Students may be admitted to the School of Library and Information Studies without condition (regular admission) or with academic conditions imposed (conditional admission).

The program is selective, and does not admit every applicant. Applications are considered holistically, so no single factor determines acceptance to the program.

Please take note of admissions deadlines. For online study, the application deadline is April 1st. For on-campus study please complete your application 6 weeks prior to the first day of the term in which you expect to begin study.

Regular Admission

An applicant whose credentials meet the following minimum requirements may be considered for regular admission to SLIS**:

• A quality point average of at least 3.0 overall or 3.0 for the last 60 semester hours in a degree program, based on a 4.0 system.

• An acceptable score on one entrance examination (minimum test scores: 300 on the revised GRE test, or 1000 on the GRE general test, or a score at the 50th percentile on the MAT)

   

Information about the GRE is available from the Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ 08540. The MAT is given by the testing service of most colleges and universities and may be taken by appointment. Applicants should plan well in advance so that examination results are available when needed to support an application for admission.

An application consists of the following items:

• Application Form

• Statement of Purpose

• Application Fee

• Transcripts

• Admissions Test Scores

• Three (3) letters of recommendation;  for applicants who have been in school in the last 5 years, at least two (2) letters must be academic references. 

Braille editions of the GRE and the MAT can be obtained from:

The University of Alabama
Test Service
Box 870108
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0108.

**Application materials with instructions may be obtained online at
http://graduate.ua.edu/application/index.html, or from either of the following addresses:

The University of Alabama
School of Library and Information Studies
Box 870252
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0252

The University of Alabama
Graduate School
Box 870118
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0118

Conditional Admission

An applicant whose credentials do not meet the stated requirements may be considered for conditional admission if the following minimum requirement is satisfied: A quality point average of at least 2.7 overall and a GRE or MAT score acceptable to the School and the Graduate School. Applications being considered for conditional admission are placed in a pool and reviewed periodically (usually every other month).

This review results in admission, denial, or continued holding in the pool. A graduate student admitted conditionally removes the condition by making an average of "B" or better for the first 12 semester hours of graduate-level work completed, and by satisfying any other conditions specified by the School at the time of admission. If the 12 hours are completed in a term in which the total credits exceed 12, the evaluation is made on the basis of all graduate-level work completed at the end of that term of enrollment.

Failure to remove the condition within the first 12 hours of graduate work will result in the student's being dropped from the program. A student who satisfies the condition automatically assumes the status of a regularly admitted graduate student.