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Pepperdine | Graduate School of Education and Psychology

Admission Requirements

In an effort to process your application quickly, we only accept electronic application materials.

To apply for this program, please submit:

1. Application for admission with a nonrefundable processing fee.

2. For domestic students, transcripts from the regionally accredited colleges or universities that awarded your baccalaureate and masters degree may be sent through one of the methods noted below. Unofficial transcripts are acceptable for initial admissions review; however official transcripts must be received to complete your student file.

Pepperdine University-GSEP
5th Floor- Enrollment Processing
6100 Center Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90045, USA

3. Two letters of recommendation attesting to the applicant’s academic and/or professional character, leadership experience, and/or potential. The online Professional Recommendation form should be emailed to gsep-admissions@pepperdine.edu. 

4. A Statement of Purpose (1,000-2,000 words) addressing such topics as your view of leadership, ability to create followers, propensity to take risks, evidence of a purposeful research agenda, perseverance and demonstrated achievements, future career and life objectives, and reasons for pursuing an EdD program, emailed to gsep-admissions@pepperdine.edu.

6. Your professional CV or resume emailed to gsep-admissions@pepperdine.edu.

7. A personal or group interview with a program director for qualified applicants who apply to the program.

8. If your baccalaureate or master's degree GPA is lower than 3.0 or you're seeking an exception to our TOEFL/IELTS test requirements, please fill out this Exception Request Form and email it to gsep-admissions@pepperdine.edu.

A writing sample and/or critical thinking assessment may be assigned to a candidate before potential admission at the discretion of the program director.

International Student Requirements:

All applicants who received or will receive their degree from a university outside of the US (unless the degree is from a university which is already regionally accredited within the US) are required to submit a detailed foreign transcript evaluation report from any National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) member, such as the International Education Research Foundation at ierf.org or the World Education Services, Inc., at wes.org.

A detailed foreign transcript evaluation report will contain the following:

  • Foreign transcripts translated into English.
  • Grade point average calculated on a 4.0 scale.
  • A determination of US degree equivalency (regional accreditation equivalency is required)

9. If you are attending school outside of the US and have not completed your bachelor's degree at the time of application, we would need your current NACES member international transcript evaluation (please see above for requirements). Upon degree completion, you are required to provide official transcripts in a sealed envelope directly from the institution that awarded your degree prior to enrollment.

Mailing Address:
Pepperdine University-GSEP
5th Floor- Enrollment Processing
6100 Center Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90045, USA

Note: If your first language is not English, you must submit a minimum score of 550 on the Test of English as Foreign Language (TOEFL). If taking the Internet-based TOEFL test, you will need a minimum score of 80. Information concerning the availability of this test outside of the US can be obtained by contacting TOEFL, Educational Testing Services, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA, or the TOEFL website. Our TOEFL code is 4630. As an alternative to the TOEFL, you may submit a score of at least 6.5 on the IELTS exam. You can find out more at www.ielts.org. IELTS scores can be sent electronically by choosing "Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology" from the dropdown menu.