Doctor of Professional Studies Application Checklist
Here you’ll find everything you need to apply for our Doctor of Professional Studies program. And if you have questions, let us know. We’re here to help you.
About Our Admissions Process
The deadline to apply for the Doctorate of Professional Studies in Information Management (DPS) is February 1. We will only admit one cohort a year for the summer term. We will not be accepting applications for fall or spring terms.
After the application deadline, the DPS admissions committee, composed of several faculty members and administrators, will go through all applications, conduct interviews (either in person or by phone), and make final decisions.
Once a student is admitted, a faculty advisor will be assigned to the student to guide his or her first year of study in the program.
If you have any additional questions that are not addressed in this checklist, please reach out to us at profdoc@syr.edu and a member of our Enrollment Management team will respond.
You can apply to the program using the Graduate Program Application.
Please Select PART TIME for the right set of programs to populate to application. DPS in Information Management is online (with required residences) and only available for Summer Term.
You will receive an email from Syracuse University when your application has been received and processed.
Current Syracuse University students should apply to the program using the Graduate Program Application. As of Fall 2021, there is no longer a separate internal application process.
The non-refundable application fee is $75.
Please include a check or money order payable to Syracuse University. Do not send cash.
If you wish to apply to more than one Syracuse University program, you must file a separate application and application fee for each program.
Post-9/11 veterans of the armed forces may have their admissions fee waived upon verification by Veterans Resource Center staff. Identify yourself as a Post-9/11 Veteran while completing the online admissions application and contact the Veterans Resource Center (veterans@syr.edu) for further instructions.
One (1) copy of records of all previous postsecondary education.
A master’s degree is not required to apply to the DPS program.
Contact the Registrar’s Office of each higher educational institution that you attended and have one copy of your transcript(s) sent to the Syracuse University Enrollment Management Processing Center. Address and submission instructions are below.
You do not need to send transcripts from secondary schools as part of this application.
We can consider your application with unofficial transcripts, but we recommend that you send official transcripts. If you choose to submit an unofficial transcript, all offers of admission from Syracuse University are conditional pending receipt of official academic credentials showing that a U.S. bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) has been conferred upon you.
Failure to submit official degree-bearing credentials may result in revocation of an offer of admission, or dismissal from the graduate program if admission has already been granted.
In 1000 words or fewer, tell us about yourself as a prospective colleague, addressing both A and B aspects of your candidacy.
A) What do you want to study? What led you to this area of the intellectual landscape? Why it is important? What do you know about this topic from the perspectives of both a practitioner and an aspiring academic? Why do you believe the Syracuse University School of Information Studies is the best place to pursue this inquiry?
B) What do you bring, and look for in your peers, as a member of a cohort-based thesis-writing enterprise? (We are not looking for teamwork in the typical military or business sense here, but you most definitely will need to help, and be helped by, your classmates to achieve what you are signing up for.) Also, tell us something about your personal grit and determination, traits that are essential for any individual seeking a doctorate via remote learning while maintaining personal and professional responsibilities.
Both letters of recommendation should be provided by individuals who can comment on your intellectual acuity and/or personal grit and determination. We hope the letters can testify to the writers’ familiarity with your intellectual curiosity, ability to work with abstractions, personal time management skills, and writing and reading abilities.
You can request letters of recommendation, and your recommenders can submit their recommendations, through the OnBase online application system. You will receive an email once your recommender submits their recommendation through OnBase.
If you are unable to request letters electronically through OnBase, you must mail letters to the Graduate Enrollment Management Center (address and mailing instructions below) in sealed envelopes, on which the recommender has signed across the seal.
GRE General Exam (Not Required)
The Graduate Record Exam (GRE) is not required. You may submit the test results if you desire.
English Language Assessment (required for international applications)
- If you are not a native English speaker and do not have a degree from a U.S. institution, you are required to take the TOEFL or IELTS exam.
- Successful applicants typically have a TOEFL score of 100 or above. (or IELTS 7.0)
- If you have completed an advanced degree taught at an accredited U.S. educational institution based in the United States, you do not need to provide an English Language Assessment.
- International applicants whose native language is English, or who are citizens of English-speaking countries are not required to submit an English Language Assessment.
Choose one of the following ten articles. We can supply you with a copy if you cannot obtain one in your current circumstances. The 1000-to-1500-word response should summarize and ideally critique the article’s core argument, then apply the insights or research question to your organizational experience and/or previous reading. How can scholarship inform your professional position, and vice versa? How might the intellectual domain you engage affect your professional trajectory post-doctorate?
BBVA’s Data Monetization Journey
Elena Alfaro et al
MIS Quarterly Executive (June 2019) 18:2 pp. 117-128
Some Unintended Consequences of Information Technology in Health Care: The Nature of Patient Care Information System-related Errors
Joan S. Ash, Marc Berg, Enrico Coiera
Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (Mar 2004) 11:2 pp. 104–112
Defining the information disciplines in encyclopedia development
Marcia J. Bates
Information Research, 12(4) (2007) paper colis29
Documentation, information science, and library science in the U.S.A.
M. Buckland
Information Processing & Management, 32(1) (1996), pages 63-76.
Understanding Smart Cities: An Integrative Framework
Hafedh Chourabi et al
2012 45th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences pp. 2289-2297
The Future of Employment: How susceptible are jobs to computerisation?
Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael A. Osborne
Technological Forecasting and Social Change V 114 (January 2017) pp. 254-280
Also available at https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/academic/future-of-employment.pdf
Designing Ethical Algorithms
Kirsten Martin
MIS Quarterly Executive (June 2019) 18:2, pp. 129-142
Review: information technology and organizational performance: an integrative model of IT business value
Nigel Melville, Kenneth Kraemer, Vijay Gurbaxani
MIS Quarterly (June 2004) pages 283-322
Design, Business Models, and Human-Technology Teamwork
Don Norman
Research-Technology Management, 60:1 (2017), 26-30
Science audiences, misinformation, and fake news
Dietram A. Scheufele and Nicole M. Krause
PNAS April 16, 2019 116 (16) 7662-7669
Financial Documents are not required for the review of your application for admission. Students may wait and submit financial documents after they receive admission.
The United States government requires international students to demonstrate sufficient funding for at least the first year of graduate study. Once you have done this, Syracuse University can issue the visa eligibility document (also known as an I-20) that you will need to have your student visa authorized.
If you are a privately sponsored applicant, you will need to demonstrate acceptable evidence of your funding. This consists of a certified current bank statement on official bank letterhead, signed by an authorized bank official or an official letter stating an approved or sanctioned loan that indicates sufficient funds exist to meet at least first-year expenses in U.S. dollars as per Syracuse University’s current estimate.
If you are a government-sponsored applicant, you will need to submit an original award letter (or a certified copy of an award letter). The letter must state the annual amount of the award in U.S. dollars. All financial documents must be written in English and valid within one year of the start of the semester. You may email the document per the instructions below.
Please contact Syracuse University Graduate Admissions at Grad@syr.edu for any questions regarding funding requirements.
Your financial documents have no bearing on your consideration for scholarships or awards. Program application reviewers do not have access to view your financial documents.
Applicants who choose to submit financial statements after an offer of admission is made may experience processing and delivery delays that can impact the receipt of the I-20 and the schedule of your visa appointment.
How to submit financial documentation
By email: You can scan your financial documents and email them to Syracuse University Enrollment Management at grad@syr.edu.
By fax: You can fax your funding documentation to 001-315-443-3423
On all documents you send via fax, you must include:
Your full name
Date of birth
Name of the program you are applying to
Your SU I.D. number (this is issued to you after you submit your application)
Please visit the website of the Center for International Services for additional information.
Any materials that cannot be submitted electronically can be mailed.
Any letters of recommendation that you are unable to submit electronically must be submitted in sealed envelopes, on which the recommender has signed across the seal.
For all other materials, you must include your first name, last name and SU I.D., and mail the materials in a sealed envelope to:
Enrollment Management Processing Center
Syracuse University
Graduate Admissions Processing
P.O. Box 35060
Syracuse New York 13235-5060
If you are sending materials using a package delivery company (i.e. FedEx, UPS, DHL), use this address:
Enrollment Management Processing Center
Syracuse University
Graduate Admissions Processing
400 Ostrom Avenue
Syracuse, New York 13244
To verify the status of your application, please contact Bridget Crary at bmcrary@syr.edu.
