PhD Admissions

Admission Standards and Criteria

The PhD program in Business Administration at Minnesota Carlson is one of the nation's top-rated doctoral programs; admission is highly competitive. Admission to the Carlson PhD program in business administration is based on:

  • An assessment of the applicant’s potential for scholarship, research, and teaching
  • Evidence of a commitment to a career based on a PhD
  • The ability to complete a rigorous program of study
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The deadline for all PhD Fall term applications is December 15.

How to Apply

Prospective students must submit an online application by December 15 for Fall admission consideration. A complete application includes the following:

Graduate school online application: choose.umn.edu/portal/grad_appy

All applicants must submit an application fee.

The fee is set by the University of Minnesota Graduate School and cannot be deferred. The current fee is $95 for international applicants and $75 for U.S. citizens and permanent residents. The fee is paid online when you submit your application.

Applicants may submit a request to be considered for an application fee waiver by emailing an extenuating circumstances statement to our program email ([email protected]) for review by the Director of Graduate Studies and Department Coordinator. All application fee waiver requests are due by Friday, December 12 (12:00 PM (Noon) CST). 

Please include in your request: 

  • extenuating circumstances statement (required for consideration)
  • most recent resume or CV (optional)
  • most recent academic transcript (optional)

Either a GMAT (Focus) or a GRE official score is required. The test cannot be more than 5 years old from the application submission date. Please use the information below when submitting your test scores:

GMAT (Focus) - institution code D2N-VJ-74 ; 02
You may self-report GMAT scores on the online application, but official score results are also required

GRE - institution code 6874
You may self-report GRE scores on the online application, but official score results are also required

International Applications

International applicants must demonstrate English language proficiency. Minnesota Carlson expects a total score of 100 for the TOEFL test. For matriculated students, if your TOEFL speaking score is less than 27 you will be required to take the Spoken English Test for Teaching Assistants (SETTA) once on campus. For the IELTS we expect a score of 7.0 or higher.

English Language Proficiency exam scores are not required if you have completed 16-semester credits of post-secondary coursework in an English-speaking country within the past two years from the application submission date. Otherwise, you must include exam scores with your application. 

We require TOEFL or IELTS scores for international applicants unless English is the first language or the applicant has attended a US institution for 16-semester credits within two years from the application submission date. Please use the information below when submitting your test scores:

  • For the TOEFL designate the institution code"6874"
  • Contact the IELTS administrators to determine the institution's code

Additional Resources

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