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Graduate

Graduate Applicants

Thanks for your interest in the Penn State graduate program in Physics. Admission to our graduate program is granted jointly by the Penn State Graduate School and the Department of Physics. To apply, please complete a formal online application through the Penn State Graduate School. Note that there is an application fee payable to the Graduate School. If this presents a financial hardship, we encourage you to contact us by email.

The Graduate School application process will ask for the following materials listed below. The online application process will also give you an opportunity to provide additional optional information that can be useful to the admissions committee.

  1. A copy of your official undergraduate transcript. Documents should not contain Social Security numbers or any other individually identifying numbers.
  2. A copy of your official graduate transcript (if any). Documents should not contain Social Security numbers or any other individually identifying numbers.
  3. Your general Graduate Record Examination (GRE) score report. Please send this electronically to Penn State using institution code 2660.
  4. Your Physics Subject Graduate Record Examination (GRE) score report. Note that this is optional. We do recommend including it since this provides additional information for our holistic assessment of applications. Please send the score electronically to Penn State using institution code 2660. Self-reported scores can also be submitted during the application process.
  5. The names and contact information for three references.
  6. A personal statement of purpose describing professional interests and career goals.
  7. The names of up to 3 Graduate Faculty from our department with whom you are interested in working and up to 3 subfields of your interest. International applicants from non-English speaking countries are required to submit results of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) electronically to Penn State using institution code 2660.
  8. Scores from the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) can be submitted in lieu of the TOEFL. In that case, hard copy scores should be sent directly from the IELTS testing agency to Penn State's Graduate School at the following address:

The Pennsylvania State University
Graduate Enrollment Services
114 Kern Building
University Park, PA 16802

 

You can access our Frequently Asked Questions page.

In you have any questions, we can be reached by phone at (814)-863-0118, fax (814-865-0978), or email. For callers within the U.S., we also have a toll-free number available: (866) 649-0590.