Application Requirements
- Online Application
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Submit the online application in its entirety. All your application materials can be submitted electronically. Details about transcripts can be found further down on this page.
- Application Fee
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Your non-refundable fee of $50 can be paid by check or credit card. You’ll be prompted to submit the fee at the end of the online application process. The fee is waived for returned Peace Corps volunteers, AmeriCorps volunteers, Truman Scholars, Pickering Fellows, Coro Fellows, Rangel Fellows, McNair Fellows, City Year alumni, Payne Fellows, Catholic Volunteer Network alumni, and veterans and active duty members of the U.S. Armed Forces. Learn about waived fees.
- Résumé
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You must upload a current résumé or curriculum vitae that shows relevant awards, academic achievements, full- and part-time job experience, internships, and volunteer work.
- Personal Essay
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Use your essay to introduce yourself to the admissions committee. Share your professional goals and why you think a GSPIA degree can help you attain them. Describe your background, interests, and motivation for pursuing graduate work in public and international affairs. There is a limit of 5,000 characters (approximately two double-spaced, typed pages).
For doctoral applicants, identify the broad topic and research questions you envision as the focus of your doctoral dissertation research. Explain the importance of your research questions and identify the GSPIA faculty member with whom you’d like to work. There is a limit of 5,000 characters (approximately two double-spaced, typed pages).
- Optional Essay (Master's Applicants) and Research Proposal/Writing Sample (PhD Applicants)
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Master's Applicants: If there are any special circumstances you would like the admissions committee to consider, highlight them in the optional essay. Use this essay to include information that you feel is important, but that you’re unable to include elsewhere on the application. There is no penalty for leaving this blank.
PhD Applicants: As an applicant to the Ph.D. program, you are required to submit an additional essay that discusses your potential dissertation research. Describe the idea and why it is important. Further, discuss the main questions to be investigated and the types of evidence that would be needed to support conclusions. Finally, identify the GSPIA faculty with whom you would like to work. There is a 5,000 character limit (approximately two double-spaced, typed pages). PhD Applicants are also asked to upload a single-authored writing sample in English that is 25 pages or less. The writing sample does not need to be a published paper but should demonstrate academic or professional research.
- GRE or GMAT scores (optional for master's applicants)
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For all of our programs, GRE or GMAT scores are optional and not required for admission. If you’re applying to the MPA, MPIA, MID, or PhD program, you may choose to submit scores from one of these tests as supplemental material, if you feel that they show evidence of your abilities beyond what the rest of your application reflects.
If you’re applying to the mid-career MPPM program (online or on campus) or the non-degree program, you should not submit GRE or GMAT scores. Supplemental materials submitted to those programs will not be reviewed.
If you are submitting test scores, you must order an official score report, sent directly from the testing agency to us. (GRE reports can be ordered at www.gre.org; GMAT reports can be ordered at www.mba.com.) Copies of your own score report are not acceptable. Our institutional code for the GRE is 2574.
- TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo English Test scores (international applicants only)
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International applicants must submit a score from one of three possible English tests: the TOEFL, the IELTS, or the Duolingo English Test.
Score reports must be sent directly from the testing agency to GSPIA. GSPIA's institutional code for TOEFL score reports is 2574.
The minimum TOEFL score required for admission is 80 on the Internet-based test, although 90 or above is strongly preferred. The minimum IELTS score required for admission is 6.5 (overall, and in each of the subsections). The minimum Duolingo English Test score required for admission is 115.
Exceptions: International students who have completed a degree at a regionally accredited college or university in the United States are not required to submit a TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo English Test score. International students who are citizens of certain English-speaking countries are also exempt.
- Academic Transcripts
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When you’re completing the online application, you’ll be asked to upload copies of your official transcripts from all colleges and universities you have attended, whether or not you earned a degree. You should upload a scanned copy of an official transcript generated by your university’s registrar’s office. Self-reported transcripts, student grade reports, or copies of unofficial transcripts are not acceptable.
It is not necessary to submit hard copies at the time of application, as long as your scanned copies are uploaded successfully. If you are admitted, you will then be required to submit final, official transcripts directly from your university’s registrar’s office to us. The official copy must exactly match the scanned copy that you submitted at the time of application.
If you do not have access to technology that will allow you to submit a scanned copy of your transcript at the time of application, you may submit an official copy instead. The official copy must be sent by mail directly from your university’s registrar’s office to Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (3601 Posvar Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15260).
- Two Letters of recommendation
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Two letters should be written by professors who have taught you or supervisors who have overseen your work, either professionally or in a volunteer capacity. If you graduated from college less than three years ago, at least one, if not both, of your letters should be from professors. Letters written by friends, family members, work colleagues, or anyone who has not taught or supervised you are not acceptable.
When you complete the online application, you will be prompted to enter the names and email addresses of your recommenders. The system will automatically send them an email explaining how they can upload their letters.