International Students

A bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited U.S. institution or a comparable degree from an international institution is required. International applicants must have a degree comparable to a regionally accredited U.S. bachelor’s degree. For specific information about comparable degrees in your country, and which academic documents are required, refer to the Grad School Admissions Requirements web page.

Every applicant whose native language is not English should review the English proficiency criteria found here to determine whether they must provide official scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), IELTS Indicator, or Duolingo English Test. Find details about accepted English proficiency tests, valid timelines for test scores, and minimum scores at the link in this paragraph.

Accepted English proficiency tests

The Graduate School accepts test results from TOEFL, IELTS, IELTS Indicator, and Duolingo English Test to fulfill the English proficiency requirement. The required proficiency scores are listed below. We do not accept scores compiled from multiple tests to meet English proficiency requirements (i.e. TOEFL MyBest, IELTS One Skill Retake). Scores are valid if they are less than two years from the first day of the anticipated enrollment term.

Minimum TOEFL requirement: 92 for tests taken before January 21, 2026
Minimum TOEFL requirement: 5.0 for tests taken on and after January 21, 2026
Minimum IELTS requirement: 7.0
Minimum IELTS Indicator requirement: 7.0
Minimum Duolingo English Test requirement: 125

How to submit English proficiency test scores

You must submit your scores following the directions below:

• TOEFL scores must be submitted electronically via ETS. Our institution code is 1846.
• IELTS scores can be submitted electronically or by mail via IELTS. To send electronically, select our account name University of Wisconsin Madison Graduate Studies. To send by mail, use the following address:
  
  UW–Madison Graduate School, Office of Admissions
  232 Bascom Hall
  500 Lincoln Drive
  Madison, WI 53706
• Duolingo English Test scores must be submitted electronically via Duolingo to University of Wisconsin – Madison – Graduate Admissions.
• Tests should be completed to ensure scores are received by January 1.

The admissions committee may ask a student regardless of their English test results to take a University of Wisconsin–Madison English assessment test upon arrival, and the student must register for any recommended English-as-a-second-language course(s) in the first semester of graduate study.