Admission Requirements for MSA
The California State University system requires all applicants to meet the following requirements to be considered for graduate admission:
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A four year Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in the U.S. or the equivalent of a U.S. bachelor’s degree from a recognized institution if the degree was earned outside of the U.S.
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A 2.5 grade point average. Applicants who have earned a degree from a higher education institution in which the primary language of instruction was not English must take an English-language proficiency exam. The University’s required minimum score is 80 on the internet-based TOEFL, 7.0 on the IELTS, or 68 on the PTE.
Please note that the Graduate Admissions and Evaluations Office (GAPE) staff performs
the initial review of the above requirements after an admission application and all
required documents are submitted to the GAPE Office. However, GAPE is unable to conduct
a review of graduate admission eligibility prior to the completion of an applicant’s
admission file.
Admission to the MSA Program - Lucas Graduate School of Business
The MSA Program admits a limited number of new students in May of each year.
Acceptance is based on information about the applicant gathered from the required
following sources:
San Jose State University Application
Admission Test Scores
Undergraduate/Graduate Record(s)
Personal Statement
Resume
Two Letters of Reference
Personal Interview for Finalists*
*Note: Not all applicants will receive an interview. Only those applicants who are finalists will be invited for a personal interview on campus. Phone interviews are not permitted. All interested candidates must interview on campus to be eligible.
Application Deadline: February 15, 2013
Document Deadline: March 8, 2013
Should you decide this program meets your career goals we strongly encourage you to apply prior to the deadline of February 15, 2013.
Application Requirements
No Accounting Degree, Concentration, or Certification
To qualify for the MSA program, you may not hold a degree in Accounting. The MSA program is designed specifically for students who do not have a background in Accounting. Applicants who have completed courses beyond the two introductory levels of accounting (financial and managerial), and/or have any type of Accounting certification (regardless of where received) are not eligible for this program.
Prerequisite Courses
In accordance with the most recent guidelines and recommendations from the AEC (Accounting Education Committee created by the California Board of Accountancy) the MS in Accountancy program requires one prerequisite course for admission, Principles of Financial Accounting. The course must be the equivalent of three semester hours and completed with a grade of B or higher prior to the start of the MSA program in the last week in May. Successful completion of Principles of Financial Accounting and/or verification of enrollment in the course should be submitted to the Lucas Graduate School by the published Graduate Admission (GAPE) document submission deadline at the beginning of March.
The acceptable course offered at San Jose State University is Financial Accounting, Bus 20. We will also accept courses offered by other regionally accredited higher education institutions. Many local California community colleges offer courses that will satisfy the MSA prerequisite requirement. Please visit the course equivalency page to identify comparable courses. A few more options are:
UC Santa Cruz Extension –
Intro to Accounting I: Financial Accounting (equivalent to BUS20)
Additional prerequisite equivalencies will be approved by the MSA Program Admissions
Committee. You may contact Dr. Laura Ingraham for information regarding prerequisites at laura.ingraham@sjsu.edu
Grade Point Average
Although the University will review the overall GPA, the MSA program will require a 3.0 or better (on a 4.0 scale) in the last 60 semester/90 quarter units.
GMAT or GRE
The GMAT or GRE exam is a requirement for all applicants. A total GMAT score of 550 or better is required, including scores equal to or above the 50th percentile on both the quantitative and verbal sections of the exam. For the GRE, a competitive score is 151 in Verbal Reasoning and 152 in Quantitative Reasoning.
| TEST | MINIMUM REQUIRED SCORE |
|---|---|
| GMAT or GRE | GMAT: 550 with both verbal and quantitative percentiles in the 50th or above GRE: 151 in Verbal Reasoning/152 in Quantitative reasoning. |
| TOEFL (internet-based) | 106 |
| TOEFL (computer-based) | 263 |
| PTE (Pearson’s Test of English) | 75 |
| IELTS | 7.5 |
MSA TOEFL/IELTS/PTE Requirement
If you hold a degree from a University where the language of instruction was NOT English, the TOEFL, PTE, or IELTS exam is required. The applicant must receive a minimum TOEFL score of 263 (computer score) or 106 (internet based). The TOEFL paper test is no longer accepted for the MSA program. A minimum score of 7.5 is required for the IELTS. A minimum score of 75 is required for the PTE. The score is valid for two years from the date of testing.
F-1 Visa Status
Once accepted into the program, all international students must apply for an F-1 Visa so they can complete the internship portion of the program.
