Decision and Enrollment

Official transcripts from U.S. institutions can be submitted in one of two ways. The first way is to have the institution send a hard copy, official, sealed transcript to our office by mail or courier, or you can hand-carry the transcript into our office as long as it is unopened, in its original sealed envelope. The other way is to have the institution send an official electronic transcript (i.e. password protected and sent directly to gradschool@umd.edu by the issuing institution, not sent or forwarded by the student). If your institution uses a third party provider, such as e-Scrip Safe, Parchment, etc., then we can accept these as long as the Graduate School is the recipient, and not the student themselves.

Official transcripts from international institutions can be submitted as follows. The first way is to have the institution send a hard copy, official, sealed transcript to our office by mail or courier, or you can hand-carry the transcript into our office as long as it is unopened, in its original sealed envelope. If you have your original degree certificate/diploma, you can bring these into 2123 Lee Building. We can examine the original degree certificate/diploma, make copies for our records, and hand them back to you. Alternatively, you can have your institution include stamped/attested copies of the degree certificates in the same sealed envelope as the transcripts. All documents should be in the original language of instruction, and accompanied by certified, literal English translations.

If your international institution's Registrar sends official electronic transcripts (i.e. password protected against editing/tampering and sent directly to gradschool@umd.edu by the issuing institution, not sent or forwarded by the student), then we can examine the electronic document to determine whether it meets our documentation requirements. If your institution does not provide secure electronic transcripts that are password-protected against tampering, and as originating from the institution's own records, then you would need to have your institution mail or courier hard copy, sealed, official records as described above.

Hard copy, official, sealed transcripts can be mailed to:

University of Maryland
Enrollment Service Operations
Application for Graduate Admission
Room 3125 Mitchell Building
College Park, Maryland 20742

For the expedited submission of official transcripts, particularly for international documents, these can be sent to the Graduate School's mailing address below:

University of Maryland
The Graduate School
2123 Lee Building
7809 Regents Drive
College Park, Maryland 20742

Admissions recommendations are made by the department to the Graduate School. The Graduate School completes the final review and issues the final admissions decision. Most applicants should receive news concerning the decision on their application for Fall admission by late March/early April, and for Spring admission by November/December. The timeframe may vary depending on when the program reviews and makes their recommendation to the Graduate School. The time to decision may also vary based on completeness of the application.

Once admitted by the Graduate School:

• The student is notified via email that a decision has been rendered and prompted to log back into their application dashboard to read the decision letter.
• The decision letter may include several important links, including a link to the new student checklist, and additional information on fulfilling conditions of enrollment.
• The letter sends the student to the enrollment form, within the application dashboard, which requires the student to accept, to decline, or to request a deferral of the admissions offer.
• That form notifies the Graduate School and the program of the student’s enrollment decision.
• More communications, both from the Graduate School and the academic program, follow – regarding orientation, campus life, and services.