Admission Requirements

Strategic Design and Management (MS) Application Instructions

Student Profile

The Strategic Design and Management program seeks students who want to become the game changers of the new economy and its new actors, digital firms, social information networks, and co-productive individuals. Motivated by the opportunities of our transforming economic landscape, committed to contributing new business models, innovative organizational designs, and progressive architectures for cyberspace, and determined to shift paradigms, students of various professional and academic backgrounds, experiences, and trajectories that want to not only change their own course, but help shape the future of business through design management practices are invited.

Deadline

Applicants who wish to be considered for a Dean's Scholarship should submit a complete application by March 1st. After March 1st, applications will be considered on a rolling basis.

Requirements

(You can download these instructions.)

Parsons graduate programs use a self-managed application process. Submit your application online and mail any supplemental application materials, preferably in a single packet, to the Office of Admission. Include a materials cover sheet (PDF), which can be downloaded from the supplemental forms section of the online application.

Applicants must submit the following to the Office of Admission:

1. Application Form: Complete the online application.
2. Application Fee: Pay the $50 nonrefundable application fee. (A credit card is required to submit the online application.)

3. Official college transcripts: Submit a sealed original copy of your official college transcripts along with your application packet. If that is not possible, instruct the institution to send transcripts directly to the Office of Admission at the address below. Photocopies are not acceptable.

   International transcripts: All applicants with international transcripts are required to submit an original transcript from each institution attended outside the United States, along with a certified English language translation. Applicants who would like to transfer academic credits earned at non-U.S. institutions are also required to have their transcript(s) evaluated by World Education Services (WES), our preferred provider, or by another member of the National Association of Credit Evaluation Services (NACES). A course-by-course evaluation report must be prepared for each transcript. Please start the evaluation process as early as possible, including the submission of all required documents to WES (or another provider), in order to ensure the timely completion of the evaluation report. In addition, an admission counselor may require a transcript evaluation by WES or an NACESapproved evaluator if it is deemed a necessary part of the admission decision process, even when applicants do not want transfer credits applied to a program of interest. Instruct the provider to send the report to

   Parsons Graduate Programs
   Office of Admission
   72 Fifth Avenue
   New York, NY 10011

   If you request your report online, search for "New School Parsons" when selecting our institution. If your provider is unable to send the evaluation report directly to the school, please obtain the report and send it to Parsons, along with a materials cover sheet.

4. Résumé: Submit a brief résumé/vitae summarizing your academic qualifications, relevant work experience, volunteer/community work, travel, exhibitions, public speaking, or any other interesting experiences as they may relate to design and management, including dates and positions held. Please also note any special language or computer skills that you have.

5. Statement of Interest and Intentions: Please submit a two-part essay, as part of a single Word document. Your submission should not exceed 3-4 pages total.

   Part one: Statement of Interest and Intentions (500-750 word limit).
   Please describe the professional academic and intellectual interests, progress, and achievements that have contributed to your decision to apply for graduate study in design management. Support this decision by referring to at least one specific and particular critical incident that triggered your curiosity, keeping in mind that this program is about designing the future of firms, economies, and entire socio-economic contexts. Explain why you would be attracted to a program that is promoted as very innovative and progressive while at the same time may not have immediate applicability in your professional life. You should also include a thoughtful description of your tentative area of inquiry and plan of study as you now envision it, including the kinds of questions you intend to pursue and the types of issues you are interested in. This essay should also address your professional goals, and how this graduate program will help you realize those goals. Briefly describe where you see yourself headed in the next 3-5 years. In addition, include a self-assessment of your work, pointing out strengths and weaknesses. If you have not been enrolled as a student in the past five years, please address anticipated opportunities and challenges in pursuing the MS degree, and future career or entrepreneurial expectations, upon completion of the program.

   Part two: Autobiographical Statement (250 word limit).
   In a short autobiographical statement, tell us about yourself. You can write about your education, your family, your talents and passions, work you've done that has shaped the person you have become, or about significant places or events in your life, especially as it relates to design and management. In addition, use this portion of the essay to explain any strengths or weaknesses you may have (examples: significant achievements/scholarships, low GPA, lack of experience, significant interruption in work or studies, or unique skills). Your writing should inform the reader and reflect your own voice.

6. Recommendations: You are required to submit two letters of recommendation from faculty or people with whom you have worked professionally. There are two ways to send recommendations to the graduate admission office:
   • a) The Online Application (strongly preferred). Using the online application, you can request the recommendation and the recommender can email it directly to the admission office.
   • b) Paper. In the rare occurrence that your reference cannot use email, you can download a paper recommendation form. Then follow the written instructions on the paper form.
7. GRE or GMAT: If you took the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), or the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), submit your test scores. Applicants are strongly encouraged to take either the GRE or GMAT although it is not required. GRE scores should be sent electronically (ETS school code 2638). GMAT scores should be mailed to the Office of Admission with a Materials Cover Sheet.
8. TOEFL: If English is not your native language, you must provide a TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language). The minimum score required for acceptance to the program is 580 for the paper-based, 237 for the computerbased, or 92 for the Internet-based exam. Students required to take the TOEFL exam can obtain further information from the Educational Testing Service. International students who are native English speakers, or who received a bachelor's degree from a university where English was the primary language of instruction, or who completed ESL level 6 at The New School are not required to submit TOEFL scores.
9. Interview: Students may be invited for an interview in person or by phone.