Graduate Students Admission

Application for Admission

We appreciate your interest in the Department of Recreation, Sport, and Tourism and welcome your application for admission. A web-based application system for graduate admissions is now available.  We would like to encourage graduate students to apply using this new system which will allow students to track their admission progress and conduct most of the admission process, including credit card payments, electronically. Please read below for comprehensive information on our Admissions process.

Graduate Students Admission

Graduate students are admitted into the program on the basis of their previous academic qualifications. You may be required to take what is called prerequisite courses or "deficiencies", if previous studies have not included core courses in leisure, or if you have not attained a specific level of study. Possible deficiencies may include a course in elementary statistics or specific units, such as recreation planning and administration. Any identified "deficiency" must be completed before the degree is completed and should be taken as early in your program as possible. Each emphasis area within the master's degree program has its own requirements for deficiencies. (See the following section on course content.) Deficiencies are individually determined by a committee, chaired by the Director of Graduate Studies, prior to the beginning of your program of study.

Graduate Student Admissions Guidelines

An underlying principle throughout these guidelines is to continually improve the quality of our graduate students and enhance the fit between graduate students and the collection of faculty teaching and research interests. These guidelines recognize the importance of high quality graduate students to our departmental culture, and are directed at a constructive development of culture through graduate student admission decisions.

Admissions guidelines include

Require GPA, last 60 hours of undergraduate with a minimum of 3.0 out of 4.0 ( Graduate College minimum is also 3.0).

Require GRE, but no minimum. We do not accept GMAT, LSAT or other tests as a substitute.

For international students language ability, a minimum TOEFL score of 600 ( Graduate College minimum is 550).

Because the Department of Recreation, Sport, and Tourism does not require applicants to have a background in Leisure, the "statement of purpose" is reviewed closely to identify a match between interests of applicants and faculty. Listed below are specific questions for applicants to address, but not limit themselves to, within their "statement of purpose". These questions could be addressed in one whole essay, or as itemized responses to the questions:

1. Why are you pursuing a graduate degree? What possibilities do you see for your future career? In what ways would your degree contribute to your career?
2. At this point in time, what is your desired area of study and/or expected research program?
3. Why do you think University of Illinois is appropriate for you? Why do you think the Department of Recreation, Sport, and Tourism is a good fit for you? Discuss the ability for the interests of departmental faculty to overlap with your own interests?

The faculty understands that applicants' aspirations and interests in graduate school may change during the course of one's program, however it is useful to understand applicants' current perspectives.

Decision process

Applicants go through a three-step process within the departmental review.

Step 1. Each application is initially reviewed by the Director of Graduate Studies prior to under-going review by individual faculty. This initial review is to improve efficiency in faculty review by eliminating applicants who would not be considered acceptable to the graduate committee due to factors such as poor fit, poor scores, or some other clearly identifiable problem. In cases where a faculty member desires an applicant who has been denied during this initial round, the faculty member may appeal to the graduate committee by providing argument to the committee (either in-person at a committee meeting or in writing) for further review of the applicant by individual faculty.

Step 2. The Director circulates applicant files (usually to three faculty members) for individual faculty review. Both MS and PhD applicants need at least one faculty to volunteer to be their advisor before an applicant is accepted. Since faculty may need to review a "running total" of the number of applicants who they accept in any given year, on a periodic (i.e., monthly) basis the Director of Graduate Studies will distribute a list of all applicants for the year, their areas of interests and degree sought, major advisor assignments, and the status of their application (admit, deny). Such information will be distributed to provide faculty information on the overall pool of the applicants, to facilitate decision-making on admissions, and allow faculty to assess the number of graduate students they have been assigned.

For MS applicants, if an applicant is approved unanimously by three faculty members and has a faculty member who volunteered to serve as the advisor, then the applicant is admitted into our program.

Step 3. For MS applicants who have less than unanimous support during the individual faculty review and for all PhD applicants, the reviewed applications will be brought back to the graduate committee for final decision. The applicant is admitted into our program if the majority of the graduate committee approves the application. In cases where a faculty member desires an applicant who has been denied, the faculty member may appeal to the graduate committee by providing argument to the committee (either in-person at a committee meeting or in writing).

Internal applications for PhD program

Departmental MS students who would like to apply to the department's PhD program are required to go through the same application procedure as other doctoral applicants. Acceptance into the PhD program is contingent on all requirements of the MS program being fulfilled prior to the start of PhD work.

Admittance on "limited" status

In the discussion of an applicant, there may be convincing reasons to admit the applicant yet concern about his/her ability to successfully transition into the graduate program. In such cases, applicants will be admitted on "limited" status. Students are generally removed from "limited" status if they achieve a 3.0 GPA.

Deadline for submission

For full consideration for fall admittance, all application materials should be received by February 1st, and for spring admittance the deadline is October 1st.

Apply On-Line