Admission

Acceptance into the Ph.D. program is highly competitive. All academic and scholarly achievements (e.g., all parts of the GRE, TOEFL, advanced area exams, advanced degrees, GPA, and scholarly publications) are employed in the evaluation process. Recently accepted applicants have averaged over:

• 1300 on the (Q + V) GRE
• 3.5 GPA
• 620 on the TOEFL

An application package is considered in its entirety, but requirements typically include:

• GRE: 1200 on the quantitative plus verbal (Q+V) Graduate Record Examination (GRE)
• TOEFL: for foreign students, 610 (paper exam) or 253 (computer exam) on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL)
• GPA: grade point average (GPA) of 3.5 (on a 4.0 scale) overall (or for the last 60 hours; preferably higher in computer science courses)
• a clear statement of study plan, including specific graduate study objectives and areas of research interest (limited to one or two), and
• a strong academic background in computer science and mathematics, including certain Graduate Program Prerequisites.

If one of these areas is particularly strong, it might offset a weakness in one of the other areas.  Admission is based upon consideration of all of your strengths and weaknesses.

Note: Faculty should NOT be contacted to inquire about available financial assistance or a student's potential for admission.  However, it is fine to contact them to discuss research interests.

We regularly have many positions open for full financial assistance, both due to graduating students and new research grants.  All graduate applications are automatically be considered for financial assistance.