Graduate School FAQs

An alphabetical listing of graduate degree programs is available here.

Admission to a graduate degree program involves a two-part application process:

1. To be admitted to the Graduate School, students should submit the online application to LSU New Orleans (apply online) and submit official transcripts from each university they conferred a degree from (this does not include Associate's degrees). All transcripts for universities outside of the U.S. must be evaluated by a NACES Evaluation Agency and include a GPA calculation.

The Graduate School requires that all students have conferred a baccalaureate degree from a U.S. institution accredited at the institutional level by a USDOE accreditor OR equivalent from a recognized institution of higher learning abroad. Applicants enrolled in the final year of a bachelor's degree or international equivalent will be considered for conditional admission.

Minimum GPA Requirements (revised for Fall 2024)

• 2.5 overall grade point average (GPA) on a 4.0 scale for a bachelor's degree, OR
• 2.75 overall grade point average (GPA) on a 4.0 scale on the last 60 hours of undergraduate coursework, OR
• 3.0 grade point average (GPA) on a 4.0 point scale on at least nine hours of graduate coursework.

In addition to the requirements for domestic students, international students must submit additional items such as a NACES evaluation, English Proficiency Scores, etc. for admission consideration. Those requirements can be found here. 

2. Each degree program has its own requirements for admission, including, in many cases, more stringent GPA requirements and minimum test scores and earlier application due dates.

Several programs also require supplementary material (e.g. letters of recommendation, statement of purpose, etc.) to be uploaded as part of the online application.

Paper transcripts can be mailed to the address below.

LSU New Orleans
Privateer Enrollment Center
105 Earl K. Long Library
2000 Lakeshore Drive
New Orleans, LA 70148

If your university participates in Transcripts on Demand, please use the web link provided by your school to submit transcripts to LSU New Orleans. Once you log in to Transcripts on Demand, please type LSU New Orleans in the recipient input box. Email address and recipient name are not required. If your school is not participating in Transcripts on Demand, please use the following information to order a transcript from your school to be forwarded to LSU New Orleans.

Email:[email protected]
First Name: LSU New Orleans
Last Name: Admissions

All other electronic transcripts (except E-script Safe) must be submitted to [email protected] from authentic sources.

Processing of your application can only begin when the following steps have been completed:

1. University Application submitted
2. Unofficial or official transcripts received for each degree conferred
3. Test Scores received if applicable (GRE or GMAT if required by department; for International applicants - Duolingo, IELTS, PTE or TOEFL)

Once all of the above have been received the Office of Enrollment Services processes applications in the order that they receive them.

If applications are submitted at peak times (in the final two months before the beginning of a new semester), a greater volume of applications inevitably results in a slight delay in processing.

The Admissions processor will do the first review of the application to make sure they are meeting the minimum admissions requirements for Graduate School

If they are not missing any required documents, then the application will be deferred to the Academic program for final review. The Graduate Coordinator will make the final Admissions decision on the application. 

Not every program will review applicants immediately upon receipt of the evaluation. Sometimes they must wait until the additional application materials (such as letters of recommendation, personal statements, portfolios, etc.) are on file. Sometimes they may wait until closer to the application deadline so that a committee of faculty can meet and review applications.

It is therefore very important that applicants pay attention to the program's application deadlines when starting the admission process.

GRE and GMATare no longer required for most programs. To find out if your program requires this, please click here. 

Graduate Record Exam (GRE)

Where required, Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores are accepted only for:

• Tests taken within 5 years of the entrance term

• Official scores - those reported electronically to LSU New Orleans by ETS

The institution code for reporting GRE scores to LSU New Orleans is 6379.  

Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT)
Programs in the College of Business Administration that require Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) accept scores only for:

• Tests taken within 5 years prior to the entrance

• Electronically reported scores to LSU New Orleans by GMAC

Applicants should initiate the process by contacting the Graduate Coordinator of the program in which they intend to study and arranging for a program recommendation. The graduate coordinator will forward the nomination to the academic College office. The Dean will review and send a list of final selections to the Graduate School.

Certain requirements must be met before a student may apply for a graduate scholarship:

Students must be newly admitted to, or in the process of being admitted to, the degree program toward which the scholarship would apply. Students are not eligible if they are already taking courses as a degree-seeking student in the program for which they wish to receive a scholarship. The scholarship is rendered void if the student changes degree programs after receiving the award.

Scholarship Requirements

• GRE or GMAT scores must be on record, if applicable, and be compliant with departmental requirements.
• Official transcripts must be on record.
• Undergraduate and/or Graduate GPA must meet the designated requirement.
• Students must be screened for eligibility by their department.

View complete listing of the Scholarships awarded by the Graduate School

There are three main types of Graduate Assistantships that students may obtain while engaged in graduate study: Athletics Assistant (AA), Teaching Assistantship (TA and TA-IOR), Research Assistantship (RA) or Professional Assistantship (PA).

Students seeking any of these Assistantships should contact their Graduate Coordinator for openings within the program or for information about other units on campus that may have an opening.

Currently, there is no centralized listing of open Graduate Assistantship positions.

Please click here for a breakdown of the graduate tuition and fee schedule for each semester. 

The non-degree status means that you can enroll in some graduate-level courses at LSU New Orleans without being admitted to the specific degree program. This status is designed for students who may want to take a course for fun, need a graduate course before enrolling in a degree program at another institution, or want to try a course before deciding on a degree program.

Some programs may also recommend this option to students if they are currently not meeting the Admissions requirements to officially be accepted into their program. Once the students complete the recommended amount of graduate courses, then the student will reapply to  be admitted into the program. The courses they took as a non-degree student will count towards the graduate degree.

Applicants seeking non-degree status are required to submit an official transcript from the institution that awarded their bachelor’s degree.

Please note the following:

• International students in F-1 status are not permitted to enroll as non-degree status.
• Non-degree students are not eligible for federal financial aid, university scholarships or assistantships.
• Not all graduate courses are open to non-degree students.
• No more than 12 graduate credit hours earned while non-degree can be applied towards a degree program.

If a currently enrolled non-degree seeking student wishes to apply to a degree program, they must submit a new online application for admission to gain entry into the program. 

Graduate students are kept active in the University record system for one year after enrollment. For example, if you enroll in and complete courses in Fall 2024, you should still be active in our system for Fall 2024.

Beyond one year, students must update their status by completing the online application to the University (apply online).

The schedule of classes (Course Bulletin) is posted on the Registrar's website here. Course Bulletins are normally posted 2-3 weeks prior to the next registration period. 

If you need to see a description of a class, you should consult the University Catalog here. 

For Fall and Spring semester, full time enrollment is 9 credit hours. For Summer, it is 6.