Newly Admitted Students
Congratulations!
You belong here. We are thrilled to welcome you to the Gator family! This step-by-step checklist below ↓ will guide you through the next steps to start your future at SF State.
Accept your admission offer now! Accepting your admission offer will secure your place in the program, obtain an SF State e-mail address, and receive enrollment appointments to enroll in courses.
- Log into gateway.sfsu.edu. Under the LaunchPad, click on the Student Center button.
- Once in your Student Center, go to the Admissions section and under the My Applications box, click Accept or Decline and ACCEPT YOUR OFFER!
After accepting their admission offer, students will be automatically assigned an SF State email account. We will send detailed instructions regarding your SF State email account to your personal email address once it has been created. Once enrolled, you will receive critical reminders regarding class registration for the upcoming semester and other important information at that account.
You will also receive instructions for setting up two-factor authentication which will be required to access SF State information resources and helps protect your student account.
Registration for all newly admitted graduate students begin in June 2025 (check enrollment time in your Student Center)
Contact your academic program to see what courses to enroll in for your first semester. The Fall 2025 class schedule is available here: https://webapps.sfsu.edu/public/classservices/classsearch
View important dates on the Registrar’s Website. For more support join one of our upcoming End Registration Frustration workshops.
At the start of every semester, we host a New Graduate Student Orientation for all of our new incoming students. This is a general orientation in which we host a variety of different workshops designed with your success in mind. Fall 2025 orientation will be offered on a hybrid basis on August 11 - August 15.
Your individual department may also be hosting an orientation session. This will be an event more specific to your studies, where you will get to meet members of your cohort/peers in your program and faculty.
We look forward to meeting you!
It is very important that you pay your tuition fees on time. Please review the Bursars website and mark your calendar for important due dates. International funds can be sent using Flywire.
- How Financial Aid Works
- F-1 International Students Financial Assistance
- Receiving and Reviewing your Awards
- Disbursement of Aid
The first disbursement of financial aid will be one week before school starts. Subsequent disbursements occur once a week throughout the semester, and you will only receive a disbursement if there is any remaining aid needed to disburse for that semester.
Learn more on our Funding Your Education page.
Official electronic transcripts must be addressed to SF State Graduate Studies and sent directly from your institution to graddocs@sfsu.edu. Transcripts submitted as attachments directly from the student will be considered unofficial and will not meet official transcript requirements.
Please send official, sealed transcripts to:
Division of Graduate Studies
1600 Holloway Avenue
Administration 254
San Francisco, CA 94132
U.S.A
- Access your SFSU E-mail
- Get your student ID Card/OneCard
- Getting to campus
- Campus Map
- Take a virtual campus tour
Fall 2025 Graduate Student Orientation Schedule
| SESSION | DATE & TIME | ZOOM or LOCATION DETAILS |
| New Graduate Student Orientation Welcome: Congratulations on your acceptance to San Francisco State University! Your journey to an advanced degree begins now. The Division of Graduate Studies welcomes you to attend our Virtual New Student Orientation Welcome webinar. This is a great opportunity to gain an understanding of the higher expectations of graduate students, learn about campus resources, and meet the Dean of Division of Graduate Studies. |
Monday, August 11 4 - 5 p.m. Pacific |
Zoom Registration Link |
| Graduate Student Expectations: Congratulations on your admission! We look forward to supporting your pursuit of academic achievement and intellectual endeavor. As a graduate student, you are held to a higher academic standard. We encourage you to attend this webinar session to familiarize yourself with the academic policies, procedures, and resources available to graduate students. |
Tuesday, August 12 1 – 2 p.m. Pacific |
Zoom Registration Link |
| Second Baccalaureate New Orientation Session: The Division of Graduate Studies welcomes our newly admitted Fall 2025 second baccalaureate students! In this session, we will review program policies. |
Tuesday, August 12 3 – 4 p.m. Pacific |
Zoom Registration Link |
| New Graduate Student Welcome Coffee meet & greet: Come meet graduate studies and the rest of your cohort for a coffee and pastries. |
Wednesday, August 13 10 – 10:30 a.m. Pacific |
In Person ADM 250
|
| Get to Work with Career & Leadership Development (CLD): There’s so much more to your career than writing a resume. In this session, learn about all the services that Career and Leadership Development (CLD) has to offer. Don’t wait until the last minute to start thinking about your career. Check out CLD today! |
Wednesday, August 13 10:30 – 11 a.m. Pacific |
In Person ADM 250 |
| Campus/Library/Global Art Museum Tour with our Graduate Student Ambassadors: Get acquainted with SF State! Come join our Graduate Student Ambassadors as they provide a tour of our beautiful SF State campus. |
Wednesday, August 13 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Pacific |
In Person ADM 250
|
| Professional Headshots for LinkedIn: Drop in for a free professional headshot and update your LinkedIn profile to include your graduate student status |
Wednesday, August 13 10:30 a.m. – 3p.m. Pacific |
In Person ADM 254 |
| Get to Work with Career & Leadership Development (CLD): There’s so much more to your career than writing a resume. In this session, learn about all the services that Career and Leadership Development (CLD) has to offer. Don’t wait until the last minute to start thinking about your career. Check out CLD today! |
Thursday, August 14 10:30 – 11 a.m. Pacific |
Zoom Registration Link |
| SF State Scholars New Undergraduate Student Orientation Session: The Division of Graduate Studies welcomes our newly admitted Fall 2025 SF State Scholars students! In this session, we will review program policies and the transition process as a Scholars student. |
Thursday, August 14 12 – 1 p.m. Pacific |
Zoom Registration Link |
| Academic Technology Student Resources: This session will help students help students prepare to work remotely and interact with their course content, classmates and instructors using remote modalities. |
Thursday, August 14 1:15 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Pacific |
Zoom Registration Link |
| Q&A Financial Aid and the Bursar’s Offices:Join us for an information session followed by Q&A. |
Thursday, August 14 3- 4 p.m. Pacific |
|
| International Graduate Studies - Fall 2025 Welcome to SF State! Welcome newly admitted students! You will learn about the SF State campus services & resources. |
Friday, August 15 8:30 – 9:30 a.m. Pacific |
|
| End Registration Frustration: Join us for a brief Zoom session to learn how to navigate course registration as a newly admitted student. We will cover SF State registration basics, how to choose courses using the bulletin, making payments in the Student Center, & more! |
Friday, August 15 9 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. Pacific |
Zoom Registration Link |
| OIP International Student Orientation: The Fall 2024 International Student Orientation is a community-building event tailored for incoming international and exchange students. Attendance is free of charge. |
Tuesday, August 19 (half-day in-person) & Wednesday, August 20 (Virtual) Time TBD |
In-person Annex I virtual (Online synchronous) at Zoom |
CONNECT
I need help with...
- General SF State Questions
- Accessing my Student Center
- Submitting Official Transcripts
I need help with...
- Choosing my courses
- Understanding my conditional admission
- Other departmental inquiries
