Admission Requirements

First-time Freshmen

• GPA requirement of 2.75 or higher
• Minimum TOEFL of 68 iBT, or 6.0 IELTS, or Duolingo 95 or higher
• Secondary school equivalency with a minimum 2.75 GPA or ACT composite score of 21 or SAT score of 1060 or Ranked in the top 20 percent of their high school graduating class or a GED cumulative score of 480 or HiSET cumulative score of 45.

Transfer Students

• 2.00 or better GPA on transfer college or university credits.
• Students transferring from a two-year college, community college, or university in the United States who have earned a minimum of 30 acceptable semester credits (45 acceptable quarter credits) with a GPA of 2.0 or better (acceptable credit means classes that require a high proficiency in both written and oral English).

English Language Proficiency Requirements

For undergraduate admission to the university, NMSU requires a score of 68 (internet-based) or better on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or a score of 6.0 on the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), or a score of 95 on the Duolingo English Test (DET) for international students for both non-degree and degree seeking. International students attending another US institution and having a valid I-20 may enroll as a non-degree seeking student and take course(s) at the undergraduate level.

Students who are citizens from one of the following countries will be exempt from providing a TOEFL, IELTS, or DET score for admission purposes. NMSU requires all admitted international students to take the English Language Placement Test (ELPT) for placement purposes.

Anguilla, Antigua, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Barbuda, Belize, Bermuda, Botswana, Caicos Islands, Cameroon (Anglophone), Canada (except Quebec), Cayman Islands, Christmas Islands, Cook Island, Dominica, England, Eritrea, Fiji, Gambia, Ghana, Grand Cayman Islands, Grenada, Grenada and the Grenadines, Guernsey, Guyana, Ireland, Israel, Jamaica, Jersey, Kenya, Kiribati Islands, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Malta, Mauritius, Micronesia (Federated States of), Montserrat, Namibia, Nauru, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norfolk Island, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Scotland, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Africa, St. Christopher, St. Helena, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Swaziland, Tanzania, Trinidad & Tobago, Tristan da Cunha Island, Turks & Caicos Islands, Uganda, Virgin Islands, Wales, Zambia, Zimbabwe

For students not from the countries listed above, a waiver of the TOEFL/IELTS/DET requirement may be considered for:

• Students completing high school in the United States who have attended the high school for at least two full years.
• Students transferring from an institutional accredited two-year college, community college, or university in the United States who have earned a minimum of 24 semester credits or 36 quarter credits (all classes having English as the language of instruction) with a GPA of 2.0.
• The university reserves the right to require any prospective international student to meet the TOEFL, IELTS or DET requirement.

Foreign Credential Evaluation

You must have a professional Foreign Credential Evaluation Report completed and sent to NMSU by a NACES-approved agency for every transcript from a foreign high school and/or university attended.

All application material, transcripts, national examination scores, transcripts from colleges or universities (with an English translation), and test scores (including the TOEFL or IELTS) should be sent directly to the NMSU Undergraduate Admissions at admissions@nmsu.edu. Please note that transcripts, test scores, and foreign credential evaluations sent directly from an applicant/student to NMSU will be considered unofficial. To be considered official, transcripts, test scores and foreign credential evaluations must come directly from the school, testing agency, or evaluation agency. All documents should be emailed to admissions@nmsu.edu.

Admission Deadlines

For full consideration for undergraduate admission, applicants are subject to the following deadlines:

Post Admission Steps

For details about your steps after admission, see International Students in the NMSU Catalog, or the New Students section of the NMSU International Student and Scholar Services website.