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.

Â鶹ÒùÔº 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.

GPA and GRE scores for domestic students
 Average25% – 75% range5% – 95% range
GPA3.793.69 – 3.963.42 – 3.98
GRE Verbal162158 – 166153 – 169
GRE Quantitative164162 – 168158 – 170
GRE Writing4.34.0 – 5.03.5 – 5.0
GRE Physics809735 – 875620 – 960
GPA, GRE, and TOEFL scores for international students
 Average25% – 75% range5% – 95% range
GPA3.753.62 – 3.903.48 – 3.97
GRE Verbal156152 – 160147 – 165
GRE Quantitative168167 – 170163 – 170
GRE Writing3.53.0 – 4.02.7 – 5.0
GRE Physics948920 – 990820 – 990
TOEFL10299 – 10691 – 114

For additional information about the application process, please refer to the FAQ page