International

International applicant information

Review your intended graduate program website for academic department-specific admission criteria and filing deadlines. Prospective applicants should review international graduate student requirements by country before submitting a Cal State Apply application. 

International requirements by country

General university admission requirements are:  

• A degree or diploma equivalent to a U.S. bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution (e.g. institution recognized by Ministry of Education in your home country). An official determination of eligibility will be made during the graduate application process. 
• Have the equivalent of a U.S. 3.0 GPA or "B" average. Your overall marksheets, average exam scores or average grade earned should be better than average or better than passing. 
• English language proficiency, demonstrated by submitting an English language proficiency test score that meets the minimum requirements or hold a bachelor's or master's degree earned in one of the exempted countries. 
• If you earned a bachelor’s or master’s degree from one of these countries, the English language testing requirement will be waived: Antigua, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Botswana, Canada, Gambia, Ghana, Grand Cayman Islands, Grenada, Ireland, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, New Zealand, Northern Marianas, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, Sierra Leone, Singapore, South Africa, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Swaziland, Tanzania, Trinidad & Tobago, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, Virgin Islands, Wales, Zambia and Zimbabwe. 

Required academic documents 

During the application process, you may upload copies of your academic documents to the Cal State Apply portal. Your academic record should be complete and include all semesters of coursework and grades/marks, and a degree certificate. If your former institution does not issue transcripts in English, we will require an English translation to be submitted along with your official academic record. You may need to plan and request duplicate sealed documents from your university, one official academic record for the translator and one official academic record for the Division of Graduate Studies. We accept English translations from the issuing university, an Embassy or Consulate or a certified translator. English translations should be literal word for word translations and mirror the original document. 

Course-by-course credential evaluation report 

You can submit a Course-by-Course credential evaluation report to our office in lieu of country specific academic documents. Applicants may upload a credential evaluation report from one of our approved organizations in the “unofficial transcripts” section of the Documents in CAL STATE APPLY. Post-admission, the student will be required to request the organization send us an official copy of the credential evaluation report to San Francisco State University. 

The Division of Graduate Studies accepts International Credential Evaluations from approved organizations.  

For admitted students 

All admitted applicants must submit a final official academic record to the Division of Graduate Studies upon matriculation. Transcripts which have been submitted for admission or evaluation become the property of the University and are not returned or copied for distribution.

SFSU requires all applicants to submit official academic documents from all higher education institutions ever attended. An official academic document is a verification of your academic record issued directly from the university. Your academic record (transcript) and degree certificate must arrive in our office in a sealed/unopened envelope with a university stamp or signature on the envelope flap. We do not consider transcripts that have been notarized to be official. To be considered official, the transcripts must be university issued. 

"Original" and "official" documents are not the same. An "official" document is a document that has been issued by, authenticated by or attested to be a true copy of the original by the awarding university (sealed in unopened university envelope). If your school issued only one original transcript, graduation certificate and bachelor's degree certificate, you should send photocopies of your original academic documents to your university and ask that they attest or verify the copies to be true copies of the original. Ask your university to place these attested copies in a sealed envelope with a school stamp across the envelope flap. We will only consider academic documents to be official that have been attested by the University that awarded your degree. 

International I-20 issuance 

Admission decisions are not based on evidence of financial resources, so you do not need to show evidence of financial resources to be admitted. However, students who cannot provide evidence of financial resources will not be issued an I-20 Certificate of Eligibility. You will use the I-20 Form to obtain an F1 VISA at a U.S. consulate or embassy in your home country. 

The U.S. government requires all schools, including SFSU, to obtain reliable documentation that an international applicant has adequate financial support to meet the expenses of study for I-20 issuance. 

Evidence of financial resources may come from a variety of sources such as scholarships, fellowships, sponsoring agencies, personal or family funds or an individual sponsor. Documentation of scholarships and fellowships should be in the form of an award letter from the sponsoring agency/organization. Documentation of personal or family funds should be on bank letterhead stationery.  

Proof of finances and medical 

SFSU’s Financial Affidavit estimates the cost of 2 semesters (9 months) of study as a full-time student. You and your sponsor should complete the Financial Affidavit and submit it to our office with documentation from your financial institution. 

We recommend that newly admitted students obtain duplicate copies of their financial documents. Be prepared to present your evidence of financial resources to a U.S. consulate or embassy official at the time of your VISA interview. 

Financial Affidavit