Please contact the Graduate Program Assistant if you need any assistance with the application or have any questions about the application process. Please direct any questions about the program to the Director of Graduate Studies.
Online Application
Late applications and applications for spring admission may be accepted, with permission of the Director of Graduate Studies. Please contact the
Graduate Program Assistant or Director of Graduate Studies with inquiries about late applications. All applications should be submitted online. Supporting materials should be submitted to CU's Graduate Admissions department.
GRE scores are not required and will not be considered when evaluating applications.
Applicants to the MA should demonstrate Russian proficiency equivalent to Intermediate Mid on the ACTFL rating scale for speaking, writing, listening, and reading (this is roughly equivalent to completion of third-year college Russian with a B average). Applicants may demonstrate this proficiency with a letter of recommendation from someone (preferably an instructor) familiar with their current language abilities as well as college transcripts AND/OR official results from a recent ACTFL/LTI test. Applicants demonstrating their proficiency with test results should include official results for either the OPI or OPIc as well as the LPT, WPT, and RPT. During the review of applications, the admissions committee may also contact applicants to schedule a phone interview in Russian.
Applicants to the MA must hold a BA at the time of application or demonstrate that they will hold a BA by the time they enter the MA program. Current CU students who have not completed their BA and are interested in the MA should consider instead the BAM program, which enables students to begin working toward the MA while still completing their BA.
Please note that, unfortunately, funding for new REEES teaching assistants is unavailable for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Applications for the MA in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies (REEES) should be submitted online and should contain the materials listed below:
A personal statement of 1-2 pages.
Unofficial transcripts should be uploaded to the online application. This includes community colleges, summer sessions, study abroad programs, and extension programs.
For review and decision purposes you are required to upload an unofficial copy of your transcript(s) in the online application. Graduate Admissions requires one copy of the scanned transcript from each undergraduate and graduate institution that you attended. This includes community colleges, summer sessions, study abroad programs, and extension programs. While credits from one institution may appear on the transcript of a second institution, unofficial transcripts must be submitted from each institution, regardless of the length of attendance, and whether or not courses were completed.
Failure to list and submit transcripts from all institutions previously attended is considered to be a violation of academic ethics and may result in the cancellation of your admission or dismissal from the university. If you are admitted and accept, you will then need to provide official transcripts from each university attended. Official transcripts should be emailed directly from the university to
gradprocessing@colorado.edu or send to the address below.
Three letters of recommendation are required. You will enter your recommenders’ contact information into the online application system. Once you submit your application, emails will go out to your recommenders asking them to upload a letter of recommendation to your application.
It is recommended that applicants submit a sample research paper of no more than 20 pages in length (research paper is required for PhD applicants). The paper may be in English or Russian, and applicants should submit what they consider to be their best piece of academic writing. The paper serves not as a language evaluation, but as a sample of the applicant’s critical thinking ability, so in most cases applicants whose native language is English should submit a paper in English.
For minimum
TOEFL (scores, see the
Graduate School English Proficiency website, under “all others” category. For fall 2021, CU will be accepting the online version of TOEFL offered by ETS through Proctor U and will accept English language proficiency demonstrated through Duolingo. A minimum score of 100 (on the 160 point scale) is required for Duolingo.
To report your official DuoLingo scores, please click ‘Send Results’ from inside the application, and then choose, ‘University of Colorado Boulder – Undergraduate.’Please note that funding for new TA appointments is unavailable for the 2024-2025 academic year. Teaching Assistantships may be available on a competitive basis for qualified students pursuing full-time graduate studies. Teaching assistants normally teach one beginning Russian language course or three recitations each semester. Each full-time (50%) teaching assistant receives a stipend of approximately $22,000-$25,000 per academic year and a tuition waiver for up to eighteen credit hours each semester. CU will pay for approx. 90% of the student health insurance plan for students on qualifying appointments. Renewal of the assistantship is not automatic. GSLL prides itself on excellent teaching and expects no less from its Teaching Assistants, who receive training in language pedagogy; however, every graduate student must remember that his/her primary responsibility is to do the best possible work toward the degree. Applicants interested in applying for a Teaching Assistantship should fill out
GSLL's Teaching Assistantship application.
Optional: diversity, equity, and inclusion statement
Graduate School Application FAQs
Graduate Admissions
University of Colorado at Boulder
3100 Marine Street, Rm A122
553 UCB
Boulder, CO 80309-0553
Graduate Admissions/International
University of Colorado at Boulder
3100 Marine Street, Rm A122
65 UCB
Boulder, CO 80309-0065
The University of Colorado at Boulder is an equal opportunity/affirmative action institution that does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, creed, religion or veteran status.
During the first semester of your studies at CU, you will need to submit any missing official transcripts on your record (to see what is missing, go to MyCUInfo, click on the "To Do" box on the right hand side). If your university will send official transcripts, have the university send the transcripts directly to admissions (addresses above). If your university does not send out official transcripts, bring your original transcript to Admissions (first floor of Regent Hall), and have them make an official copy for Graduate Admissions (make sure they give you back your official transcript).
