MPAc Admissions Information

Upon Provisional Admission to UC San Diego

All admitted applicants who have earned a degree(s) from an institution(s) outside of the United States are required to complete and submit a Course-by-Course evaluation for each degree earned. Please select one of the following companies to complete your Course-by-Course evaluation:

• WES Course-by-Course ICAP evaluation
• TEC Course-by-Course evaluation

Step by step instructions for completing the evaluation process can be found in the Checklist Items tab of your applicant portal. Choose only one evaluation company to complete your evaluation. Please do not send official documents to the Graduate Admissions Office. You must submit a Course-by-Course evaluation once you have been admitted for your admission to UC San Diego to be finalized. 

Your evaluation must include your completed degree. The Graduate Admissions Office does not accept evaluations that state you are currently enrolled in a program or state your anticipated completion/graduation date. If you have in-progress coursework at an institution outside of the United States, do not submit the request for your Course-by-Course evaluation until you have completed your coursework and your degree has been conferred. If you request your evaluation prior to your degree conferral, your evaluation will be incomplete, and you will be required to pay an additional fee to have the evaluation amended.

Submit your most up-to-date resume or CV. We encourage you to:

• Highlight quantitative and technical preparation (coursework, certificates, research, programming, case competitions, online training, internships).
• List only internships and work experience that can be verified by your employer’s HR department.
• Upload HR-issued documentation for each internship (optional but strongly encouraged).
• Exclude volunteer or unofficial work from the Work Experience category.
• (Optional) Add your LinkedIn profile to your application.

TIP: In a professional resume, you don’t want to misrepresent volunteer or unofficial work as formal “Work Experience” since that implies paid, HR-verified employment. Instead, you can present it honestly while still highlighting the value. Here are a few categories that work well, depending on the type of role:

• Volunteer Experience – best if the work was unpaid and mission-driven.
• Relevant Experience – useful if the volunteer or unofficial work is directly related to your field and demonstrates transferable skills.
• Leadership & Service – good for roles where you took initiative or contributed to organizations.
• Professional Projects or Independent Experience – works if the assistant role or project work mirrors professional responsibilities, but wasn’t formally employed.

Your accounting foundation is the cornerstone of your success in the Rady Master of Professional accountancy program and a key step toward CPA eligibility. We seek students who arrive ready to engage with advanced material from day one—prepared for both our rigorous curriculum and the accounting profession’s competitive hiring environment.

• Required before enrollment:
  • One substantive introductory accounting course: A qualifying introductory course should cover the accounting equation, transaction analysis, accrual accounting, adjusting entries, the financial statements and how they relate to one another, and the basic accounting cycle.
  • Intermediate Accounting I.

• Highly encouraged:
  • Managerial Accounting
  • Intermediate Accounting II
  • Auditing
  • Federal Taxation.

The required foundational courses establish minimum eligibility prior to enrollment.  Meeting foundational course eligibility does not guarantee admission or overall competitiveness of your application. Admission remains competitive and holistic; not all eligible applicants can be offered admissions.

These courses provide the technical depth needed for graduate-level coursework and position you to compete for roles in audit, tax, advisory, risk, and corporate accounting. Since many of our students find career opportunities in tax, and because our tax and transactional courses (e.g., M&A) move so quickly, we strongly recommend completing both courses if available.

Courses must be taken through a regionally accredited university or recognized extension program (e.g., any UC Division of Extended Studies).  MOOC platforms (Massive Open Online Courses) such as Coursera, edX, or Udemy do not meet this standard due to differences in rigor, assessment, and instructor engagement.

International Applicants
We welcome applicants with accounting degrees from outside the U.S. and the global perspective you will bring to our community. We understand that international curricula differ, and some of the foundational courses may not have been available in your program. Any missing courses may be completed separately through accredited U.S. universities or extension programs before enrollment.

Why This Foundation Matters
These courses are investments in your academic and professional success. A strong foundation helps students:

• Excel in graduate-level coursework
• Compete confidently for internships and full-time roles
• Progress efficiently toward CPA licensure

Students who arrive underprepared often struggle to keep pace and may miss important recruiting windows while trying to fill knowledge gaps.

Technical Skills (Strongly Recommended)
While not required, proficiency in Excel, business data analysis, and visualization tools (e.g., Power BI or Tableau) will help you stand out and get the most from the program —especially as the profession moves deeper into analytics, automation, and AI applications.

Accounting is being reshaped by forces most students entering the profession will work inside for their entire careers: automation of routine work, changing licensure requirements, and new expectations of what a firm owes its clients, its people, and the public. Choose one change you believe will matter most to the work accountants do over the next ten years. Explain why you chose it, what you think it will require of you specifically, and how you have already begun preparing. Be concrete about your own situation rather than general about the profession. (500 words)

The GRE/GMAT test requirement is optional for the Master of Professional Accountancy program. Applicants are welcome to include valid GRE or GMAT test scores at the time of application submission.  If you choose to include a GRE or GMAT test in your application, you should be aware that your application will be considered incomplete and will not be moved forward or reviewed until official scores are received from the testing institution and verified by the Rady Admissions Office.

• The code for the GMAT is 3NS-ZK-33
• The code for the GRE is 4836

Applicants should be aware that only a GMAT score from a single test sitting will be considered in the evaluation of their application. Applicants are welcome to submit a GMAT Superscore as supplemental information.

The Rady Admissions Office encourages all applicants to prepare appropriately for these examinations. Study can be done individually, in classroom environments, or online. Though the Rady School does not endorse any particular test prep organization, the following are organizations that have been utilized successfully by previous applicants:

• GMAT Mini-Quiz
• UC San Diego Extension
• Kaplan Test Prep
• Manhattan Prep
• Princeton Review

Demonstrated proficiency in the English language is required for all international applicants.  International applicants may be exempt from this requirement if they have earned or will be earning a bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree with grades of B (3.0) or better from either:

• A regionally accredited U.S. college or university where English is the sole language of instruction, or
• A foreign college or university which provides instruction solely in English. You may verify whether your institution meets this requirement by looking up your institution in the IAU World Higher Education Database (WHED). If English is not the sole language of instruction listed, if no language is listed at all, or if the institution does not appear on the WHED website, you are required to submit English proficiency exam scores. No other documentation (e.g. letters, language certificates, school websites) may be used in place of WHED as a means to obtain an exemption from the English proficiency requirement. 

UC San Diego accepts the following English language proficiency exams listed below.   UC San Diego has no preference on the English language proficiency exam that is taken and submitted. 

Duolingo English Test (DET)

 UC San Diego accepts the Duolingo English Test (DET) as one of the approved options to meet the English language proficiency requirement for graduate admission.

• Minimum Total Score: 120 (out of 160)
• Score Validity: Scores are valid for two years from the test date
• Official Score Submission: Scores must be sent electronically to UC San Diego Rady School of Management directly from Duolingo.

To send your Duolingo English Test scores to UC San Diego Rady School of Management, follow these steps:

1. Log in at englishtest.duolingo.com
2. Go to "My Tests" and click "Share Score" on your certified result
3. Select "university" and search for "University of California – San Diego – Rady School of Management”
4. Check the box next to "University of California – San Diego – Rady School of Management” in the dropdown menu

For more information or to register, visit the Duolingo English Test website.

Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL)

• Minimum Total Score: The university-wide minimum TOEFL score required for consideration for graduate admission is 85 for the internet-based test (iBT), or 4.5 for the new TOEFL scoring scale. Competitive scores for the Rady School of Management will be above 100.
• Score Validity: Scores are valid for two years from the test date
• Official Score Submission:  When ordering your TOEFL score reports, use UCSD's institution code 4836. TOEFL score reports are sent to the university four to six weeks after the test is administered. 

At this time, UC San Diego does not accept TOEFL MyBest Scores offered through ETS. Consult the TOEFL website for further information.

International English Language Testing System (IELTS)

• Minimum Total Score: The university-wide minimum IELTS Academic Training exam score required for consideration for graduate admission is Band Score 7.
• Score Validity: Scores are valid for two years from the test date
• Official Score Submission:  To submit official test scores to UC San Diego Rady School of Management, applicants must contact the IELTS test center where they took the test to request their official test results to Rady/UC San Diego. UC San Diego does not accept unofficial copies of IELTS Test Report Forms from students. An institution code is not required.

IELTS is jointly managed by the British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia, and the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations. Arrangements for taking the IELTS Academic Training exam may be made through the website.

The Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE)

• Minimum Total Score:  The minimum PTE Academic score required for graduate admission is Overall Score: 65.
• Official Score Submission:  PTE test takers must select the University of California, San Diego as a score recipient, then submit a copy of your scores directly to our Graduate Admissions office at: Rady School of Management, UC San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive #0553, La Jolla, CA 92093-0553. Include your registration ID number and exam date on your application. Official scores will be verified online.

PTE Academic is a computer-based academic English language test benchmarked to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEF). For registration and test information consult the PTE website.