The School of Music has a common body of knowledge and skills for all graduate degree areas. These fall broadly into the following categories: Professional Competence, Musicianship, Creativity and Scholarship, and Pedagogy and Communication. Students must demonstrate achievement of professional, advanced-level competence in the major area, including significant technical mastery, the ability solve professional problems independently, and develop a coherent set of artistic/intellectual goals, for the purpose of long-term success in their chosen field.

International students are required to have a four-year bachelor's degree. Certain three-year degrees may be acceptable. International students are required to submit the following information: official TOEFL or IELTS scores. The minimum score for TOEFL is 90. The minimum score for IELTS is 7.