Graduate Admissions FAQ

You are welcome to use your unofficial transcript when applying to one of our graduate programs. If admitted, you must send an official transcript to the Graduate School. The transcript must be received prior to the end of your first semester of studies.

You do not need to communicate with faculty members prior to admission to our graduate programs. If admitted, students undergo the advisor selection process during their first semester of studies.

All of our full-time doctoral students receive complete financial support in the form of an assistantship or fellowship. This includes a stipend, tuition, and health insurance for which you are charged a minimal fee. Learn more about PhD funding here.

Master’s students in the department are not eligible for TA/RA positions. Students interested in the M.S. in Chemical Engineering or Materials Science can learn about financial information here.

Students interested in the M.S. in Data Science for CEMS can learn about financial information here.

We do not require the GRE for admissions to our graduate programs. If a score is submitted, it will not be reviewed out of fairness to other applicants.

Our department follows the Graduate School guidelines regarding English language proficiency (ELP) scores. Learn more about the requirements at their website. 

The “education” tab on this website highlights a variety of reasons in which students may be exempt from submitting a score. If you are unsure if you must submit an ELP score, contact the Graduate School at gsquest@umn.edu.

Matriculation in the fall semester is strongly encouraged for admission into the PhD and M.S. programs. A fall semester start synchronizes the incoming students into a cohesive cohort to learn collectively in classes, advisor selection, graduate student life, and a new community. It also synchronizes well with student orientation, community engagement opportunities, fellowship guidance, and the core classes that are available in the fall semester. Moreover, it sets the stage effectively for PhD students to submit a research proposal during the spring semester of their second year.

Nevertheless, admission to start in the spring is permitted on a case-by-case basis (if space is available) for students with a compelling reason to begin in the spring. If applying to the PhD program and you feel you have such a case, please email cemsgrad@umn.edu and clearly communicate the nature of your motivation. We will evaluate if a spring program start is permitted. While we understand that many students graduate in December, please note that we will not consider this an acceptable reason for requesting spring admission to the PhD program.

We are able to offer a limited number of application fee waivers to students applying for our PhD programs. We will review such requests for students that have a financial reason for requesting the waiver. If you would like to request a waiver, email cemsgrad@umn.edu with your resume/CV, transcript, and the reason for your request.

We are unable to provide application fee waivers for our Master’s programs.

The department is not able to pre-screen applications.

Yes. Your letter of recommendation writer can submit their letter after the deadline, however, we encourage them to submit them as soon as possible to ensure they are reviewed along with the rest of your application.