Additional Required Application Materials for International Students

English Proficiency Requirements for Admissions:

This section is for all students whose native language is not English, which includes permanent residents of the United States (green card). You may check to see if you are exempt from this requirement based on your country of citizenship or educational record. Please be sure to carefully read the admissions requirement.

PhD applicants:  Please carefully review information under "Financial Aid Considerations for On-campus Applicants" below. PhD applicants maybe required to submit TOEFL iBT or IELTS speak scores even if they meet the English proficiency requirements for admissions.

Please refer to the Graduate College English Proficiency Requirements page for further details about admissions requirements.

• International applicants whose native language is not English must meet the English Proficiency Requirements for admission for the University of Illinois.

• International applicants are exempt from the TOEFL testing for admissions only if, within five years of the proposed term of enrollment, they have completed at least two academic years of full-time study as defined by the home institution, or completed a graduate degree in a country where English is the primary language and in a school where English is the primary language of instruction. (PhD applicants may be required to submit TOEFL iBT or IELTS speak scores even if they are exempt from submitting test scores for admissions purposes.)

• All TOEFL test scores should be reported through ETS to Institution Code 1836. A Department code is not needed, however, if one is required, please use “78”.  ( You may upload a scanned PDF copy of the full official score report from TOEFL iBT and IELTS to your application as "supplemental material" until official scores are received.)

Financial Aid Considerations for On-campus Applicants

If you have applied to a graduate program (MS in CS, PhD in CS) where departmental financial aid is offered, please note the following:

PhD applicants whose native language is not English or are not exempt from demonstrating oral English proficiency by the university, must submit valid TOEFL iBT or IELTS scores regardless of receiving an exemption from submitting test scores for admission.  Exemptions to demonstrating oral English proficiency are available at https://linguistics.illinois.edu/testing/oral-english-assessment-interview-oeai (Item 1 of Exemptions section). Current University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign graduate students may provide OEAI/EPI test scores taken on the Urbana campus, in place of TOEFL iBT or IELTS scores.

• To be eligible for any departmental financial aid, you must submit valid (less than two years old at start of classes) TOEFL iBT or IELTS speak scores regardless of eligibility of waiver for admission requirements.  If currently working on an academic degree in the US or a country whose official native language is English (not medium of instruction), this requirement must be fulfilled even if the applicant receives a waiver of the TOEFL or IELTS scores from the university for admissions.
• This requirement is regardless of naturalized U.S. citizenship or permanent residency. Non-submission of these scores will restrict the department from giving full financial aid considerations.
• To be eligible to receive a teaching assistantship, you must meet the requirements detailed here: Proficiency Requirements for Teaching Assistantships.  A passing score on the TOEFL iBT (spoken portion of the exam only) is 24/30. A passing score on the IELTS (on the spoken portion of the exam only) is 8.
• Current graduate students at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who have satisfied the oral English proficiency requirement through the campus OEAI (former EPI) exam may provide OEAI/EPI test scores in place of TOEFL iBT or IELTS scores.
• SPEAK scores taken on a US campus other than the University of Illinois Urbana campus are not eligible to fulfill the teaching assistantship requirement at Illinois. The department has no authority to waive this requirement.
• Applicants that meet the requirements for teaching assistantships are given preference for admissions, but those with lower speak scores may still be eligible for a research assistantship (RA). Applicants with TOEFL iBT speak scores below 22 have a low chance of admission.
• A passing score does not guarantee an assistantship offer.