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Admission

The Graduate College considers for admission only those applicants who hold, or will be granted at the end of the current academic year, a baccalaureate, MA, or equivalent degree comparable to that granted by the University of Illinois, and whose admission average is at least 3.0 (A=4.0). Admission averages are computed from the last sixty hours of undergraduate work and any graduate work completed. GRE scores are required for all student, TOEFL scores for foreign students. Learn how to apply online here.

Students applying to the Department are expected, in addition to the Graduate College requirements, to have had a minimum of three (preferably four) years of college-level Russian, or comparable proficiency, as well as course work in Russian literature.

Students' Russian language proficiency is tested immediately after arrival on campus through a departmental Advanced Proficiency Exam (A.P.E.) in Russian. Students who do not pass are required to take appropriate remedial courses. All students must pass this exam before any advanced degree can be awarded or teaching assistantship assigned.

Students enrolling at the University of Illinois with Master of Arts degrees in other fields are subject to a Qualifying Examination. It will be given together with the other graduate degree examinations. It is given twice a year, in November and April. This examination must be passed by the end of the second semester of full-time study in the Department.

To be admitted, students who are not native speakers of English must take and pass the TOEFL examination (Test of English as a Foreign Language). They may be required to take, after enrolling, additional English language courses in the Division of English as an International Language.