Frequently Asked Questions

The deadline is March 15 each year.

All applicants must submit a completed application form a personal statement, a resume, three letters of recommendation (one academic and two employment), OFFICIAL transcripts from all previously attended institutions of higher education, and TOEFL scores for international students.

Official transcripts are provided by an institution (either directly to FIT or to the applicant) in a sealed envelope, with the university's seal or signature across the seal of the envelope. If you have been out of school longer than seven years, you can submit a third employer letter in lieu of an academic reference.

Approximately two weeks after your online application has been successfully submitted, you will receive an email with your FIT user ID and password. This will allow you to check the status of your application and to see if additional materials have been received on the FIT Online Information System.

After the application deadline, completed applications are reviewed. Selection is based on all the components of the application transcripts, letters, resume, and work experience. Candidates should have a minimum 3.0 GPA in their undergraduate studies. Students chosen after the file screening will be offered a personal interview. Students are notified of decisions on or about May 1. Those with completed applications by the deadline are reviewed first, and additional applications are accepted on a rolling admissions basis, until all spots in the entering cohort are assigned.

No. As a Master of Professional Studies program, we have the opportunity to assess your performance through letters of recommendation from your employer, evaluating your performance and leadership potential.

We do not use standardized test scores, but accordingly, academic performance in previous university-level work becomes a strong indicator of potential success as a graduate student.

Go to the Graduate International Applicants page

As a part-time graduate program we are not able to provide support for international study visas.

We admit an entering class of up to 25 students each year.

There is no preference, though students with some business training and strong performance academically will have a stronger chance of admission. All students must demonstrate strong writing and research skills.

The personal statement is an important opportunity for you to present yourself and describe your academic and professional background, any global experience (language study, overseas academic study, overseas internships/work experience), reasons for program choice, and future career goals. It will also be evaluated as a sample of your writing skills.

Our students and alumni are as diverse as the global beauty industry. We have many applicants each year with traditional marketing and brand management backgrounds, but we also value a cohort that represents all functional fields of the industry. 

Our students regularly come from positions in finance, product development, operations, supply chain, creative/advertising, research and development, education/training, and sales, from manufacturing companies and leading supply companies. We have also had students in retail careers, journalism, and legal, but all have experience and a passion for the cosmetics and fragrance fields, and have been identified by their employers as top performers, change agents, and as having senior leadership potential.

The program does not have any electives at present, but we will accept up to six transfer credits of graduate work done elsewhere, at the discretion of the chairperson. The minimum number of graduate credits that must be completed at FIT (SUNY residency requirement for graduate degrees) is 30 credits.

For more information on loan programs, you may contact the Financial Aid Office at 212 217-7439. We do not provide scholarships.

The capstone is a multi-disciplinary exercise at the end of the degree coursework which requires integrating all of the areas of ones learning into a complex, executive level issue relating to the industry or to the global business environment. Students work in small teams over the course of many months, including globalizing their research on the field study to Asia in their final term. 

Capstone teams have access to recognized experts in various fields, innovation experts and faculty, and present their findings to a group of industry executives each year that totals over 700. The event, and the research have been sponsored over the years by leading consumer goods and retail firms such as Procter & Gamble, L'Oréal, Estée Lauder, LVMH, Johnson & Johnson, and Target. Research summaries and videos of past projects are available to view on our website.

Beginning with the Class of 2024, the Executive Mentor Program has been restructured as a one year program to align with the student's Leadership curriculum in the final Spring term of their second year.  The Mentor pairings will be assigned in December/January of Year 2, and run for one calendar year, stretching six months beyond completion of the degree program in June of the second year of graduate study.  The restructuring allows for students to focus on their Mentor relationship and mentoring discussions in the context of their Leadership course (CF 670) and preparation of their Individual Development Plan (IDP) as part of that course.  

The IDP, which includes a forward (post-graduate school) professional development plan, is to be shared with the student's management and HR business partner, and can be part of conversations with their Executive Mentor.  For this reason, when possible, it is suggested that students are paired with Executive Mentors in their own corporate organization.  As part of this new structure, the Leadership Course (CF 670) also now includes 1:1 career counseling sessions with an outside consultant, retained by the MPS Program, who is an alumni and trained Executive Coach.

The ratio of applications is about 3 to 1, and when appropriate we will create a waiting list.

"Industry-related" applies to professions in major beauty manufacturers or suppliers, fragrance development houses, or careers in related fields such as publishing, retail, advertising or agency work in marketing communications and public relations. Ideal candidates will be in a managerial role in any of these areas, with a minimum of three years of full-time work experience. 

Preference is given to candidates with greater than three years of experience, even if a portion of that experience is from outside the industry in managerial functions, but a minimum of three years of direct industry experience is preferred. The average experience level of accepted candidates is between seven and nine years of work experience. Applicants are assumed to be more knowledgeable in their field and more comfortable with business principles with greater years of experience. This level of expertise is more likely to be attained only after several years of professional and industry experience.

The Master of Professional Studies (MPS) is a recognized terminal degree focused on industry-related skills and content, and whose outcome is applied-research rather than traditional academic research. The MPS equivalent among professional degrees includes the MPA (Master of Public Administration), the MSW (Master of Social Work), and the MFA (Master of Fine Arts), among many others.

Classes are scheduled on two evenings a week, usually on Tuesday and Thursday, from 5:10–8:30/9:00 pm, to allow professionals to complete the degree while remaining active in their jobs and in the industry. The exceptions to this schedule are the two overseas seminars, which take place in the first term in Europe and in the final term in Asia, and one domestic field study in the Fall term of the second year of study.