Admission Requirements

Design Business Graduate Certificate Application Instructions

Student Profile

The online Design Business Graduate Certificate program will challenge students to develop new business frameworks using the design thinking, entrepreneurial focus, and foundation in social responsibility for which Parsons is known. The program is particularly well suited for early-to mid-career professionals in creative fields, innovation-focused companies, and firms that routinely employ design, as well as business professionals seeking to complement their design and business skills with practical application. Because the program is entirely online, it's ideal for students who want access to Parsons' faculty of experienced practitioners from New York City and around the world but cannot come to New York City to study.

Deadline

Applicants should submit a complete application by January 10. Applications received after January 10 will be considered on a rolling basis until the program is full.

Requirements

(You can download these instructions.)

Parsons graduate programs use a self-managed application process. Submit your application online and mail any supplemental application materials, preferably in a single packet, to the Office of Admission. Include a materials cover sheet (PDF), which can be downloaded from the supplemental forms section of the online application.

Applicants must submit the following to the Office of Admission:

1. Application Form: Complete the online application.
2. Application Fee: Pay the $50 nonrefundable application fee. (A credit card is required to submit the online application.)

3. Official college transcripts: Submit a sealed original copy of your official college transcripts along with your application packet. If that is not possible, instruct the institution to send transcripts directly to the Office of Admission at the address below. Photocopies are not acceptable.

   International transcripts: All applicants with transcripts from international institutions are required to submit an original transcript from each institution attended outside the United States. Additionally, a certified English language translation must be provided for all official international transcripts that are not written in English. Applicants who would like to transfer academic credits earned at non-U.S. institutions are also required to have their transcript(s) evaluated by World Education Services (WES), our preferred provider, or by another member of the National Association of Credit Evaluation Services (NACES). A course-by-course evaluation report must be prepared for each transcript. Please start the evaluation process as early as possible, including the submission of all required documents to WES (or another provider), in order to ensure the timely completion of the evaluation report. In addition, an admission counselor may require a transcript evaluation by WES or an NACES approved evaluator if it is deemed a necessary part of the admission decision process, even when applicants do not want transfer credits applied to a program of interest. Instruct the provider to send the report to

   Parsons Graduate Programs
   Office of Admission
   72 Fifth Avenue
   New York, NY 10011

   If you request your report online, search for "New School Parsons" when selecting our institution. If your provider is unable to send the evaluation report directly to the school, please obtain the report and send it to Parsons, along with a materials cover sheet.

4. Résumé: Submit a brief résumé/curriculum vitae summarizing your academic qualifications, relevant work experience, volunteer/community work, travel, exhibitions, public speaking, or any other interesting experiences as they may relate to design and management, including dates and positions held. Please also note any special language or computer skills that you have.

5. Statement of Interest and Intentions: Please outline your reasons for applying to this program. In what ways will you contribute to the subject matter? You should include a thoughtful description of your background, tentative plan of study or area of inquiry in the field as you now envision it, your professional goals, and how this program will help you realize those goals. If you have not been enrolled as a student in the past five years, please address anticipated opportunities and challenges in pursuing the certificate, and future career expectations upon completion of the program.

6. Recommendations: You are required to submit two letters of recommendation from faculty or people with whom you have worked professionally. There are two ways to send recommendations to the graduate admission office:
   • a) The Online Application (strongly preferred). Using the online application, you can request the recommendation and the recommender can email it directly to the admission office.
   • b) Paper. In the rare occurrence that your reference cannot use email, you can download a paper recommendation form. Then follow the written instructions on the paper form.
    
7. GRE or GMAT (optional): Although not required, if you took the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), or the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), submit your test scores.  GRE scores should be sent electronically (ETS school code 2638). GMAT scores should be mailed to the Office of Admission with a Materials Cover Sheet.
8. TOEFL: If English is not your native language, you must provide a TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) or IELTS (International English Language Testing System) score. The minimum score required for acceptance to the program is 92 on the Internet-based test, 580 for the paper-based, and 237 for the computer-based TOEFL. A minimum IELTS score required for acceptance to the program is 7.0.  Students required to take the TOEFL exam can obtain further information from the Educational Testing Service. Additional information for the IELTS can be found on their website at www.ielts.org.
9. Interview: Students may be invited for an interview in person or by phone.