Applicant Information and Application FAQs

GRE scores are not required, but are encouraged for applicants who feel they do not have a sufficient or competitive academic background.

Use the online graduate application provided by the Virginia Tech Graduate School.

The Virginia Tech Graduate School does not accept paper applications.

The deadlines to apply for admission are as follows:

Fall Semester:  January 16

Spring Semester:  September 1

Note: These deadlines are different from those posted by the Virginia Tech Graduate School and are specific to the ISE graduate program.

We accept applications for all degrees except the Master's of Engineering program (M.Eng.) in the spring.

The admissions committee does not assess the chances of admission prior to reviewing an application. A complete application must be submitted before an application can be evaluated.

The ISE department requires the following supporting documents:

1. Official transcripts for all prior college level course work, which must be submitted through the online application.
2. Three (3) recommendation letters, which must be submitted through the online application.
3. Resume, which must be uploaded with the online application.
4. Statement of purpose, which must be uploaded with the online application.
5. The TOEFL or IELTS test score for international applicants that have not received a Master's degree or equivalent from an accredited English speaking institution. Learn more about the score requirements here. 

For the GRE and TOEFL tests, contact Educational Testing Services (ETS) to have your official test scores sent to Virginia Tech. The VT institution code is 5859.  Note that there is no department code for either test. 

A small number of fellowships and assistantships may be available to incoming students depending on resource availability.  You do not need to apply for fellowships or assistantships separately.  All students who have applied before the application deadline are considered for fellowships and graduate teaching assistantships.  

Research assistantships may be available to qualified incoming students if there are open positions.  Research assistantships are awarded by individual faculty based on the amount of funding they have available.  If you are interested in a research assistantship position with a particular faculty member, contact the faculty member individually after (not before) you are admitted.  

Funding on the Graduate School website: 
http://graduateschool.vt.edu/funding.html

If you are interested in ending your studies with an master's degree, apply for that program. If you are interested in working toward a Ph.D. and already have a master's degree, you should apply for the Ph.D. program. If you are interested in a Ph.D. and do not already have a master's. degree, you may apply for the direct Ph.D. degree program. Note that only applicants with exceptional credentials are directly admitted into the direct Ph.D. program without a master's degree

You can track the status of your application using information provided in your application confirmation email from the Virginia Tech Graduate School. The admissions committee usually begins evaluating the applications forfall semester in December. A thorough evaluation of hundreds of applications requires significant time. Most admission recommendations for fall semester are made by early April. International applicants will have a decision no later than the university deadline of May 15 for fall admission.

You will be notified by the Virginia Tech Graduate School, not the ISE department, as soon as a decision has been reached on your application. Due to federal privacy regulations, we cannot disclose admissions decisions over the phone.