Admissions
Applicants may apply to the program with either a bachelor's or master's degree in Sociology or in a cognate area of study in the social sciences. Non-UTEP applicants will be evaluated in terms of UTEP standards but also vis-à-vis the specific program from which the student originates. The 61 credit curriculum (see below) is designed for students admitted with B.A. degrees. Students possessing M.A. or M.S. degrees obtained in related areas may be admitted to the program with graduate credit hours transferred and accepted in substitution for UTEP courses included in the required curriculum if they are deemed by the admission committee and the Graduate School to be equivalent to UTEP courses in the degree plan. Applicants without a social science background may be admitted on the condition of additional course work to make up any training deficit.
Admission to the program requires:
· A letter of intent and research interests
· Three letters of recommendation, and
· A minimum GPA of 3.0
· Transcripts and diploma/certificates of all universities and colleges attended prior to application
· TOEFL/IELTS if all degrees are conferred in non-English speaking countries
GRE results are encouraged but not required. A writing sample will strengthen and help the admissions committee to evaluate your application. Writing samples should be sent to SociGrad@utep.edu.
If English is not the student’s first language or if English is not the official language spoken in the student’s home country, they must submit results of either the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) or the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). The current requirements can be found under Admissions in the Graduate catalog. . Applicants not meeting these requirements may be directed first to UTEP’s English Language Institute, which provides English instruction to graduate students. International students seeking graduate teaching assistantships whose native language is not English may also be required to submit an acceptable score on the Test of Spoken English (TSE). Applicants who have received a bachelor's or graduate degree from an accredited institution in the United States, English-speaking Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and other English-speaking countries are exempt from submitting TOEFL scores.
The final deadline for applications is March 15th.