The official admission letter and I-20 Form will be emailed to international students living abroad. International students living in the U.S. will receive the official admission letter by U.S. Mail.

We highly recommend you arrange to have your scores sent before the application deadline. However, it is acceptable for your TOEFL score reports to arrive after the application deadline as long as it is during the review process, which is two to threes weeks after the application deadline. If your reports arrive within the above timeframe after the deadline, your chances of being admitted or receiving financial assistance will not be affected unless final admission decisions have all been made. You can send an inquiry to the Office of Admissions regarding the status of your application. Note: You can submit scanned copies of your exam scores with your application, but you will need to have official copies sent directly from the testing for validation if offered admission.

The Department of Residence website provides useful information on both on-campus and off-campus housing options.

The nonrefundable application fee for domestic students (US citizens, US permanent residents, refugees, asylees, DACA or undocumented) is $60.

The $100 application fee for international students is nonrefundable. If you prefer not to pay the application fee by credit card, you may complete and print the online application, and attach your personal check. All checks should be in US dollars and made payable to Iowa State University.

It typically takes a traditional student 2 years to complete the MS program and an additional 3 years to complete the Ph.D.

One requirement for admission to the Ph.D. is securing a graduate assistantship. Some MS degree students will receive an offer of graduate assistantship funding.

A half-time graduate assistantship will require that you work for your major professor for 20 hours per week in exchange for a stipend. In addition, students with a graduate assistantship are also eligible for a tuition scholarship and health insurance benefits.

MS students on a graduate assistantship receive a 50% tuition scholarship. Ph.D. students on a graduate assistantship receive a 100% tuition scholarship.

You can learn more from the Graduate College website at this link.

Students will be notified by email when their completed application package has been sent to the HCI faculty members. Applications are made available to all HCI faculty for review. Every applicant will be notified via email, whether they were accepted or denied by April 15 for fall applications and by November 15 for spring applications.

It is not required that students have an MS degree before they apply to the Ph.D. program.

The GRE is optional for all applicants.

Submit official results from one of the following exams. The minimum requirements of both the Graduate College and the graduate program to which you are applying must be met. The minimum scores accepted by the HCI Graduate Program are:

* Internet Based TOEFL (iBT) 95
* Paper-Based TOEFL (PBT) 587
* IELTS 7
* Pearson Test of English (PTE) 65
* DuoLingo English Test 105 (only approved through spring 2023 semester)

Official TOEFL exam results must be sent directly from the Educational Testing Service to Iowa State electronically. Our school code is 6306. Official IELTS and PTE results should be sent directly by the testing agencies to the Office of Admissions, Iowa State University, 100 Enrollment Services Center, Ames, IA 50011-2011.

Or, earn a bachelor’s or higher degree from a country where English is the only official language.

Doctoral Degree Outcomes
Master’s Degree Outcomes
Career Placement Outcomes

Yes, it is. International students may be eligible for the 24-month F1 OPT (optional practical training) extension. You can learn more about this on the International Students and Scholars Office website.