MS STAIR Admission Requirements: 

CMIST welcomes applicants from diverse academic, professional, and personal backgrounds, and seeks those dedicated to making an impact in our ever-changing political and technological world. Our admissions process is holistic in that we consider all aspects of the application equally to determine an overall fit between background and goals and CMIST’s curriculum and community. To that end, applicants to the MS STAIR program also should demonstrate academic and/or professional excellence and preparedness for the rigors of the program.

Minimum qualification for admission to the MS STAIR program includes previous coursework, demonstrated ability, or equivalent work experience in the following areas:

MS STAIR Application

Annual Application Deadline: Complete and submit the application form by March 1 (Open application and select Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Then select 2025 CMIST Applications)

Application Fee: $55. Application fee waivers will be considered on a case-by-case basis. There is an option in the application portal to submit a Fee Waiver Application. 

Resume/Curriculum Vitae: Required 

Statement of Purpose (500-1000 words): State your purpose in undertaking graduate study in international relations and political science as they intersect with emerging technologies and related fields. Include your academic objectives, research interests, and internship and career goals. Also discuss your related qualifications, including collegiate, professional, and community activities, and any other substantial accomplishments not already mentioned in the application or resume/curriculum vitae. 

Diversity Essay (500-1000 words): The Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy and Technology, as well as the Dietrich College for Humanities and Social Sciences and broader CMU community value a dynamic and diverse community where all members are responsible for contributing to an intersectional, inclusive environment. Please take this opportunity to discuss how you will contribute to departmental, college, or campus-wide efforts to expand diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

Optional Written Essay: If there are any special circumstances you would like the admissions committee to consider, highlight them in the optional essay. Use this essay to include information that you feel is important, but that you are unable to include elsewhere in the application. This would also be the place to address any gaps, fails, course retakes, etc., indicated on your transcript or communicate financial need as it relates to scholarship consideration. There is no penalty for leaving this blank. 

Optional Video Essay: You will be given the option in your application to provide a link to a video essay. Video essays are optional but strongly recommended, especially individuals who are unable to visit campus prior to the application deadline or those who are non-native English speakers. Use the video essay to give us more insight into who you are, your interests, and what you will bring to the program; for example, your interest in a particular course or faculty member’s speciality area that you are particularly excited for.  Please do not read your statement of purpose. The video and audio must be of you, the applicant (not a proxy), and will ideally show you talking to the camera for the duration of the video (no audio over PowerPoint slides without accompanying video).

Academic Transcripts

• We require a minimum 3.0 GPA represented in your undergraduate work. Please explain any gaps in your study, course fails, or retakes in the optional essay. 
• International Transcripts: If your undergraduate degree is from an institution that is located outside of the United States, you must use an academic credential verification service to obtain a course-by-course report. The academic credential verification service can then send this course-by-course report directly to CMIST electronically. 
• Please do not mail/email your transcript to CMIST. We will only accept transcripts that we receive directly from an academic credential verification service. We recommend using SpanTran or WES as we have previously coordinated with them. Please select to send your evaluations to “Carnegie Mellon University - CMIST” via SpanTran or “CMIST at Carnegie Mellon University” via WES.
• Please note: Course-by-course reports must include a U.S. equivalent GPA on a 4.0 scale.  

Letters of Recommendation: You are required to have two recommendation forms submitted on your behalf. Recommendations should be provided by employers, supervisors, professors, or others who are able to comment on your professional and educational goals and potential. At least one of your recommenders should be a professor who can attest to your academic abilities. The other should know you in a professional setting (full-time employment, internship, part-time employment, non-academic extracurricular activity, etc.). You may opt to have up to three (3) recommendations submitted in support of your application. Please let your recommenders know in advance that they may upload an electronic document or scanned copy of a paper-based recommendation using the online system rather than using the provided text box response fields, but that they must upload their recommendation via the online system. 

English Language Proficiency: Language test scores from TOEFL, IELTS, or DuoLingo are required if your native language is not English. The only exceptions are for students who have worked or studied for five or more years in Australia, Botswana, Canada, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Ghana, Ireland, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, New Zealand, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, and/or Zambia. 

Your scores must be submitted directly to Carnegie Mellon University – Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy and Technology (TOEFL institution code C583). We verify all exam scores electronically after they are reported to us by the testing service. Please do not have paper test scores sent to us by mail. If your previous test scores are older than two years, you MUST take one of the tests again. The testing agency will not verify scores that are more than two years old.  

We strongly recommend you include a video essay in your application. An interview may also be requested before final admission decisions can be made. 

GRE Test Scores (Optional): Applicants may choose to have their GRE test scores sent to Carnegie Mellon University (institutional code: 2074) to be considered with other required application materials.  Providing GRE test scores is completely optional; an applicant who does not provide GRE test scores will receive the same consideration of any other applicant.

Veterans: CMIST welcomes applications from veterans and those currently serving in the US military. The University’s Registrar’s Office provides services to veterans and their dependents who are eligible for Veterans Education Benefits under the Montgomery G.I. Bill, Post-9/11 G.I. Bill. 

In addition, CMU participates in the Yellow Ribbon Program for those who are 100% eligible for benefits under the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill. In order to use Veterans Education Benefits, you must be an admitted Carnegie Mellon student (graduate or undergraduate). Veterans Affairs determines the amount of benefits a student can receive; therefore, we cannot estimate benefit amounts. Please contact the VA at 1-888-442-4551 to find out the amount you are eligible to receive. 

All information reported on your application is subject to verification. CMIST utilizes several methods to identify plagiarized and falsified content in uploaded documents. Submission of false or plagiarized material as part of the application for admission may result in automatic denial of admission to any degree program. 

All Advanced Topics and Security and Technology Core requirements must be completed in the first two semesters of the program. Due to changing class availability, alternatives to core and elective courses will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Brief Overview of Expectations

The final semester of the MS STAIR program takes place in Washington, DC. Students will intern full-time, working 25 to 40 hours per week, while also taking one evening class to fulfill curricular requirements.

CMIST faculty and staff assist students in applying and securing an approved summer internship during their fall and spring semesters in the program. Internships generally need to be related to emerging technologies, national/international security, international relations, and/or political science. 

The internship allows students to synthesize learning objectives of the program with practical and hands-on experiential learning opportunities. Mid-semester reports and a formal presentation at the end of their internship experience are required of each student.  The reports and presentation will include detailed reflections on their professional experience during the internship and make distinct connections between their completed coursework, research, and culminating internship experience.

If a student is coming to the MS STAIR with a DC-based job that is relevant to their program of study, they would be eligible to return to their previously-held position and have that count toward the internship requirement. Students are encouraged to mention this in their application materials or early in their studies to the graduate program manager to begin the waiver approval process. 

Past CMIST Student Internships in DC