International Students

Admission Requirements

First-time Freshmen

  • Secondary school equivalency with a minimum 2.75 GPA, or ACT composite score of 21 or SAT score of 1060, or a GED cumulative score of 480, or HiSET cumulative score of 45.
  • Minimum TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) of 3.5 iBT, or IELTS (International English Language Testing System) of 6.0, or DET (Duolingo English Test) of 95.

Transfer Students

  • Minimum 2.0 cumulative GPA on transfer, college, or university credits.
  • Minimum TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) of 3.5 iBT, or IELTS (International English Language Testing System) of 6.0, or DET (Duolingo English Test) of 95.

If you have fewer than 24 completed college credit hours, you must fulfill the first-time freshmen admission requirements above.

English Language Proficiency Exemptions

Students who are citizens from one of the following countries will be exempt from providing a TOEFL, IELTS, or DET score for admission 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 secondary or post-secondary school(s). Below are agencies that have partnered with NMSU to set up dedicated portals.

Company Secondary (High School) Evaluation Post Secondary (College/University) Evaluation
International Education Evaluation Education Document + GPA Report (US) Education Course Report (US)
The Evaluation Company General Analysis with Approximate GPA Divisional Course Analysis
Educational Credential Evaluators General Report with Grade Average Course by Course Report
Educational Perspective General Evaluation Report Course by Course Report
World Education Services WES ICAP Document-by-Document WES ICAP Course-by-Course

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:

Deadline Semester
July 1 (application initiated) Fall
July 15 (all documents submitted) Fall
November 15 (application initiated) Spring
December 1 (all documents submitted) Spring

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.