Admission Policies for Non-Traditional Students

Students applying for admission more than three years after high school graduation, or who have completed the GED or HiSET and would have graduated from high school three or more years prior to applying to college, must show their ability to succeed in college based upon their high school record and other application materials.

Applicants who have been out of high school for at least three years are considered Non-traditional and therefore exempt from taking the SAT/ACT. Non-traditional students must meet the 3.250 GPA minimum to be considered for admission. Non-traditional student who has below a 3.25 must present potential to be successful and are reviewed in Committee Review.

Students who drop out of high school, earn a GED/HiSET, and apply to college within three years of when they would have graduated with their high school class are subject to the same admission standards as students applying within three years of graduation from high school.

English as a Second Language (ESL) Applicants

If you have submitted an application to an undergraduate program at UMass Lowell and need to demonstrate English Language Proficiency to complete your application process, you can submit results of the Duolingo, IELTS, Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or Pearson exams. Students must have a minimum score of 79-80 on the TOEFL  a 6.5 on the IELTS, a 105 on Duolingo, and a 61 on the Pearson test.

Fresh Start Program

Students who have been absent from the University for two years or longer may be readmitted under the terms of the Fresh Start program. Under this program, a returning student will be treated as if he or she were a transfer student. Courses completed during earlier periods of enrollment with grades of C or above will be accepted toward graduation but will not be included in the cumulative average. Courses completed during earlier periods of enrollment with grades below C will not be counted toward graduation or included in the cumulative average.

A maximum of 75 earlier University of Massachusetts Lowell “transfer” credits will be accepted toward graduation, and after readmission under Fresh Start the student must earn a minimum of 45 credits in residence at UMass Lowell in a matriculated program of study.

Courses taken in the academic major during earlier periods of enrollment must be approved by the major department before those courses can be counted toward the requirements of the major. (This provision is especially important in majors that undergo regular curriculum revision.)