Frequently Asked Questions

Please refer to our published deadlines.

PhD applicants may only enter in the fall semester. Unless specifically requested by faculty, new PhD applicants cannot enter in the spring semester.

Yes, you are allowed to apply to multiple programs. A new application must be completed. Supporting documents and an application fee must be submitted for each new application. Test scores only need reported once, unless you would like to report new updated scores for your application(s). Note, admission into one degree program is not transferable to another program.

All eligible applicants must have earned or will have earned an undergraduate degree by the start of their graduate program.

Note, you may apply directly to the PhD program from your undergraduate degree. It is not necessary to hold a master’s degree to apply to our PhD program. 

You must apply separately to each program if you wish to be considered for either program.

Note, the Energy, Environmental, and Chemical Engineering (EECE) department will allow applicants to their PhD program to be considered for masters programs within the EECE department.

It is not necessary to contact faculty. Within the application you will be asked to provide your faculty mentor interests. If a faculty member has questions, they will reach out to you during the review process.

No. We do not accept any materials that are in addition to our listed required application materials.

An application must be submitted, and all required payments must be received, by the published deadline. Typically, we allow those applicants a grace period for remaining materials to be submitted after the deadline. We will notify eligible applicants of an official grace period offer.  After a grace period, any remaining incomplete applications will be ineligible for review.

When creating an application account, applicants will be sent an PIN number to enter into their account to verify identity. Be sure to check your junk and spam folder for this email delivery.

Transcripts must clearly show your name, the name of the institution, a year-by-year listing of all courses taken, and all grades/marks received. The documents must be translated to English.  You will be contacted if there are issues with your transcript documents or if we do not receive all required transcripts.

No. We do not require applicants use these services.

You may submit a "course-by-course"+ degree evaluation from a third party evaluation service but if you do so, you must also submit the transcript from your institution. We suggest World Education Services (WES) or another evaluation service who is a member of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES).

Official transcripts should be sent only after an offer of admission is accepted. We will request official transcripts and send instructions for submission to admitted students.

There is no specific minimum GRE or GPA requirement. Admission to all of our programs is based on the strength of the entire application during our review process.

• TOEFL minimum is 90
• IELTS minimum is 6.5

No. You should not mix and match various scores from multiple tests. You must list each test date separately in the application.

No. We do not accept MyBest scores.

No. We do not accept this test for our application.

• GRE - 6929
• TOEFL - 6929

Official IELTS scores may be sent via IELTS electronically to Washington University in St. Louis Graduate Programs.

No. We will not give an admission decision without first receiving all official test scores. Be sure to have your official scores sent by the application deadline.

The English proficiency testing requirement may be waived for applicants who meet any of the below criteria:

• Is a citizen of Australia, Cameroon, Commonwealth Caribbean nations, Ghana, India, Ireland, Kenya, Liberia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Uganda, the United Kingdom, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
• Has completed a minimum of three years of documented study in a university-level academic program in the United States or one of the countries listed above.
• Has completed a minimum of three years of documented study in an English-medium academic program in Canada, Hong Kong, or South Africa.

Based on the evaluation of your application package, we retain the right to require English testing upon arrival and you may be required to take additional English classes. If you are recommended to take English classes, the cost of the courses will be your responsibility.

Recommenders should include faculty members, supervisors or work colleagues. Prior to entering a recommender in your application, you should ask the recommender if they will be able to give you a recommendation and inform them of the application deadline. Please do not use family, friends or other students.

Yes, but the letters of recommendation must be received by the application deadline or before the end of any allotted grace period. Note, it is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure all letters of recommendation are received by the deadlines.

No. All letters of recommendation must be submitted by the recommender through the online recommendation site. Recommendation providers are sent an email requesting a recommendation.  From this email, they are given instructions on how to submit letters into the application system.

Log into your application account. Select the application, and then click “Open Application”. Select the recommendations page link, choose your recommender's name, and click “Send Reminder”.

First, have your recommender check their junk/spam folder. If their email account has protections in place to block the email delivery, you may need to ask your recommender for a secondary email address to use.

To update the email address, log into your application account. Select the application, and then click “Open Application”. Select the recommendations page link, choose your recommender's name, and click “Exclude”. Then you will be able to add your recommender to your application with the updated email address.

Log into your application account. Select the application, and then click “Open Application”. Select the recommendations page link, choose the recommender's name you wish to remove, and click “Exclude”. Then you will be able to add your new recommender.

No. We do not have set formatting requirements for the statement of purpose document.  Usually, support documents are 1-2 pages in length.

You should state your goals in pursuing graduate study, share strengths and weakness, discuss your special interests and any particular reasons why you are applying to our program.

You can log into the application account, select your application, and view your Status Page.

After review of your submitted transcript documents, the item did not meet the transcript requirements outlined in our application checklist. We are awaiting submission of a valid transcript for our evaluation. If the transcript documents are unacceptable, or we are missing a transcript, we will contact you to request those materials.

The letters of recommendation status does not update automatically after submission; thus there may be a short delay of up to 1 business day before the status is updated.

Official test scores will link to your application once your official scores are available from ETS.

Note: the application system will not link scores to an application in which the name or date of birth is entered differently than the information in the ETS system. If you believe there is a discrepancy between your application and the information in the ETS system, please contact us so we can check your scores.

Official test scores will link to your application once your official scores are available from IELTS.

Note: the application system will not link scores to an application in which the name or date of birth is entered differently than the information in the IELTS system. If you believe there is a discrepancy between your application and the information in the IELTS system, please contact us so we can check your scores.

You can login to the application account, select your application, and view your Status Page.

You will receive an email notification stating that a decision has been made. The email will provide instructions to log into your application to view the decision letter. All decisions will be released by the published deadlines.

Each department manages their admissions a little differently. Some review committees make decisions earlier than others. We do not always know when they will begin making decisions. We can only guarantee that you will receive a decision response by our published deadlines.

PhD applicants: All full-time PhD applications are reviewed for full financial support (tuition and health fee remission, stipend). Most offers of financial support are guaranteed as long as the student is making progress toward completion of the degree. Each engineering department may offer specific fellowships.

• Fellowships for graduate students

Master’s applicants: Master’s students are expected to be self-supporting, but may be eligible for limited institutional financial assistance.

Yes, we offer a Department Chair’s Master’s Research Fellowship. Please review the eligible requirements and information on how to apply. We recommend admitted full-time students speak to their department about any opportunities available after beginning their studies too. Note, Master's Fellowships and Research Assistantships are extremely limited.

Admitted master’s applicants will be notified of any scholarships awarded within their admission letters. There is no separate application process to be considered.

Please see our financial assistance website.