Application Deadline and Requirements

Complete and submit the online application. There is a $95 nonrefundable application fee. You may submit your application fee online by credit/debit card.

Submit your current resume, which should highlight your professional and academic experiences, including nondegree coursework, certificates, and MOOCs. We encourage applicants to include all positions held, including non-behavioral science jobs, internships, or volunteer experiences.

Your essay should address each question thoroughly, be no longer than 1500 words (single spaced), and be submitted as a single document. You can answer each question separately or write a single narrative that incorporates all four questions. The essay questions are:

• How did your interest in positive psychology develop? How familiar are you with the field?
• How have you leveraged your strengths in service to your professional pursuits and/or in service to others?
• How will you use what you learn in the MAPP program to transform your career and catalyze change in your profession as a whole?
• What will your unique experiences and perspectives enable you to contribute to the MAPP community?

Unofficial transcripts from each post-secondary school you have attended need to be uploaded through the online application system.

• A common problem that delays applications from being completed on time is that some schools list “The University of Pennsylvania,” and not “The College of Liberal and Professional Studies.” 
• Note: If you don’t yet have your transcripts and wish to work on other parts of the application while you wait, you can temporarily bypass the transcript section. To do so, upload something in each transcript slot such as a simple Word document that briefly indicates why the transcript isn’t there (such as “official transcripts have been sent to Penn” or “waiting for unofficial transcripts to arrive”).

Letters should come from individuals with whom you have had a close professional or academic association and who know of your desire to study positive psychology at an advanced level. In the application, you’ll be prompted to enter email addresses of your letter writers and “submit recommendation request,” which will prompt our system to email them instructions on how to submit their letter through the online recommendation portal. Letters of recommendation should be on letterhead with an original or electronic signature and must be sent directly from your letter writers. Recommendations without letterhead and/or a signature will be more closely monitored in our application credentials review process. There is no required length, although they are usually about one page long. Please urge your recommenders to submit their letters through the online system promptly. If they have difficulties with the online system, they can submit your letter by emailing lps-admissions@sas.upenn.edu with “MAPP applicant (and your name)” in the subject line. Letters can be received before you submit your application, however, they will not be marked as received until roughly 24-48 hours after you submit your application.

• If you graduated college with your undergraduate degree after the spring semester of 2024, the GRE is required.
• GRE scores must be sent electronically from ETS to the University of Pennsylvania’s College of Liberal and Professional Studies (LPS), testing school code: 2986.
• To locate a testing site near you or schedule an exam, visit the GRE website. Please note, the College of Liberal and Professional Studies is accepting at-home GRE test scores.

If you have questions about how this requirement impacts you, please email lps-admissions@sas.upenn.edu. 

A strong command of the English language is necessary for successful study at Penn. A TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) or IELTS (International English Language Testing System) is required for applicants whose native language is not English to demonstrate English proficiency. Please note that this requirement is rarely waived; therefore, we encourage applicants to take the test to avoid delays in completing the application.

TOEFL: The minimum TOEFL scores required for admissions consideration are as follows:

• For TOEFL iBT exams taken on or before January 20, 2026, applicants must achieve a minimum overall score of 100.
• For TOEFL iBT exams taken on or after January 21, 2026, applicants must achieve a minimum overall score of 5.0 on the new TOEFL iBT score scale.

To locate a testing site near you or schedule an exam, visit the TOEFL website. Please note the at-home TOEFL is accepted. Official TOEFL scores must be sent electronically from ETS to the University of Pennsylvania’s College of Liberal and Professional Studies (LPS), using testing school code: 2986.

IELTS: The minimum score for consideration is a 7.0 composite, with listening and speaking scores of 7.0 or higher.

This is a strict requirement for the MAPP application process to ensure all students who enter the MAPP program can be successful in a fast-paced learning environment. In rare occasions, someone might qualify for an exemption, however, the following are not considered sufficient for exemption: working in the US for many years, having a degree from a school where the instruction was in English, and/or working or living in an English-speaking country. Exemption requests will ONLY be considered AFTER your application has been submitted and all other application materials have been received; the exemption review will naturally add additional time to your application review process, which may impede your ability to schedule and take the test if your exemption request is declined. For those reasons, even if you feel you have mitigating factors that would qualify for exemption, we strongly recommend that you take the TOEFL or IELTS if English is not your native language, as it will strengthen your application and ensure its timely processing. If you have questions about how this requirement impacts you, please email lps-admissions@sas.upenn.edu.

IELTS/TOEFL waivers will not be considered until an applicant has submitted their application and all of their supporting documents have arrived and been processed. Do not email with requests before applying; due to high volume we will not be able to respond to your request. Please read all of the admissions requirements very carefully and follow all directions.

Applicants who have attended a college or university outside the US are required to have a course-by-course credential evaluation (with grade point average and course levels) performed by an outside evaluation service. The course-by-course credential evaluation is required even if your international college or university is affiliated with a US institution. Credential evaluations will be reviewed by our administrators, and the determination of degree equivalency to US degrees is at the discretion of the College of Liberal and Professional Studies. The following evaluation service is acceptable:

World Education Services Inc. (WES): WES must complete a course-by-course evaluation of all post-secondary credentials. The course-by-course evaluation should include the comparability level of your education and list each of your courses along with the equivalent US marks and credit. Please select the WES basic course-by-course evaluation (with grade point average and course levels) and request that WES send your evaluation to Penn College of Liberal and Professional Studies Admissions. The school can be found by searching the University of Pennsylvania and then selecting College of Liberal and Professional Studies. The evaluation becomes an official academic record and sole property of the University upon its receipt. For additional information about the WES application and their review process, please visit the WES website. The World Education Service will provide instructions for how to request and submit the required academic documents for review, and the process can take several weeks to complete. Transcript evaluations may take 8 to 12 weeks to complete. We encourage you to begin this process at least 3 months in advance of the published application deadline. Your application will not be reviewed by the Admissions Committee until the required official course-by-course evaluation is received.

Please note that these services charge a fee for the evaluation.