, click here.
Proof of English Language Proficiency must be demonstrated in one of the following ways:
- TOEFL: minimum score of 80 (Internet-based test) or 550 (paper-based test)
- IELTS: An overall minimum band score of 6.5
Minimum score requirements are subject to change. Please have results sent to the University of Utah - Office of Admissions.
Departmental Requirements
All applicants must upload a "Statement of Purpose" wherein they address their academic preparation, intellectual goals, critical interest in the area of proposed study, and reasons for applying to our graduate program. In addition, all applicants should describe their language ability and experience.
CLCS applicants should also address their language area and research interest along with a potential faculty mentor.
Please include your name, the program to which you are applying, and your e-mail address in bold typeface at the top left of the document.
All applicants are required to submit two samples of critical writing.* One must be in English; one must be in the target language (defined as the language you intend to study). Each writing sample should be a minimum of 5-10 pages in length. Please submit writing samples that best display your writing ability in English and the target language.
*CLCS applicants are only required to submit one writing sample in English, 5-10 pages in length. An additional writing sample in the target language is optional.
Upload both writing samples to the AY site in one document. Please include a blank page between the two samples.
All applicants are required to submit three letters of recommendation. Letters of recommendation are requested and received through the AY website. Please do not send letters to the department or admissions.
Letters of recommendation should speak to your ability to do advanced literary studies, as well as your ability/proficiency in the language/literature area(s) in which you propose to do your work. At least two of the letters should be from professors who can speak to your ability as a student of literature. If you have prior teaching experience, you might include one letter from a teaching supervisor, but this is not required.
For MALP and WLMA applicants, letters of recommendation should speak to your potential for success in a graduate program, ability/proficiency in the language areas in which you propose to do your work, and teaching ability/potential.
The graduate programs in the Department of World Languages & Cultures do not require the GRE.
Native speakers of English must submit a compressed audio file with a representative sample of their conversational ability in their target language.
Native speakers of the target language are required to do the same in English.
Applicants should speak for roughly 3 minutes about their interest in the subject they propose to study and their purpose in seeking a graduate degree. While applicants should consider in advance what they want to discuss, the sample should demonstrate that they are speaking freely rather than reading from a prepared text.
CLCS and WLMA applicants are not required to supply a spoken sample unless they are interested in a Teaching Assistantship in a specific language.
Recordings must be received by the Department deadline. Please send audio files to WLC Graduate Advising.
Please answer the following supplementary questions in a Word document and upload it to your application in the AY system.
- What are your academic interests? Pedagogy/language/culture/literature or a combination of these?
- Do you possess a secondary teaching license or dual language immersion endorsement in Utah or another US state?
- Are you interested in teaching middle/high school or post-secondary students?
- Are you interested in teaching a foreign language, English as a second language, or dual immersion?
- Are you interested in teaching in Utah, the United States, or elsewhere?
- What specific reasons led you to apply for the WLMA program and a Master's degree in our department? Do you seek higher ranking in your current employment by acquiring a graduate degree?
Applicants interested in being considered for a Teaching Assistantship should complete an application and email it to WLC Graduate Advising.
For the application and more details, please see Funding Opportunities.
After You Are Admitted
If you are admitted to a graduate program, you will be asked to provide an official copy of your college transcripts, sent directly from each previous school to the Office of Admissions at the address below. The University of Utah accepts electronic transcripts as official from the following agencies only: Docufide by Parchment, National Student Clearinghouse, AVOW and Scrip-Safe.
Please send electronic transcripts to admisstranscripts@sa.utah.edu
Office of Admissions, Graduate Admissions Division
The University of Utah
201 S 1460 E
Room 250 S SSB
Salt Lake City, UT 84112
Documents submitted for admission become the property of the University of Utah and cannot be returned.
Failure to provide final academic credentials will cause a registration hold to be placed on your record which will keep you from further registration until all missing credentials are received.