To be admitted to RIT/NTID, you must:

  • Have a hearing loss that seriously limits your chance to succeed in a regular college program for hearing students. You must have a hearing loss in the better ear (unaided) of 70 decibels (ANSI, 1969) or greater across the 500 to 2000 Hertz range.
  • Show through your educational background that you are likely to succeed at RIT/NTID.
  • Show the equivalent of a U.S. high school diploma.
  • Submit a Declaration of Financial Support form, along with all necessary supporting documents.
  • Provide two letters of reference indicating that you are ready to enter and succeed in a university setting.
  • If you are applying to RIT/NTID as a transfer student from another university, you must submit:
    • Official academic transcripts (and certified English translations) for all previous college study
    • A listing of the courses with course numbers, in which you currently are enrolled, if they do not appear on your official transcript.
    • A catalog for each college attended.

  • Demonstrate English proficiency. To do this, you will need to take the TOEFL test (Test of English as a Foreign Language). Because you are a deaf/hard-of-hearing student, you do not need to take Section 1 of this test, but you must ask the TOEFL test center for an exemption from this section.

    Contact the TOEFL test center at:
    www.toefl.org
    1-609-771-7100 (voice)
    1-609-771-7714 (TTY)
    1-609-771-7165 (Fax)

    If you cannot make arrangements for the exemption ahead of time, take the test anyway and RIT/NTID will ignore the score on Section 1 and will consider only Sections 2 and 3.
  • If you are a Canadian student or an international student currently enrolled in a U.S. school, you can demonstrate your English proficiency by taking the American College Test (ACT) or the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT-1).
    The ACT is preferred.


    Contact ACT at:
    www.act.org
    1-319-337-1270 (voice)
    1-319-337-1701 (TTY)

    The ACT code for RIT/NTID is 2824.

    Contact SAT at:
    www.collegeboard.com
    1-609-771-7137 (voice)
    1-609-882-4118 (TTY)

    The SAT-1 code for RIT/NTID is 2760.
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