MS Accounting Admissions Guide

GMAT is only required at the request of the program director.

To apply for the Isenberg MS in Accounting program we prefer you take the GMAT. However, if you have already taken the GRE, it will be accepted. If you take the GRE your score will be converted to a predicted GMAT score. Please refer to the GRE Comparison tool at www.ets.org to learn more.

School Code: Isenberg UMass Amherst - 3917

GMAT Waiver

Applicants that meet any of the following criteria will be granted a GMAT waiver, and should submit their applications without a GMAT score:

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college/university with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher.
• Graduate degree or advanced degree from an accredited college/university.
• Passed each of the four sections of the CPA exam.

Note: the above GMAT waiver criteria applies to MS in Accounting only, not other graduate programs.

• For those students who’ve earned an Undergraduate and Master’s Degree outside of the U.S.: To be considered for a GMAT waiver an official course-by-course evaluation (listing grades and overall GPA) will need to be submitted from an approved NACES evaluation service provider.  Applicants commonly use WES or ECE.  Along with your evaluation, you will also need to submit official transcripts/marksheets from your institution or notarized “true & attested” copies of originals are also accepted upon submission via U.S. mail.   

Yes, you will have met the educational requirements for CPA certification inMassachusetts. . To find out what the requirements are for your state, go to https://nasba.org/stateboards/.

The program is meant to be flexible and to meet the needs of our students so the length it takes to complete is really up to you.  Many students choose to complete the degree in two semesters by starting in either the spring or summer.  If you begin in the spring, you can be done at the end of the summer.  You can also spread the classes out over a longer timeframe if you are working full-time or have other commitments. 

If your transcript is not in English, you must send us a certified translation of your official transcript from every non-U.S. undergrad and graduate school attended. Notarized and true attested copies of original academic documents are also accepted.

TOEFL score (for international applicants only)

Minimum scores:

Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) – 600 (250 computer-based score, 100 internet base score)*
International English Language Testing System (IELTS) – 7 or above
Pearson Test of English – Academic (PTE Academic) – 68 or above

If your native language is not English, and you are not a U.S. citizen or U.S. permanent resident, you must submit your scores from a standardized English Language Proficiency Test in addition to your other required application materials.

Your standardized English Language Proficiency Test requirement may be waived if one of these conditions exists:

• You have citizenship of Australia, Botswana, Canada, Caribbean English speaking countries, Dominica, Gambia, Ghana, Great Britain, Guyana, Hong Kong, Ireland, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Namibia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Scotland, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, West Indies, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
• You have earned a college or university degree in the United States or in one of the countries listed above.
• You have earned a degree from the American University in Beirut, American University in Bulgaria, American College of Greece, Bogazici University in Turkey, RIT in Dubai, NYU Abu Dhabi, or NYU Shanghai.
• You are currently enrolled as a full-time student who will have completed two academic years of college/university coursework in the United States prior to the date of anticipated entrance at the University of Massachusetts.
• You have been certified by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates.

If you’d like to be reviewed for TOEFL waiver eligibility, please submit the required application materials. 

*For the Master of Finance in Alternative Investments program only, the minimum acceptable TOEFL score is 80.

Your personal statement should be one to two pages in length, and include information about your past and current academic and professional history, your future goals and reasons for pursuing the MSA, and other pertinent details that will help us evaluate you as a candidate.

It is recommended that you have one professional and one academic reference.  If you have completed an internship, please ask that employer to provide you with a reference.  If you cannot obtain a professional reference, two academic references are fine.

Yes, we are accredited by AACSB, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. We have the distinction of having earned separate AACSB accreditation for our accounting department and programs – one of only 5 schools in New England. In fact, there are only 180 institutions in the world that hold AACSB accreditation in accounting.