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For admission to our graduate program (M.S. or Ph.D), you must complete the online WVU Graduate Application for Admission. Continue reading for guidance on preparing your application, deadline information, and requirements for international applicants.

Application Deadline: January 15

To be given full consideration for admission the following August, all required application materials should be completed by January 15.  Applications received after this date will only be considered if positions are available.  Submitted transcripts and English proficiency scores take time for our admissions team to process, so please send these well in advance of the deadline. Only applications received by January 1 are guaranteed consideration for  University fellowships . 

Application Fee Waiver Deadline: December 15

To apply for a graduate application fee waiver,  please click here to submit a request. We have limited fee waivers to offer and will award them based on need and the strength of the application. Therefore, request a fee waiver after completing your application but before submitting it. If the fee waiver is granted, you will be notified and will be able to submit your application with no fee. The deadline for fee waiver requests is December 15.

International Applicants

In the U.S. system, prospective graduate students apply to the university rather than directly to a professor. Individual professors do not make admissions decisions. Directly contacting a professor is not necessary to secure funding before applying to WVU. All first-year students will receive a Teaching Assistantship (TA)---with a salary following the guidelines  here---and a waiver of University tuition. Some additional fees are not covered by the tuition waiver (this is common at many public universities in the U.S.). Subsequent years may be funded by TA duties or by an RA position (also receiving a tuition waiver), which depends on the funding available in a research group.

International applicants should view additional requirements from WVU Graduate Admissions.

Here is a summary of information frequently asked about by international applicants:

English-language proficiency test scores are not required for applicants who completed their BS degree in the following countries: Australia, Canada, Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States and its territories, Liberia, Nigeria, Ghana, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Commonwealth Caribbean Countries (Anguilla, Antigua, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos).

WVU’s minimum score requirements for English proficiency are: 

  • Academic  IELTS: 6.5 

Preparing Your Graduate Application

The online graduate application will request:

  1. Demographic information.
  2. Information from previously attended colleges and universities, including transcripts. WVU will review your application based on unofficial transcripts. You can upload unofficial transcripts with your application. If the Department approves your admission, you will need to provide official transcripts.
  3. Unofficial test scores, but neither general nor physics subject GRE scores are required for our program.  Both tests are optional, and their scores can be self-reported. For officially reported scores, WVU's ETS code is 5904 and the Physics & Astronomy department code is 1463.
  4. Information on research areas of interest to you. Our department has specialties in astronomy/astrophysics, plasma physics, condensed matter physics, and physics education research.
  5. A statement of purpose that should
    1. Convince a faculty committee that you are qualified for the M.S. or Ph.D. program and that you are a good fit for the department's focus and goals.
    2. Show a select group of skills and experiences that convey your scientific and technical accomplishments and interests.
    3. Include concrete and quantitative experiences, accomplishments, and qualifications. See the  MIT CommKit for guidance on crafting a statement of purpose.
  6. Your resume/CV.
  7. Contact information for three people who will submit letters of reference on your behalf.

Questions? Contact Us!