Review these requirements prior to submitting your application.
With your Erikson Institute experience, you’ll be better prepared to support children and families in reaching their fullest potential. Join us in our mission and take the first step today.
Have a question about your application or the process?
You are more than a number. We take a holistic view of your story, working with you to build tomorrow’s future early childhood leaders.
Erikson Institute promotes collaborative and creative thinking to help create lasting change that empowers professionals and positively impacts children.
Our students are motivated to serve the children and families in their communities so they can achieve optimal educational, social, emotional, and physical well-being.
We accept applications on a rolling basis. This means we accept applications throughout the year for all academic terms and programs, and applications are evaluated as they are completed. In some instances a degree program may have a specific deadline not tied to an intended term start date.
Want to earn primary consideration for scholarship awards? Apply before our Priority Submission Dates.
Priority Rolling Application Deadlines:
Last Day to Submit Complete Application:
Degree Specific Application Deadlines:
Have a question about any step of the process?
A bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution of higher education with a minimum grade point average of 2.75 on a 4-point scale.
Include the latest copy of your resume with your application, highlighting your most relevant experiences.
Master’s Degree applications require two essays, while our Certificate Programs only require one.
Two professional/academic letters of recommendation for Master’s Degrees; One professional/academic letter of recommendation for Certificate Programs.
Copy of official or unofficial transcripts of all previous college and university work where you’ve completed 30 credits or more of course work. (Note: Official transcripts will be required once you accept the offer of admission to Erikson.)
Official Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), if applicable, taken within two years at the time of your admission.
A master’s degree* from an accredited institution of higher education in a field related to child development (e.g., education, sociology, psychology, social work).
*If you have your bachelor’s degree, you can apply under a special combined Master of Science in Child Development (MSCD)/Ph.D. track, which guarantees admission to the doctoral program with maintenance of an A- average in the MSCD program.
Include the latest copy of your resume with your application, highlighting your most relevant experiences.
For our Doctoral Programs, we require three letters of recommendation from a professional or academic individual.
Please include at least one of your latest research papers or a sample of your academic writing for review.
Copy of official or unofficial transcripts of all previous college and university work where you’ve completed 30 credits or more of course work. (Note: Official transcripts will be required once you accept the offer of admission to Erikson.)
Official Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), if applicable, taken within two years from the time of your admission.
Accepted students are then admitted concurrently to Erikson and Loyola. Erikson will share the application data of admitted students with Loyola to create an admitted student record. You will be invited to access Loyola’s portal to take necessary enrollment steps.
Learn more about the additional requirements for international students and available scholarships.
As a premier graduate school for early childhood development, Erikson participates in several federal and state financial aid programs and awards over $2.5 million in scholarships each year.
Meet an alum or current student, and ask your biggest questions at our next Erikson event.
Embark on your early childhood graduate program path at Erikson Institute and start changing lives.