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University of Massachusetts Boston School for Global Inclusion and Social Development

University of Massachusetts Boston School for Global Inclusion and Social Development

University of Massachusetts Boston School for Global Inclusion and Social Development

Introduction

The University of Massachusetts Boston is nationally recognized as a model of excellence for urban public universities. The scenic waterfront campus, with easy access to downtown Boston, is located next to the John F. Kennedy Library and Presidential Museum, the Commonwealth Museum and Massachusetts State Archives, and the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate.

Mission

The University of Massachusetts Boston is a public research university with a dynamic culture of teaching and learning, and a special commitment to urban and global engagement. Our vibrant, multicultural educational environment encourages our broadly diverse campus community to thrive and succeed. Our distinguished scholarship, dedicated teaching, and engaged public service are mutually reinforcing, creating new knowledge while serving the public good of our city, our commonwealth, our nation, and our world.

Values

Inquiry, Creativity, and Discovery

The University of Massachusetts Boston is an educational institution dedicated to rigorous, open, critical inquiry—a gateway to intellectual discovery in all branches of knowledge, and a crucible for artistic expression. Our campus culture fosters imagination, creativity, and intellectual vitality. Responsive to the call of diverse disciplines, schools of thought, and public constituencies, we expect and welcome divergent views, honoring our shared commitment to expanding, creating, and disseminating knowledge. We celebrate our research culture, with its diversity of methods, commitments, and outcomes. We promote a culture of lifelong learning and serve as a catalyst for intellectual interactions with scholarly communities, students, alumni, and the public.

Transformation

Our work can transform the lives, careers, and social contexts of all members of our community. We seek to help our students to realize their potential in the pursuit of education. We support our students, faculty, and staff in their efforts to create knowledge, gain new understandings, and assume the responsibilities of leadership and civic participation.

Diversity and Inclusion

Our multi-faceted diversity is an educational asset for all members of our community. We value and provide a learning environment that nurtures respect for differences, excites curiosity, and embodies civility. Our campus culture encourages us all to negotiate variant perspectives and values and to strive for open and frank encounters. In providing a supportive environment for the academic and social development of a broad array of students of all ages who represent many national and cultural origins, we seek to serve as a model for inclusive community-building.

Engagement

As a campus community, we address critical social issues and contribute to the public good, both local and global. We participate in teaching and public service, as well as in basic, applied, and engaged research, to support the intellectual, scientific, cultural, artistic, social, political, and economic development of the communities we serve. We forge partnerships with communities, the private sector, government, health care organizations, other colleges and universities, and K-12 public education, and bring the intellectual, technical, and human resources of our faculty, staff, and students to bear on pressing economic and social needs.

Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability

We seek to foster a consciousness of nature’s centrality to the human experience and our collective obligation to environmental sustainability. Since our founding, we have emphasized teaching, research, and service activities that promote environmental protection and nurture sustainability, strive for responsible stewardship and conservation of resources and enhance the natural environment—not least the marine environment around our campus on Dorchester Bay and Boston Harbor.

Economic and Cultural Development

We make significant contributions to the cultural and economic life of a major American city and enhance the commonwealth’s vital participation in the global community. We educate artists, writers, archivists, nurses, teachers, environmentalists, managers, scientists, scholars, and others whose lifelong efforts enrich the culture and environment of many communities. Through our research, teaching, and service, we work cooperatively with businesses and industries, and with local, state, and federal governments, to strengthen our contribution to the state’s, the nation’s, and the world’s cultural and economic development.

An Urban Commitment

Our work is marked by a particular commitment to urban places, people, culture, and issues, and by an acknowledgment of their complex local, national, and global connections. Our university is located in a great city—Boston—the commonwealth’s capital and major population center. We are proud to provide an excellent and accessible university education, as well as highly informed research and service, to residents of Boston and other cities, regions, and countries. Partnering with urban institutions and residents, we help to create sustainable and healthy social fabrics, economies, service organizations, and civic and cultural institutions.

Facts & Figures

The University of Massachusetts Boston serves the most diverse student population in New England, and we are currently expanding and changing in exciting new ways.

Research Funding

We're making advances in the natural and social sciences with the help of $62 million in research funding in the fiscal year 2019.

136 Countries Represented

We have students from all over the world. In fall 2020, international students from 136 countries were enrolled.

3,671 Diplomas

Nearly 4,000 students graduated from UMass Boston in 2020. Popular programs are psychology, biology, exercise, and health sciences.

Fall 2020 Enrollment

In fall 2020, UMass Boston had 16,259 students. Our Honors College serves 692 students who enjoy a challenge.

Integrated Sciences Complex

This 220,000–square-foot building is home to researchers looking at things such as infertility and cancer.

University Hall

This 190,000–square-foot building features specialized chemistry labs and art and performing arts spaces, including a black box theatre.

Academic Recognition

  • UMass Boston’s graduate programs in clinical psychology, education, nursing, and public affairs ranked as the top 100 programs on U.S. News & World Report’s 2022 Best Graduate Schools list.
  • UMass Boston’s online graduate education programs jumped 19 spots in U.S. News & World Report’s 2020 Best Online Programs rankings. The online graduate education programs were ranked No. 35, up from No. 54 in 2019. UMass Boston has four online undergraduate programs. Collectively, those were ranked No. 93 on the list of Best Online Bachelor’s Programs.
  • In 2019, Forbes ranked UMass Boston No. 247 in its fourth annual ranking of the 300 Best Value Colleges.
  • In 2018, U.S. News & World Report ranked the University of Massachusetts Boston in the first tier of national universities for the third year in a row. The Princeton Review named UMass Boston as one of its “Best in the Northeast” colleges. The Princeton Review named UMass Boston’s College of Management one of the Best Business Schools.
  • The College of Nursing and Health Sciences is the ninth-largest nursing school in the country.

Pioneering Ph.D. Programs

UMass Boston is home to 30 doctoral programs.

  • In keeping with UMass Boston's environmental consciousness, we launched the nation's first Green Chemistry Ph.D. program in 2004.
  • Our Gerontology Ph.D. program has produced more gerontology PhDs than any university in the world.

Research & Innovation

Our areas of expertise include the biomedical, health, and life sciences; sustainability; and inclusion.

  • Among our prestigious research partners are the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, IBM, Sanofi and Genzyme, New England Aquarium, and the Boston Public Schools.
  • UMass Boston's Venture Development Center has helped launch 35 cutting-edge technology and life sciences startup enterprises.

Institutes & Centers

The more than 50 interdisciplinary research institutes and centers at UMass Boston bring faculty and students together to pursue research, teaching, and service on diverse topics.

  • The Center for Personalized Cancer Therapy provides a means for undergraduate and graduate students to become the next generation of well-trained biomedical workforce talent and future leaders of life sciences research in academia and industry.
  • UMass Boston is one of only two universities in the country with free-standing research institutes dedicated to four major communities of color in the U.S.—African American, Asian American, Latino, and Native American—through its Collaborative of Asian American, Native American, Latino and African American Institutes (CANALA).

Accreditation

The University of Massachusetts Boston is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE).

Accreditation of an institution of higher education by the commission indicates that it meets or exceeds criteria for the assessment of institutional quality periodically applied through a peer review process. An accredited college or university is one that has available the necessary resources to achieve its stated purposes through appropriate educational programs, is substantially doing so, and gives reasonable evidence that it will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. Institutional integrity is also addressed through accreditation.

Accreditation by the commission is not partial but applies to the institution as a whole. As such, it is not a guarantee of every course or program offered or the competence of individual graduates. Rather, it provides reasonable assurance about the quality of opportunities available to students who attend the institution.

Rankings

Consistently ranked in the top-tier of universities in America by several leading rating outlets, UMass Boston's academic excellence, diversity, and urban location are among several factors that set the university apart.

With undergraduate, graduate, and online programs that continue their upward trajectories in the rankings, several have taken their places among the best in the country.

Some of our recent rankings:

2022

  • According to U.S. News and World Report, UMass Boston is:
    • #43 in the country for undergraduate nursing
    • #19 for ethnic diversity
    • #36 for social mobility
    • #62 for computer science
    • #112 overall among public universities
    • #227 overall best national universities
  • U.S. News also ranked UMB's graduate programs among the best in the country:
    • #48 for graduate programs in education
    • #63 for master's of nursing
    • #69 for master’s programs in public affairs
    • #86 for doctor of nursing practice
    • #79 for sociology
  • The Wall Street Journal and Times Higher Education ranked UMB #8 in the country for the environment, citing outstanding diversity and inclusion.
  • Niche ranked UMass Boston as
    • #3 best public university in Massachusetts
    • #6 best college for nursing in Massachusetts
    • #18 college with the best professors in Massachusetts
    • #53 best college for information technology in America
    • #28 most diverse college in America
  • UMB's business program was ranked as Tier 1 by CEO Magazine
  • Intelligent awarded UMass Boston's online master's programs Best for Accelerated Programs

2021

  • U.S. News and World Report ranked UMass Boston as:
    • #113 overall among public universities
    • #36 for social mobility
  • U.S. News also ranked UMB's graduate programs:
    • #62 for graduate programs in education
    • #66 for master's of nursing
    • #72 for master's programs in public affairs
  • Forbes ranked UMass Boston on their annual list of top colleges in America, including their rankings for:
    • Public colleges and universities
    • Caliber of research
    • Best value colleges

2020

  • QS Quacquarelli Symonds, in its inaugural ranking of top universities, ranked UMass Boston:
    • #9 in Massachusetts
    • #79 overall in the country
    • Diversity, employability, and internationalization were each key factors in the ranking
  • 24/7 Wall Street said UMass Boston was the 3rd most diverse four-year college in the U.S.

Admissions

Application Procedure

First-Year Student

  • Completed applications will include the following information:
  • Completed UMass Boston Web Application or Common Application with Essay
  • Application Fee ($60 domestic/$100 international) *fee waivers are accepted
  • Official high school transcript (must include grades 9-11) and listing of in-progress senior year courses. Senior grades may be submitted when available but may not initially be considered. First-year students who have graduated from high school are required to submit an official, final high school transcript inclusive of the graduation date.
  • SAT or ACT scores (unless applying with No Test Option)
  • Recommendation Letter (school-based counselor or teacher)
  • English Language Proficiency for non-native speakers of English

International First-Year

Essay Requirement

All UMass Boston applicants are asked to submit a personal essay. It gives you the opportunity to present yourself in a way that grades and test scores cannot. Our admissions counselors use your essay to determine your ability to organize your thoughts and express yourself clearly. Your essay may also be used to consider you for the Honors College and/or any scholarship opportunities for which you may qualify.

Please select one of the following questions and write an essay of about 500 words:

  • Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.
  • Discuss some issues of personal, local, national, or international concern and their importance to you.
  • Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.
  • Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.
  • A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.
  • Some other topic of your choice.

SAT / ACT Scores

Students who are attending or have graduated from a U.S. high school or have completed an English-based curriculum (i.e. International Baccalaureate, A Levels, etc.) may apply for Test Optional.

Students who have not attended a U.S. high school or completed an English-based curriculum should refer to the information provided below regarding English Proficiency.

English Proficiency Testing Requirements

  • All non-native speakers of English must demonstrate English language proficiency. Students can demonstrate proficiency by submitting the following exams:
    • TOEFL (79+)
    • IELTS (6.0+)
    • SAT (Evidence-Based Reading & Writing (ERWS) component of 480+)
    • ACT (Reading and English component scores totaling 34)
    • Duolingo English Test (100+)
  • UMass Boston must receive your official test scores directly from the testing agency. You may request scores be sent to UMass Boston at the time you register for the test. If you have already taken the test, you may request official scores by contacting the College Board, ACT, TOEFL, IETLS or Duolingo directly.
  • The UMass Boston SAT/TOEFL and IELTS code is 3924 and the ACT code is 1925.

Provisional Admission

UMass Boston may offer provisional admission to an international undergraduate applicant who meets all of the admission criteria, but whose TOEFL or IELTS results do not meet the minimum requirements.

  • UMass Boston does not offer conditional admission for nursing, engineering, or management applicants.
  • Students provisionally accepted to the university will be referred to the University Preparation ESL program.

Obtaining an I-20

Once you have been accepted to the University of Massachusetts Boston, you will receive detailed instructions from International Student and Scholars Services (ISSS). They will contact you about submitting documents necessary for I-20 Certificate Eligibility issuance.

Graduate Students

GPA

A minimum, cumulative GPA of 2.75 on a 4.0 scale (or international equivalent) in all undergraduate work. Please note that some programs may require a supplemental list of coursework and/or discipline-specific GPA calculations. Please review your programs’ requirements to confirm.

Bachelor's degree

At the time of enrollment, a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited U.S. institution of recognized standing or an international equivalent. International applicants must submit evidence that they have completed the equivalent of a regionally accredited, U.S. university-level bachelor’s degree program. Most international 3-year degrees, including the Indian Bachelor of Arts, Sciences, and Commerce degrees, are not considered to be equivalent.

Application Fee

The nonrefundable application fee is $75.

No application fee for UMass Boston alumni! UMass Boston alumni and current students that plan to complete degree requirements prior to graduate enrollment can submit the application without paying the application fee.

Official Transcripts

Official transcripts for all institutions where you have earned more than 6 credits. Most transcripts can be requested electronically through the Centralized Application System (CAS). Original hardcopy transcripts must be sealed in an envelope from the issuing institution.

Test Scores

  • Some programs require official GRE or GMAT test scores. Please review the program requirements to confirm.
  • Applicants who completed undergraduate coursework outside of the United States may be required to submit English proficiency test results, even if they are permanent residents or citizens of the U.S. Please review the international applicant page.
  • UMass Boston’s institution code is 3924. We can only accept official score reports sent electronically or in hardcopy directly from the testing agency.
  • In accordance with Massachusetts state law, the Office of Graduate Studies and Graduate Admissions policy permits residents of Massachusetts who have been diagnosed as developmentally disabled (including those with specific language disabilities, such as dyslexia, but not including those whose sole disability is blindness) to request a waiver of the requirement to submit GRE, GMAT, or MAT scores. To qualify for a waiver, an applicant must submit documentation of their disability. Some graduate programs require an alternative mode of assessment (e.g., a writing sample) in lieu of the standardized test score.

Letter of Recommendation

  • The number of letters required varies by program. Please review the program requirements. The recommenders you identify will receive an email with instructions upon submission of the online application.
  • Typically, one or more letters from former professors familiar with your academic abilities provide the strongest recommendations. Recommenders should have worked closely with the applicant in an academic, professional, or community service setting. Letters should not be written by friends or family members of the applicant. Letters should focus on the applicant’s abilities and past academic performance, while also indicating an ability to effectively complete graduate-level coursework.

Statement of Purpose

The statement of purpose is your opportunity to show the graduate admissions committee why you wish to pursue graduate study, as well as your specific interests and goals. In general, the first part of your statement (about 300 words) shares your reason for wanting to attend graduate school while the second part (about 1200 words) indicates your specific interest and the kind of work you would like to do in your intended field. The program to which you are applying may have other instructions regarding the content and nature of this statement. You will be able to upload your Statement of Purpose to your application in .doc or .pdf form.

Scholarships and Funding

Undergraduate Student Aid

Our financial aid counselors are here to answer your questions and guide you through the process. You can reach them through our email. You can also check your status and view ‘To-Do’ list tasks in WISER.

Your financial aid award may consist of a combination of grants, work-study, and loans from a variety of funding sources.

Financial aid funds come from 3 main sources:

  • The U.S. Federal Government
  • The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
  • UMass Boston

Get a preliminary estimate of federal, state, and institutional aid eligibility with the Net Price Calculator to help you gauge what aid you may be awarded and to know the cost you will need to cover.

To determine your eligibility, simply complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). This one application is all you will need to be considered for most of the aid available. Simple steps can be found on Navigating the Aid Process.

The financial information you report on your FAFSA determines your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and is calculated by a Federal formula. The EFC is subtracted from the Cost of Attendance. The difference between the two amounts is “financial need” and represents a student’s maximum eligibility for need-based aid. The EFC is an estimate of the amount of money you’ll need to supplement the financial aid you qualify to receive.

The number of credits you take, your residency status, and your grade level is used to determine your aid eligibility and affect your offer. Notify Financial Aid Services if this information is not correct on your award letter.

For transfer students, the Federal Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized loan amounts will be based on the number of transfer credits that have been evaluated at the time of your financial aid award. Loan amounts may change as additional credits are evaluated. Please pay close attention to this information on your financial aid award notification letter.

International students do not qualify for federal or state financial aid grant programs. You can and should explore financial support options like private, individual loans, work opportunities, and scholarship potentials. Loan programs are available through private lenders with a creditworthy U.S. Citizen or permanent resident as a cosigner. Some work opportunities can be explored through UMass Boston’s Institutional Employment Program.

Be sure to read the Terms and Conditions for receiving financial aid. Make sure you take steps to maintain your eligibility for aid during your time at UMass Boston.

Graduate Student Aid

Our financial aid counselors are here to answer your questions and guide you through the process. You can reach them through our email. You can also access information in the Self-Service section of your WISER account.

Graduate Financial Aid comes from four sources

  • Assistantships
  • Grants
  • Loans
  • Federal Work-Study

The number of credits you take, your residency status, and your grade level is used to determine your aid eligibility and affect your offer. Notify Financial Aid Services if this information is not correct on your award letter.

Assistantships

UMass Boston supports graduate education primarily through assistantships. Assistantships are not awarded by Financial Aid Services. They are formal service contracts between you and your graduate school department. They may include:

  • a tuition credit
  • a waiver of fees
  • a stipend

The number of graduate assistantships is limited based on budget. Contact your Graduate Program Director for more information. Financial Aid Award Packages may be adjusted for students receiving assistantships.

Grants for Graduates

Federal TEACH Grant (Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education)

  • federally-funded program
  • provides up to a maximum of $3,772 per year to students who are completing or who plan to complete coursework that is required to begin a career in teaching and agree to serve as a full-time, highly-qualified teacher in a high-need subject area in a designated low-income school for at least 4 years within 8 years of graduating

Locations

  • Boston

    William T Morrissey Boulevard,100, 02125, Boston

    Questions