Evaluation Guidelines

The primary requirement for admission into our graduate program is excellence in an undergraduate program. The class of graduate students we admit each year is a carefully selected group of individuals who will benefit from close and frequent interactions with faculty in pursuing their research. We strongly encourage prospective graduate students to visit our department and speak with faculty in their intended research area while their application for admission to our graduate program is pending.

To help you evaluate your chances of admission and financial aid, we provide some information about our expectations for the qualifications of a successful applicant.

An offer of admission into our graduate programs implies that the student has a clear potential to successfully complete all requirements for the degree sought. Admissions and financial aid decisions are based on the following major factors: previous course background, grades received, letters of recommendation, GRE scores, and TOEFL scores (for international non-native English applicants only).

We recommend that international non-native English applicants take the Test of Spoken English (TSE). Although we do not require this test, we will view a high TSE score favorably in granting admissions with financial support.

We do not require an M.S.E. degree for applying to our Ph.D. program. We strongly recommend that students whose objective is to obtain a Ph.D. degree apply directly to our Ph.D. program. Applying to our M.S.E. program severely limits the type and amount of financial aid that may be available.

The following is the profile of a typical successful applicant:

• Grade point average of at least 3.3.
  
• GRE scores of:
  • 500 or above on the verbal reasoning part
  • 720 or above on the quantitative reasoning part
  • 5.0 or above on the analytical writing part
    
• A TOEFL score of at least 100 (internet-based test) or 600 (paper-based test).

The following is the profile of a typical applicant we offer admission to with full financial aid:

• Grade point average of at least 3.6.
  
• GRE scores of:
  • 600 or above on the verbal reasoning part
  • 780 or above on the quantitative reasoning part
  • 5.5 or above on the analytical writing part
    
• A TOEFL score of at least 620 (paper-based test).

We provide the previous profiles to indicate our standards for admission. However, they are not rigid requirements, and should be used only as guidelines. We may admit an applicant even if some of these guidelines are not satisfied, provided that additional strengths in other areas of the application are present. Moreover, we may not offer admission to an applicant that does meet these guidelines.