English as a Second Language (ESL) Requirement

Upon arrival, students who are from a country exempted from the English proficiency requirement or who have received a bachelor’s degree or higher from a U.S. institution within 24 months of their matriculation into an Ohio State graduate program are exempt from the Academic English Writing Assessment (previously known as the ESL Composition Placement Essay). Based on the essay result, students needing English writing instruction will be placed in EDUTL 5901 or 5902. The student is expected to complete EDUTL 5902 within one calendar year after beginning graduate school. The Graduate Studies Committee in the student’s graduate program may request an extension of the time limit. Such requests must be sent to the Graduate School for review. The Graduate School will monitor the student’s progress toward completing the ESL course sequence. 

Exemption from sitting for the Academic English Writing Assessment may be granted to students who either have a total score of 114 on the IBT TOEFL, or a total score of 101 and a score of 28 on the writing section. Alternatively, students with a score of 9.0 on the IELTS, or an overall score of 8.0 and a score of 8.0 on the writing module are also eligible for exemption.