Graduate Admission Information
The physics department graduate admissions committee is composed of about 25 faculty members. Each of the applications we receive is reviewed by 1-3 members of the committee. These reviews attempt to evaluate the likelihood of a student successfully completing the graduate course work and completing an independent research project that is the hallmark of a Ph.D. Information from the personal statement and letters of recommendation are used at this stage. Once reviews are available, the committee considers admission to the program by evaluating the reviews, GPA, and test scores (when available) in a holistic process. There is no minimum GPA or test scores required for consideration. This process runs from the last week of January through the first week of March, with students notified by email during that time frame.
Students that are admitted to the program are provided support through a Teaching Assistant or Research Assistant position (about $40,000 per year), given a full tuition and fee waiver, and offered subsidized health insurance. Admitted students are also invited to attend one of our two recruiting weekends in the spring to learn more about the department.
To help gauge the level of students in our department, the tables below provide some statistics on the students that have entered the department in the three years of 2015-2017.
| Average | 25% – 75% range | 5% – 95% range | |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPA | 3.79 | 3.69 – 3.96 | 3.42 – 3.98 |
| GRE Verbal | 162 | 158 – 166 | 153 – 169 |
| GRE Quantitative | 164 | 162 – 168 | 158 – 170 |
| GRE Writing | 4.3 | 4.0 – 5.0 | 3.5 – 5.0 |
| GRE Physics | 809 | 735 – 875 | 620 – 960 |
| Average | 25% – 75% range | 5% – 95% range | |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPA | 3.75 | 3.62 – 3.90 | 3.48 – 3.97 |
| GRE Verbal | 156 | 152 – 160 | 147 – 165 |
| GRE Quantitative | 168 | 167 – 170 | 163 – 170 |
| GRE Writing | 3.5 | 3.0 – 4.0 | 2.7 – 5.0 |
| GRE Physics | 948 | 920 – 990 | 820 – 990 |
| TOEFL | 102 | 99 – 106 | 91 – 114 |
For additional information about the application process, please refer to the FAQ page