Beginning freshman with no college experience applying to SHSU must have a high school degree or its equivalent. The required test scores for prospective freshmen vary depending on the status of the student and high school degree. Students in the top 25 percent of their high school class have no ACT or SAT score requirements. Potential SHSU students who graduated high school in the second quartile must have a minimum score of 20 on the ACT or a minimum score of 960 on the SAT (Critical Reading+ Math). Students in the third quartile must score at least a 23 on the ACT or a 1060 on the SAT (Critical Reading+ Math). Finally, fourth quartile students will be accepted by review only.
Prospective students who graduated from non-accredited high schools --- such as home school programs --- and students with GEDs are required to have a minimum score of 21 on the ACT or 1010 on the SAT(Critical Reading+ Math).
To ease the transition between high school and college, SHSU has an alliance with various community colleges near the campus. The community colleges aligned with SHSU are Blinn, Victoria, Lee, Lone Star and Austin. Any students who want to transfer from any of these community colleges to SHSU must have either 17 transferable college level hours accompanied with a minimum GPA of 2.5 or more than 17 transferable college level hours with a minimum GPA of 2.0. However, students on suspension from any college or university are prohibited from transferring or enrolling into SHSU.
Undergraduate students who have completed transferable academic course work from a different accredited college or university and would like to transfer to SHSU must fulfill the SHSU transfer requirements. Prospective transfer students who have less than 12 transferable academic hours must meet the same admission requirements as beginning freshman students. Students with more than 12 transferable credit hours must provide an official transcript from all accredited colleges or universities they have attended, including the transcript which proves that more than 12 transferable hours have been successfully completed. Additionally, students with 12 to 17 transferable hours must present documentation proving that their culminated GPA was at least a 2.5 and transfer students with over 17 transferable hours must have a minimum GPA of 2.0.
Prospective students who want to enroll into an SHSU graduate program must submit documentation that proves they have obtained a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university along with the official transcript from the institution that granted the bachelor's degree. Furthermore, many graduate programs at SHSU will require potential students to provide writing samples, present letters of recommendations and complete admission tests that pertain to the specific program or field of the student.