Prospective Student FAQs

Read the Admissions Guide very carefully. 

We are prepared to answer questions about your plans, experience, and specific situation as well as the admissions process.

Before you apply, contact three people who can write recommendation letters and have them submit the letters to MSU (you should waive your right to see the letters). Make arrangements to take the GRE, TOEFL or IELTS exams as needed. Work on writing your personal and academic essays. When you submit your application, here the main steps:

1. Fill out the general Graduate School application online at https://grad.msu.edu/apply
2. Submit your test score (GRE if English is your dominant language, or an English-proficiency-test score such as TOEFL or IELTS). You can also request an English proficiency waiver.
3. Contact institutions that have granted you a degree (your undergrad, mainly) and have transcripts sent electronically or mailed in.
4. Submit your recommenders’ contact information so that the system can request their letters.
5. Complete the application and submit your personal and academic essays.
6. Add any additional materials that you would like to share, such as your current teaching portfolio. You can upload files even after you have submitted your application.

No, not for official consideration. Applicants must request original transcript(s) from the degree granting institution(s) and the institution(s) must send them directly to the MAFLT Program. These original transcripts, with their original envelopes, will be used for formal admission to the university and must be submitted by the Admissions Coordinator to MSU’s Office of Admissions for the final step in the process. MSU does accept e-transcripts from domestic (U.S.-based) institutions. If your prior university can officially send electronic transcripts from their admissions office, ask them to send your e-transcript to Amanda Lanier at maflt@cal.msu.edu. 

The purpose of the GRE is to help graduate programs predict whether students will be able to manage the demands of a given program. Waivers are available for prospective students who can demonstrate in other ways that they are prepared for graduate-level work in the content areas of this program. If you have been teaching your target language in an established program for at least two years, if you have completed at least one MA-level course in a comparable program (particularly if this instructor is one of your recommenders), or if you feel that you have other documented evidence that you can thrive in graduate school, then we can request a waiver for you. That decision will also depend on the strength of your application overall. We may request a writing sample (prompt available). Further guidance and a link to the GRE Waiver Request Form can be found on the Admissions page. 

The MSU Graduate School has a strict procedure for determining whether students have sufficient academic English to participate in a graduate program. Automatic waivers are granted if you have completed a bachelor’s or master’s degree in an accredited program where English is the dominant language (in or out of the U.S.). Waivers can also be granted if you have worked full-time in the U.S. for more than two years and/or if you have successfully completed master’s courses (but not a full degree) in English. You may be asked to provide a lengthy writing sample demonstrating your proficiency before we will request a waiver.

The MAFLT places high demands on students in terms of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. The demands for reading and writing in particular may be higher than those in a typical face-to-face graduate course. The faculty, as language teachers as well as language teacher educators, are prepared to offer support to all students to improve academic writing, regardless of your first language. However, we cannot serve as ESL instructors while also serving well as MAFLT professors. That said, the MSU Writing Center and MSU Library offer support for students in distance learning programs, and there are a number of valuable resources online, including the Online Writing Lab at Purdue: OWL for ESL Instructors and Students.

If we have received all your materials and your application is complete by the admissions deadline, then the MAFLT Admissions Committee will typically make a decision within two weeks following that deadline. The Program Director will notify you of the Admissions Committee’s decision by email. We then send documentation forward to the College of Arts and Letters, which reviews it and in turn forwards it to the MSU Office of Admissions. Here is the typical timeline: Acceptance at the MAFLT Program level takes 1-2 weeks. Acceptance at the University level for students with U.S. transcripts takes about 2 months. Acceptance at the University level for students with international transcripts takes about 3 months. Transcript verification by the MSU International Transcript Credentialist requires additional time for many international students. Once you have been officially admitted to the university, you will receive an official confirmation via email with your identification numbers (PID and PAN). You can then use these ID numbers to enroll in MAFLT courses.  

To guarantee that your application will be considered for the immediately following semester, you must have all of your application materials in by the dates listed on our Admissions Guide page: https://maflt.cal.msu.edu/admissions.

In some cases, you may be able to begin courses immediately through MSU Lifelong Learning (continuing education) and officially apply to the program in the following semester. You must have a BA or BS to be considered for Graduate Lifelong Education student status. To apply as a Lifelong Learner, complete the simple Lifelong Education Application. If you later decide to apply for the full MAFLT degree (and many students do), you can convert up to 9 credits received as a Lifelong student into MAFLT Program credits.