In order to be admitted to Illinois State, a student must have earned a four-year bachelor's degree or its equivalent from a college or university that is accredited by the appropriate regional accrediting association. In addition to the overall Graduate School requirements above, a student applying to a master's program must also have a minimum 2.8 GPA (on a scale in which an A is a 4.0) for the last 60 hours of undergraduate work (approximately the junior and senior years). A student applying to this program must: have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale for either the last 60 hours of undergraduate coursework or any previous work in a master's program.

International students must have a TOEFL score of at least 88 iBT, 230 computer-based, or 570 paper-based, the minimum acceptable IELTS score is 7.0 band.