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Undergraduate Application Requirements

International Student Information

Make sure you have everything ready and on time with our Application Checklist for St. John’s University.

Information listed on this page is subject to change. Please email is at [email protected] with any questions you have.

Application Requirements

APPLICATION

  • Complete and submit an online application. There is no application fee for online submissions.
  • Include a statement of activity if you have a gap in your education of more than three months between your graduation date and date of application submission.
  • An essay and recommendation letters are strongly encouraged, but not required, for all programs except for Pharmacy, which requires both.

TRANSCRIPTS

  • Official academic records and/or official certificates/results from the Ministry of Education or secondary school in original language with official English translation.
  • Official examination results (if taken) from the examining board (i.e., International Baccalaureate, General Certificate of Education, Caribbean Examinations Council, West African Examinations Council).
  • Students who are home-schooled outside of the U.S. need to submit a NACES memberevaluation.
  • For expedited foreign transcript evaluation service at a discounted rate you may complete a SpanTran Foreign Transcript Evaluation Application Form.

LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY REQUIREMENTS

  • A TOEFL, IELTS, DUOLINGO, or PTE-Academics test score is required to demonstrate English language proficiency for applicants from a non-English-speaking country.
  • Applicants graduating from a secondary school in countries where an official language is English are not required to submit a language proficiency test score. See list below for specific countries. (LINK TO BELOW)*
  • When an English language proficiency test score is provided, the SAT or ACT is optional, unless your program of choice requires it.
  • Students who want to be reviewed for Conditional Admission do not need to submit English language proficiency test scores or SAT/ACT, but must indicate their interest for Conditional Admission on their application. 

SAT or ACT SCORES

  • SAT or ACT scores are not required for applicants from English-speaking countries*, from students who have completed their entire high school education (four years) in the United States, from students who submit an English Language proficiency test score, or from students requesting to be reviewed for Conditional Admission.
  • If you are not required to submit an English language proficiency result (see information above) and do not want to submit an SAT/ACT, you can request to be reviewed as Test-Optional through your student application portal.
  • If you would like to submit SAT or ACT results, please use St. John’s school code 2799 for SAT and 2888 for ACT.

There are three different pathways to admission for international undergraduate students:

Direct Admission

The English Language Immersion Toward Excellence (ELITE) program

Conditional Admission

  • For students that meet minimum academic and language proficiency requirements

 

  •  Provides students the opportunity to enroll full-time in their degree program,
  • Students take a combination of credit-bearing English as a second language (ESL) and content-area courses.
  • Credit-bearing ESL courses may fulfill an elective or foreign-language requirement.

 

  • Available for applicants who are academically admissible, but have not demonstrated satisfactory English proficiency or are not planning to submit tests scores.
  • Students enroll in the full-time, non-credit English Language Institute (ELI).
  • Upon successful completion of the ELI, students enroll in their degree program and take credit-bearing ESL classes concurrently with content-area courses.

 

Language proficiency test scores for each admission pathway are as follows:

Language Proficiency Test

Direct Admission

ELITE Admission

Conditional Admission

TOEFL

80+

61-79

33-60 or no score

IELTS

6.5+

6

5.5-3.0 or no score

Duolingo

105+

90-100

≤89 or no score

PTE Academic

53+

52-44

≤43 or no score

SAT (Verbal/EWR)

440+

400-430

≤399 or no score

ACT (English)

30+

26-29

≤25 or no score

 

APPLICATION

  • Complete and submit an online application. There is no application fee for online submissions.
  • Include a statement of activity if you have any gaps of enrollment for a period of three months or longer during your academic history.
  • An essay and recommendation letters are strongly encouraged, but not required, for all programs except for Pharmacy, which requires both.

TRANSCRIPTS

  • Official college transcripts with an official English translation
  • Official academic records and or official certificates/results from the Ministry of Education or secondary school in original language with official English translation.
     This is required if you do not have an Associate's degree or equivalent.
  • Official examination results (if taken) from the examining board (i.e., International Baccalaureate, General Certificate of Education, Caribbean Examinations Council, West African Examinations Council).
     This is required if you do not have an Associate's degree or equivalent.
  • Official course-by-course evaluation from a NACES (www.naces.org) accredited evaluation service.
  • For expedited foreign transcript evaluation service at a discounted rate you may complete a SpanTran Foreign Transcript Evaluation Application Form.
  • The College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences require evaluations to be completed by World Education Services (www.wes.org)
     *International Transfer Admitted students must provide a course-by-course evaluation no later than July 15, if planning to enroll.

LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY REQUIREMENTS

  • A TOEFL, IELTS, DUOLINGO, or PTE-Academics test score may be required to demonstrate English language proficiency for applicants from a non-English-speaking country.
  • Applicants graduating from a secondary school in countries where an official language is English are not required to submit a language proficiency test score. See list below for specific countries.*
  • Students who would like to be reviewed for Conditional Admission do not need to submit English language proficiency test scores.

There are three different pathways to admission for international undergraduate students:

Direct Admission

The English Language Immersion Toward Excellence (ELITE) program

Conditional Admission

  • For students that meet minimum academic and language proficiency requirements

 

  •  Provides students the opportunity to enroll full-time in their degree program,
  • Students take a combination of credit-bearing English as a second language (ESL) and content-area courses.
  • Credit-bearing ESL courses may fulfill an elective or foreign-language requirement.

 

  • Available for applicants who are academically admissible, but have not demonstrated satisfactory English proficiency or are not planning to submit tests scores.
  • Students enroll in the full-time, non-credit English Language Institute (ELI).
  • Upon successful completion of the ELI, students enroll in their degree program and take credit-bearing ESL classes concurrently with content-area courses.

 

Language proficiency test scores for each admission pathway are as follows:

Language Proficiency Test

Direct Admission

ELITE Admission

Conditional Admission

TOEFL

80+

61-79

33-60 or no score

IELTS

6.5+

6

5.5-3.0 or no score

Duolingo

105+

90-100

≤89 or no score

PTE Academic

53+

52-44

≤43 or no score

*American Samoa; Antigua and Barbuda; Australia; Bahamas; Barbados; Belize; Bermuda; Botswana; British Virgin Islands; Canada (except Quebec, unless English native speaker or attended English high school); Dominica; Eswatini; Gambia; Ghana; Grenada; Grand Cayman; Guyana; Ireland; Jamaica; Kenya; Lesotho; Liberia; Malawi; Mauritius; New Zealand; Nigeria; Papua New Guinea; Sierra Leone; Singapore; South Africa; St. Kitts and Nevis (St. Christopher); St. Lucia; St. Vincent and the Grenadines; Trinidad and Tobago; Turks and Caicos Isle; Uganda; United Kingdom; U.S. Pacific Trust; Zambia; and Zimbabwe. This list is subject to change. The Office of International Admission reserves the right to require additional documentation and waive certain requirements as part of the admission process.

Certain programs may have additional requirements, please visit your major to see if more application materials are required. The University reserves the right to require SAT or ACT scores for additional programs as necessary.