Conditional Admission Program (CAP)

The MBA Conditional Admissions Program (MBA-CAP) is a joint program of the University of Delaware’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics and the University’s English Language Institute (ELI). MBA-CAP provides international students whose native language is not English with an opportunity to be accepted into the UD MBA program without the need to take the TOEFL exam. Instead, students enroll in the English Language Institute before beginning their MBA coursework. This provides an opportunity to improve their English while developing other important skills that are necessary for success in the UD MBA program.

Please Note: it is important to give yourself enough time to study at the ELI before you begin MBA classes. When you apply for the MBA program, please select a semester entry term that will allow for study at the ELI first. For example, if you are interested in starting the MBA classes in a Fall semester which begins in late August, you should plan on attending the ELI for the amount of time it will take to improve your English skills (see below) before August. For example, that means if you come in at Level V, you would start attending the ELI in January so you would have enough time to improve your English skills and be ready for the MBA classes in the Fall semester. Our Spring semesters begin in early February. If you wanted to take MBA classes starting in a Spring semester and came in at a Level V, you would start attending the ELI in August so you would have enough time to improve your English skills and be ready for the MBA classes in the Spring semester .

The length of time required for enrollment in the ELI prior to beginning MBA coursework is different for each student. It depends entirely on the student’s English skills when he or she arrives (i.e., more advanced students will require less time in the ELI) and on the student’s willingness to work hard to improve his or her English skills.

The ELI has six levels of English courses, where Level I is for beginners and Level VI is for the most advanced students. The following scale shows the estimated periods of time that students will require in the ELI, depending on their initial placement:

• Level I (Absolute Beginner): 12-16 months
• Level II (High Beginner): 10-14 months
• Level III (Intermediate): 8-10 months
• Level IV (High Intermediate): 6-8 months
• Level V (Advanced): 4-6 months
• Level VI (High Advanced): 2-4 months

Please visit the program Web site for more information.