Best Practices and Resources for International Recruitment
Prospective international graduate students need additional time to prepare their application and often begin searching for graduate programs in the U.S. as early as 18 months before their intended semester of matriculation. In addition, international students have different travel requirements and transition needs than domestic prospects and admits.
Below is a list of recommended practices to assist your international applicants in their search and application preparation, and to improve your application yield.
- Ensure that your program website is easily accessible and informative for both domestic and international applicants.
- Program-specific admissions requirements and policy regarding standardized tests (GRE, GMAT, etc.) should be clearly visible on your program website.
- Include the link English proficiency tests for the current Graduate School policy on English language proficiency requirements.
- Make sure your application deadlines for international students are easily found.
To reduce visa delays and accommodate the additional application processing time required for international admitted graduate students, we recommend:
- Establishing rolling application deadlines that are earlier than the Graduate School’s posted final deadlines.
- Setting early priority application deadlines for those who wish to be considered for departmental or institutional funding support.
- Scheduling interviews well in advance of the application review period.
- Reviewing applications on a rolling basis and submitting admissions recommendations to the Graduate School promptly, especially for priority applications being considered for funding support.
- A two-to-three-week turnaround for admission decisions is considered best practice as international applicants tend to accept the first offer they receive.
The Graduate School has created a presentation for programs to use for international recruitment/outreach. It includes a video showcasing graduate education at UGA and slides providing useful tips for international applicants on how to apply to graduate school at UGA. Programs are encouraged to download the presentation and customize it by adding program-specific information.
Download the presentation (powerpoint)
We recommend that programs include the following links on your website so that your international applicants/admits have access to the most up-to-date information.
- Office of Global Engagement (OGE), for immigration-related services
- Office of Global Student Engagement (OGSE), for information regarding student life (e.g. housing) and campus programs for international students
- OGSE offers an International Student Orientation for incoming international students that supplements the Graduate School New Student Online Orientation.
- The “Suitcase series” is a collection of informative videos created by OGSE for our international students. These videos are available on Kaltura:
