Graduate Admission Overview
Students pursuing a graduate degree generally begin their graduate studies in the Autumn Quarter, which means that potential students must submit their applications the previous academic year. Each department conferring graduate degrees establishes its own application deadlines. Go to the Graduate Admissions link for the submission deadlines.
Applicants for a graduate program in the Department of Chemical Engineering submit their applications online. Upload any pertinent documents in order to ensure completeness. Then two sets of original academic records/transcripts are to be sent directly to the department. If ETS scores are not reported on the application, copies of unofficial GRE and TOEFL score reports, and any other documents, such as resumes or publications, also should be sent to the department. Recommenders are most strongly encouraged to submit their recommendations online. If this is not feasible, a writer should send his/her letter and a Stanford University “Recommender Evaluation” form directly to the department.
Mailing Address:
Graduate Admissions Committee
Department of Chemical Engineering
Stanford University
Stauffer III, Room 113
381 North South Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-5025
USA
Tel: 650.723.4906
Our admissions committee carefully considers all completed applications for the Chemical Engineering Ph.D. program or M.S. program. Decisions are based on the student’s academic record and experiences, letters of recommendation, statement of purpose, and test scores. Applicants are informed of their acceptance into a degree program during our winter quarter. While most applicants to our advanced degree programs have traditional chemical engineering backgrounds, we do accept and evaluate applications from students in other related fields: chemistry, physics, mechanical engineering, biology, and so forth. Those with non-traditional backgrounds should expect, if admitted, to spend some additional time acquiring the background necessary to pursue an advanced degree in chemical engineering. Please use the links to the left to explore related pages with information about our degree programs in chemical engineering.
Applicants are requested not to send individual faculty members informal documents and appeals for informal admission evaluations and/or admission to a research group. A departmental committee, comprising Chemical Engineering faculty members, makes all decisions regarding admission to our advanced degree program. Unsolicited inquiries sent to individual professors will be redirected to administrative staff, because all applicants must make an official application, use the university’s forms and procedures, and follow the guidelines of Office of Graduate Admissions that are published by the University Registrar. Visit the Graduate Admissions site to obtain further information about the graduate admission process at Stanford University and to apply for graduate admission.
Financial aid for graduate students is available, both in the form of student jobs, assistantships, and loans and in the form of fellowship awards, from either external agencies, such as the National Science Foundation, or from internal university, school, and departmental resources, including full fellowships, for tuition and living expenses. Normally, an offer of financial aid accompanies an offer of admission to our Ph.D. program. Offers of admission to our M.S. program are made without financial aid. Those considering pursuing their Master’s degree are encouraged to visit Stanford Financial Aid to obtain more information about financing graduate study.
Students with questions about our graduate programs in chemical engineering or the graduate admissions process in general first should explore this departmental web site and the university's central Graduate Admissions site, http://gradmissions.stanford.edu. Any further questions may be sent to our Student Services Manager, Jeanne Cosby, cosby@stanford.edu. Please use “Admissions” in the subject line: ADMISSIONS – [your full name ] & [key word(s)].
If you think that one of our graduate programs is a good match with your educational background and future academic and career goals, we in the Department of Chemical Engineering very much look forward to receiving your application materials in whatever order, just so your application is complete by the applicable deadline. Potential applicants should understand that admissions decisions by our Admissions Committee are based on thorough evaluations of all aspects of completed applications. This means that neither individual faculty members nor departmental student services can predict a prospective applicant’s chances of admission on the basis of partial information, nor may our individual faculty admit a student directly to a research group. Applicants with completed applications should expect to hear from us shortly after the deadlines.
We wish you all the best as you make your decisions about your educational future.