Undergraduate Admissions

Learn more about the undergraduate admissions process and requirements at UMGC Asia.

University of Maryland Global Campus Asia is an open and accessible university designed to help busy professionals like you achieve your educational goals.

We specialize in helping students like you gain the life-changing skills and career-boosting qualifications you need to succeed personally and professionally. We'll help you get started on applying for admission and begin to build your professional value so you can become your most confident, accomplished self.

Eligibility

Members of the U.S. Armed Forces, American employees of the U.S. government, and their family members located in a contract country may enroll in undergraduate courses through University of Maryland Global Campus Asia, if they meet admissions requirements.

International Students: University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) is an American public four-year university offering undergraduate courses to members of military communities living in Asia. Classes are offered on military installations and through Online Learning. Credit earned can be applied to Associate and Bachelor’s degrees as well as a variety of certificates. Eligible local nationals can take courses with UMGC Asia but certain restrictions apply. To learn more about the opportunity to study at an University of Maryland Global Campus Asia in Japan, please contact japan-asia@umgc.edu if you are located on Honshu and okinawa-asia@umgc.edu if you are located on Okinawa.

All eligibility questions should be directed to the Student Services Office at the UMGC Asia Headquarters.

Orientation and Getting Started

Local UMGC Asia representatives and academic advisors stand ready in military communities to provide face-to-face assistance with admissions, registration, financial aid, advising appointments, and more. Contact a representative at a field site near you for assistance.

Before the beginning of each session, UMGC Asia holds special online webinars and on-site orientations for new and prospective students. At these events, you have the opportunity to learn about UMGC Asia and its programs, student services, academic and career options, and meet faculty members and fellow students. When you participate in the Introduction to UMGC Asia webinar events, you may have your application fee waived. New Student Orientations are filled with knowledge necessary for new students to successfully navigate UMGC. Although no application fee waiver is associated with New Student Orientation, all new students are encouraged to attend!

Undergraduate Admission Criteria for New Students

At UMGC Asia, we've instituted a streamlined admissions process that respects your time and doesn't require you to submit SAT®¹, ACT, GRE, or GMAT scores. If you have a U.S. high school (including DoDEA overseas high schools) diploma or GED or you've graduated from a U.S. college or university, you qualify for admission to the Undergraduate School.

Students who plan to earn a certificate or degree at UMGC Asia must ensure that official transcripts and documents relating to their educational background (including military documents) are on file with UMGC headquarters by the end of their first term (Fall: August-December; Spring: January-May; Summer: June-July) of attendance with the university.

All home-schooled students must submit documentation prior to their first enrollment from an approved home-school program in accordance with the University System of Maryland requirements for admission of home-schooled students.

Procedures for Admission

We're so glad you're considering applying to UMGC Asia, and we look forward to welcoming you. New students and those students who have not registered for classes in the past two years will need to apply for admission. Please note that you must be admitted to the university before you can register for classes.

Undergraduate admissions requirements and procedures are described below. Please refer to UMGC Policy 210.00 Undergraduate Admission for additional details.

General Admissions Requirements

UMGC’s General Admissions Requirements apply to all applicants. In order to be considered for admission, applicants must:

Be at least 13 years old
Have graduated from a state-approved or regionally accredited U.S. high school or achieved one of the following equivalencies:
- Passing scores on a state high school equivalency exam, such as the General Educational Development (GED) test.
- Graduation from a homeschooling or alternative high school program approved by the UMGC Office of Admissions Services (additional admissions documentation may be required
- Graduation from an international high school with a credential evaluated as equivalent to a U.S. high school degree by an approved international credentials evaluation agency
Meet UMGC’s English proficiency requirement. See Students Educated Abroad if you were not educated in the U.S.
Be in good disciplinary conduct status at any institutions previously attended with exceptions noted in Special Admissions Circumstances.

Admission to UMGC may also be limited to comply with U.S. federal law.

Current high school students who meet certain criteria may also be considered for admission. See Special Admissions Circumstances for information on concurrent high school enrollment.

Special admissions requirements may apply if you are pursuing certain degree programs. Check the academic program pages for more details.

Admissions Procedures

To apply for admission, you must complete an admissions application and pay the nonrefundable fee. If you are a former UMGC student who has not attended UMGC for at least two years, you must submit a new admissions application before you will be allowed to register. However, you need not pay another application fee. Applications for admission must be submitted online.

Applicants or current students who submit false information on their application may be subject to disciplinary action, as detailed in UMGC Policy 151.00 Code of Student Conduct

Verification of Eligibility for Admission

Once you are admitted to UMGC, you will be assigned an admit term (the academic term in which you are officially admitted), which will be reflected in MyUMGC, the university's online gateway to information and services. You have until the end of the term following your admit term to submit documentation to verify your eligibility for admission to UMGC. If you do not submit the documentation by that deadline, you will not be permitted to register for subsequent terms until documentation is received and accepted for admission purposes. For example, if you are admitted for Fall 2018, you will have until the end of the Spring 2019 term to submit your documentation. If you do not, you will be blocked from enrollment beginning with the Summer 2019 term and continuing until you submit your documentation and it is reviewed.

If you have earned fewer than 30 semester hours of transferable college-level credit, you must submit documentation verifying that you have earned a U.S. high school degree (or its equivalent). You can submit acceptable documentation in one of the following ways :

If you graduated from a state-approved or regionally accredited high school, submit an official transcript directly from that school.
If you completed a state high school equivalency exam such as the GED, submit an official score report directly from the testing agency.
If you graduated from a home school or alternative high school program, submit documentation showing high school completion and compliance with state and local education regulations for the state in which you were home schooled or attended an alternative high school program.
If you graduated from a non-U.S. high school, submit documentation of your education to a UMGC-approved international credit evaluation agency. For a list of UMGC-approved international credit evaluation agencies, see umgc.edu/internationalcredit.

UMGC evaluates and may award college-level credit from numerous sources. If you have earned any credit from those sources, you must submit official documentation verifying completion of that credit by the end of the term following your admit term. If you submit documentation of your earned credit, but fewer than 30 credits is transferable, you will need to submit proof of high school completion. Information on the process for having a transfer credit evaluation is available.

Student Status

Upon being admitted to UMGC, students are assigned to regular, provisional, or visiting non-degree status. Admission of foreign-educated applicants is governed by requirements listed in the Foreign-Educated Students section which follows under the Special Admissions section of this page.

Regular

To be assigned regular student status, you must meet the general education requirements. In addition, if you attended another institution of higher education within the last two years, you must have a grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 or higher and be in good academic standing at the last institution of higher education you attended.

As a regular student, you are limited to enrolling in the number of credits noted in UMGC Policy 215.00 Student Academic Load and Enrollment Status.

If you meet all of the general admissions requirements, but you do not meet the GPA requirement noted above, you could qualify for admission in provisional status.

Provisional

You will be assigned provisional status if you meet the general education requirements, but you are in one of the following categories:

You had a GPA lower than 2.0 at the last institution that you attended within the last two years.
You were on academic probation for poor academic performance from the last institution that you attended within the last two years.
You were dismissed for poor academic performance from the last institution that you attended within the last two years.
You are currently a high school student who qualifies for concurrent enrollment. See Admissions for Special Circumstances for additional information on concurrent enrollment.

As a provisional student, you may enroll for a maximum of 7 credits per term. If you are a concurrently enrolled high school student, you maintain your provisional status until you submit proof of high school completion. All other provisional students must complete 7 credits of graded coursework at UMGC with a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or higher before being considered for regular student status. All provisional students must contact an advisor to request regular student status.

Visiting Non-Degree

Colleges and universities serving the military in Asia work together. Students seeking a certificate or degree with a contracted institution (i.e. Troy University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University) can enroll in a limited number of courses with our institution without paying an application fee. These courses must be (a) needed by the student to complete certificate or degree requirements and (b) unavailable from the institution at which the student is seeking to earn the certificate or degree. Note: UMGC Asia extends visiting non-degree student status to Community College of the Air Force (CCAF) students.

A visiting non-degree student who chooses to seek a degree with UMGC and will be required to pay the UMGC application fee. The student's category will then be changed from visiting non-degree to regular degree-seeking.

Undergraduate Students Seeking Readmission - Reenrollment

If it has been more than two years since your last registration at UMGC, you must complete a new application for admission. If you were previously an undergraduate student and are enrolling as an undergraduate student again, you will not be required to pay another application fee.

If you attended UMGC Stateside or UMGC Europe within the past two years, you will need to complete a relocation form instead of submitting an application for admission. Relocation forms are available on the UMGC Stateside and the UMGC Europe websites.

If you are a servicemember who discontinued studies with UMGC due to service obligations and would now like to return as a UMGC student, please contact military@umgc.edu or 877-275-8682 so that we can help you continue with your studies. For more information, please see UMGC Policy 210.12: Readmission for Military Servicemembers and the Department of Education's policy on readmission for servicemembers.

Special Admissions

High School Students - Concurrent Secondary Enrollment

If you have not completed high school but are currently attending a U.S. regionally accredited or state-approved high school, you may be admitted as a provisional student if you provide prior written permission from the appropriate officials at your high school and a high school transcript reflecting superior scholarship and college readiness, as determined by UMGC in its review of this documentation. During this special provisional admission period, a 50% discount on tuition rates applies. Please note that regular tuition rates will apply once the provisional period is over.

If you are currently being home-schooled or attending an alternative high school program, you will also need to provide documentation that your home school or alternative high school program complies with state and local education regulations.

Concurrently enrolled students are assigned non-degree seeking status but may request to become degree-seeking once the general admission requirements are met.

For additional information, students should contact the Student Services Office.

Homeschooled Students

UMGC welcomes homeschooled applicants. All homeschooled students must demonstrate compliance with state and local education regulations. For Maryland students, the home instruction program must comply with the General Regulations of Maryland’s State Board of Education (13A.10.01). In addition to a completed application for admission, please submit the following required documents:

Transcript, which includes grades, cumulative GPA, and date degree awarded
Brief outline describing course content and instructional materials
Information on the homeschooling regulations of the state where you were educated

The following optional documents can be submitted in addition to the above required documents to assist in the admissions decision:

Any nationally standardized tests scores available (e.g. SAT® or ACT scores)
Letters of recommendation (professional and/or academic)

Please send these documents to aeadmissions@umgc.edu with the subject line of “Homeschooled Applicant.”

Note: If the admissions department deems that the requirement above is not met, acceptable GED scores may be requested for admission purposes.

Transfer to and from UMGC Stateside or UMGC Europe

Transfers between UMGC campuses (Asia, Stateside, and Europe) are simple and free! It is important for students to notify UMGC when they relocate to a new duty station so residency and tuition may be accurately determined. Students who previously attended classes with UMGC Stateside or UMGC Europe within the previous two years must submit a divisional transfer through MyUMGC:

Student Center > drop down menu (in Academics box) > Divisional Transfer

Please complete the required information (only the boxes that are starred are required, all others may or may not apply to you and will not hinder submission of your request). Should you have questions concerning the form or transfer itself, please feel free to contact the Admissions Office.

Admission of College Graduates

A student who received a bachelor's degree from an approved U.S. institution is automatically admissible to UMGC as a regular (undergraduate) student upon submission of the admission application and fee. A former graduate student in the University System of Maryland whose time limit in a program has expired may also be admitted as a regular (undergraduate) student. Students who have been admitted to UMGC as graduate students may take undergraduate courses only when satisfying approved prerequisites or as part of an approved articulation agreement. Students may be admitted as either undergraduate or graduate, but may not be admitted in both categories at the same time.

Undergraduate Admissions Information for Students Educated Abroad - Foreign-Educated Students

Requesting an International Credit Evaluation

If you graduated from a non-U.S. high school, you must submit documentation to a UMGC-approved international credit evaluation agency to determine if your education is equivalent to graduation from a U.S. regionally accredited or state-approved high school. This is not necessary, however, if you have earned 30 or more transferable credits at a U.S. college or university.

A list of UMGC-approved international credit evaluation agencies is available at umgc.edu/internationalcredit. Evaluations obtained from other international credit evaluation agencies may be submitted for review by UMGC. UMGC will consider using an evaluation from an alternative credit evaluation agency on a case-by-case basis.

Meeting the English Proficiency Requirement

If you completed one of the following, then you do not need to submit documentation for UMGC’s English proficiency requirement:

a U.S. high school degree;
at least 24 college credits at a U.S. college or university or in a country where the primary mode of instruction is English - see below for the list of countries that qualify
an Associate of Arts degree or higher in the U.S. or in a country where the primary mode of instruction is English - see below for the list of countries that qualify.

If you have not completed one of the above options, you must demonstrate written English language proficiency to be eligible for admission by submitting one of the following:

A paper-based TOEFL score of 525 or higher AND a score of 4 on the Test of Written English (TWE)
OR a score of 71 or higher on the online version of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL);
the TOEFL score recovery code for UMGC is 5804
A score of 6 or higher on the International English Language Testing System (IELTS); must include the academic writing and academic reading modules
a minimum grade of Pre-1 on the Eiken English Proficiency Exam
A score of 95 or higher on the Duolingo English Proficiency Test

If you are not able to provide any of the documentation above but feel you may meet the English language proficiency requirement, please contact the Office of Student Services for more information.

Please send official score reports directly from the testing agency to UMGC. See Submit Your Transcripts for additional information. UMGC will determine on a case-by-case basis if scores more than two years old may be used to meet the English proficiency requirement.

Note: UMGC no longer issues the form I-20 A-B Certificate of Eligibility for F-1 student status. However, students may be eligible to pursue a program online from outside of the United States.

Applicants who were educated in one of the following countries meet the English Language Requirement:

Anguilla
Antigua and Barbuda
Australia
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Bermuda
Botswana
British Virgin Islands
Cameroon
Canada (except Quebec)
Cayman Islands
Dominica
Falkland Islands
Fiji
Gambia
Ghana
Gibraltar
Grenada
Guyana
Hong Kong
Ireland
Jamaica
Kenya
Lesotho
Liberia
Malawi
Malta
Mauritius
Micronesia
Namibia
New Zealand
Nigeria
Papua New Guinea
Philippines
Puerto Rico
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
South Africa
St. Catalina
St. Kitts and Nevis
St. Lucia
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Swaziland
Tanzania
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Turks and Caicos Islands
Uganda
United Kingdom (Scotland, England, Wales)
Zambia
Zimbabwe

In addition to providing proof of English proficiency, the applicant must meet the Admission Requirements noted previously. Students will be denied admission to UMGC Asia in the absence of at least one of the above requirements. Students should contact their local academic advisor if they have questions about their eligibility.

Enrollment

UMGC Asia conducts five sessions of eight-week duration each academic year. The academic year begins in August and ends the following mid-August. Session dates for the current academic year may be found on our online calendar. There may be variations in session dates to accommodate military exercises or deployments. Undergraduate face-to-face (on-site) and online classes are generally eight weeks long. On-site classes are usually held on or near military installations and registration is held at education centers or online at MyUMGC.

For more information, visit enrollment.

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