The School of Music and Dance graduate program requires applicants to have a bachelor's degree in Music from a regionally accredited institution and to be in good academic standing at the last college or university attended. The School of Music and Dance requires a minimum GPA of 3.00 in the last 60 units of undergraduate coursework. All required transcripts and supporting documents should be sent directly to the university.

Students from a country where the official language is not English are required to submit a TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), PTE (Pearson Test of English), or International English Language Testing System (IELTS) score. The minimum entrance score for the TOEFL is 590 (paper-based), 243 (computer-based), or 96 (internet-based), with a score of 5 in the Writing Section. The minimum score for the PTE is 68, for the IELTS, the minimum score is 7.0.

A 2.5 institutional GPA (from the 0.0-4.0 U.S. grading scale) in the last degree completed, or a 2.5 GPA in the last two years of full time study.