Summer Session
Most Summer Session courses will be delivered via remote instruction and no housing is available for visiting undergraduates. International students without an existing student visa can only be accepted into remote Summer Session courses. Students with existing student visas from other institutions and who do not need campus housing may consider registering for in-person courses. The English proficiency requirement (see below) remains unchanged and applies to both remote and in-person courses.
- For Summer Quarter courses, we strongly recommend a score of 104 or higher on the internet-based TOEFL, with subscores of 26 each.
- Minimum required scores on the IELTS (students must take the Academic test, not the General Training test) are an overall score of 7, with subscores of 7 each.
- The minimum acceptable score on the DET is 125.
- Applicants who do not have DET, TOEFL or IELTS scores may participate in an Academic English Proficiency Assessment (AEPA). The AEPA takes the form of an interview via web conference with a trained evaluator at the University of Chicago. The results of this assessment will help the Summer Session Office make a final decision on your application; participating in an assessment does not guarantee admission to the program. There is an additional fee of $70 for applicants who participate in an AEPA.
- To request an AEPA, contact the Summer Session staff at summersession@uchicago.edu. They will guide you through the process of scheduling your AEPA and paying the additional AEPA fee.
- You must have submitted your application and paid your application fee in order to schedule an AEPA, and you will not receive an admissions decision until your AEPA results have been received by the Summer Session Office. The application fee and the AEPA fee are nonrefundable.
- Academic English Proficiency Assessments should be completed before the application deadline for your particular program. We recommend that you request one as early as possible, and no later than two weeks before your application materials are due.
- If you elect to participate in an AEPA, please enter “00” as your TOEFL scores on your application. (The system will not allow you to submit an application without entering TOEFL scores.).
Competence in English must be demonstrated in order to qualify for admission. Applicants who are natives of the U.S., the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries where English is one of the official languages and the primary language of instruction in their schools has been English do not need to submit English proficiency test results.
All other international applicants must submit results from the Duolingo English Test (DET), Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).
OR
The only exception to the English language proficiency requirement is for applicants who have studied in full-time status for at least two full academic years within the last five years at a high school or college where the primary language of instruction is English, engaging in a regular academic curriculum taught in English (in other words, not engaged in English as a Second Language or similar coursework), in a country where English is one of the official languages. Students must submit transcripts that demonstrate that they meet the conditions for a waiver of the English language proficiency requirement.
Students who have studied in English in other countries are not exempt from the English language proficiency requirement.
If students meet the above conditions for eligibility, they should submit a written request for a waiver of the requirement to summersession@uchicago.edu. They will receive a confirmation of their waiver eligibility and application instructions via email.
Eligible students may still be required to participate in an Academic English Proficiency Assessment (AEPA) to confirm proficiency.