GPA Requirements (Disclaimer)

CityU SGS has stringent requirements on the GPA of each applicant’s first-degree. The thresholds are as follows:

• Priority 1: 75 + 5 (C9 & QS/THE/ARWU Top 20)
• Priority 2: 80 + 5 (985 & QS/THE/ARWU Top 100)
• Priority 3: 85 + 5 (211 & QS/THE/ARWU Top 200)
• Priority 4: 90 + 5 (other universities)

Note that these are the minimum requirements of CityU. To be shortlisted by the PhD admission committee of the School of Data Science (SDSC), applicants are recommended to have a first-degree GPA of at least 5 points more than the minimum grade.

English Proficiency Requirements

Applicants from an institution where the language of teaching is not English should satisfy the minimum English proficiency requirements as follows:

• A minimum TOEFL total score of 550 (paper-based test) or 79 (Internet-based test); or
• A minimum overall band score of 6.5 in IELTS; or
• Other test scores that may be regarded as equivalent to TOEFL 550 (paper-based test) or 79 (Internet-based test); or 59 (revised Paper-delivered test).

Note: College English Test (CET) is NOT accepted as an equivalent English proficiency test for Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS). For applicants with strong academic and research potential who have only taken CET-6 with a minimum score of 490, special consideration may be made on a case-by-case basis during normal round admission.