The Adult/University-Level TESOL Graduate Certificate Program is designed to meet the needs of graduate non-degree students or graduate students concurrently enrolled in a UWM master鈥檚 or PhD program who wish to teach English as a Second Language (ESL) to adults or university-level students abroad. Requirements for this program are very similar to those for the 鈥淎dult/University-Level TESOL Undergraduate Certificate Program,鈥 which accepts undergraduate students and post-baccalaureate special students, but training in the graduate certificate program is more rigorous. Up to 12 of the 21 credits earned can be applied (concurrently or subsequently) to the Linguistics Department鈥檚 MA program.
Students who previously have taken any of the required courses at the graduate level while enrolled in other programs at UWM may transfer the credits earned into the certificate program, so long as the courses have been taken within the last five years. Students who have taken comparable courses at other institutions may be allowed to transfer in up to 6 credits of course work, upon approval by the certificate program coordinator. Students who have completed any of the required courses for undergraduate credit must substitute courses at the graduate level, selected in consultation with the certificate program coordinator.
September 2025
College of Letters and Science
2442 E Hartford Avenue,
MILWAUKEE,
Wisconsin,
53211, United States
Applicants must possess a baccalaureate degree and have a minimum 2.75 cumulative undergraduate grade point average to be admitted in to a certificate program.
A minimum cumulative undergraduate grade point average (GPA) of 2.75 on a 4.0 scale, or an equivalent measure on a grading system that does not use a 4.0 scale.
English proficiency requirement: TOEFL IBT - 79 鈥 120; IELTS - 6.5 - 9.0; Cambridge English Advanced/Cambridge English Proficiency - C1 level or higher.
*There may be different IELTS requirements depending on your chosen course.