Requirements

Baldwin Auditorium

IMPORTANT NOTE: The Graduate School has an electronic, on-line application available that all applicants must use. The on-line application and instructions can be accessed by clicking here. Applicants will be notified on-line of the decision made on their applications.

Please note that it is now past the priority deadline for applying for fall 2008.  Some departments are no longer accepting additional applications.  For a listing of the closed departments, click here.

Electronic Application Form for Admission and Financial Aid

Please note that the application form for admission is also the application form for financial aid (merit-based). It is not necessary to complete any other forms to apply for aid.

You must include in your electronic application a 1-2 page statement of purpose indicating your purposes and objectives in undertaking graduate study, your special interests and plans, and your strengths and weaknesses in your chosen field. Briefly describe any research projects or any independent research in which you have actively participated and indicate how this has influenced your career choice and desire to pursue graduate studies. If you have particular reasons for applying to Duke (e.g. you would like to work with a specific faculty member), please indicate these. Also, if you have attended more than two colleges for your undergraduate degree or you have earned a master's degree from a different school then the one for which you earned your undergraduate degree, give the reason for your change(s).

Application Fee

Each application must be accompanied by a nonrefundable application fee. No application is processed without the application fee, and no fee waivers are available through the Graduate School. The regular fee is seventy-five U.S. dollars (U.S. $75) unless otherwise noted on a Duke departmental web site.

For completed applications to the fall term submitted by November 15, the fee is reduced to U.S. $65. Any application submitted after November 15 must be accompanied by the $75 fee or it will not be processed. The application fee for the spring term is $75.

NOTE TO INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS: The application fee is required of all applicants, including international students. We recognize that some international students may have difficulty with currency exchange, but please note that no fee waivers are available through the Graduate School, regardless of circumstances. Payment of the fee cannot be deferred until time of enrollment. The application can be processed ONLY when the application fee has been received. We recommend that you pay the fee by credit card. However, if you must pay the fee by check, the check must be payable through a U.S. bank, which must be noted on the front of the check; we can also accept an international money order. Sometimes an applicant will ask a U.S. friend or relative to submit the fee on his/her behalf; however, be sure that the applicant's name, date of birth, and department are clearly indicated on the front of the check.

Letters of Evaluation

Three letters are required. They should be written by persons best qualified to testify to your capacity for graduate work. It is always our preference to have academic references representing your major field, though we recognize that there are situations where this may not be possible. In such circumstances, we encourage students to seek out those persons who can comment on qualities that will be relevant to academic pursuits, particularly research.

Transcripts

We require one copy of the official, confidential transcript from each institution (undergraduate or graduate) that you have attended. Essential to the review of your application will be transcripts from any institution where you earned (or will earn) a degree, studied for one semester or more, or took classes that relate to your current application for graduate study (for example, prerequisite courses).

Transcripts should be in confidential, signed-across-the-seal envelopes provided to you by the registrar at each institution. It is critical that the transcripts be in confidential envelopes. Personal copies of your records, or copies that have passed through your hands and are therefore not confidential, are unacceptable and will be regarded as unofficial. If your school will not provide you with a confidential copy of your transcript, then it will be necessary to have them send an official copy to us directly. However, you may still send us an unofficial copy, for temporary use only.

We must also receive certification of degrees received, including the date the degree was awarded. This information may be included on the final transcript or on the diploma.

NOTE TO INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS: The academic records that we refer to as transcripts should provide a listing, year-by-year, of all courses taken and the grade or mark received for each one. It is helpful to have the grading scale of the institution and the student's rank in class included when such information is available. Do not submit secondary school records. Transcripts must bear an official signature in ink of the appropriate official of your institution(s), such as the registrar or recorder of records, and must bear the institutional seal. We are aware that some schools issue only one official transcript and diploma or certificate of degree completion. If this is the case for the school(s) you attended, you should not send these documents to us since no materials submitted in support of an application will be released for other purposes or returned to the applicant. You should send instead exact copies that have been stamped as "Certified True Copies" by the appropriate institutional official of each institution that you attended. Copies not certified by a school official are unacceptable. If you are admitted to the Graduate School, you may be requested to present your original documents for verification purposes upon matriculation but these will be returned directly to you. To be considered, all documents not in English must be accompanied by official English translations. These translations must bear an original ink signature and seal, and translations alone will not be acceptable.

Undergraduate Grade Point Average

All applicants for graduate study at Duke University are required to provide an undergraduate grade point average (UGPA) on their applications. Use the following guidelines when calculating your UGPA.

  • The UGPA includes all undergraduate course work completed at the time of submission of the application.
  • If you attended more than one school, the grades from all undergraduate schools must be added together to arrive at the UGPA for the bachelor's degree.
  • Do not include courses that were dropped or courses that did not award letter grades (e.g. satisfactory/unsatisfactory, pass/fail, credit only). Courses in which failing grades were received must be included, however. Also, if you repeated a course, you must include both grades in your UGPA calculation.
  • Do not include graduate level courses that you have completed unless they counted toward your undergraduate degree requirements. (There is a place on the application for you to provide your graduate grade point average.)

The following values are assigned to letter grades when calculating the UGPA.

4.0 = A+, A 2.8 = B- 1.5 = D+
3.8 = A- 2.5 = C+ 1.0 = D
3.5 = B+ 2.0 = C 0.8 = D-
3.0 = B 1.8 = C- 0.0 = F

Step 1. Multiply the grade values (see above) times the number of credit hours. Sample:

Grade Credit Hours X Grade Value = Grade Points
A- 15 3.8 57
B+ 8 3.5 28
C- 7 1.8 12.6
F 3 0.0 0.0

Step 2. Add the total number of credits (15 + 8 + 7 + 3 = 33) and the total number of grade points (57 + 28 + 12.6 + 0.0 = 97.6)

Step 3. Divide the total number of grade points by the total number of credits (97.6/33 = 2.96).

Note: Do not combine quarter credit hours with semester credit hours; instead, convert quarter hours to semester hours. Generally one quarter hour = 2/3 semester hour.

If you find it impossible to convert your GPA to the 4.0 system, you must enter the GPA or average on your undergraduate transcript and indicate the grade scale used by your university.

NOTE TO INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS: The World Education Service website provides helpful information about converting grades to the U.S. system.

GRE Scores

The Graduate School requires all applicants to provide GRE (Graduate Record Examination) General Test scores. (Applicants to Business Administration may provide GMAT scores in lieu of the GRE: submit to code Q13.LX.66) The scores must not be more than five years old, and an official copy must be sent to the Graduate School, institution code number 5156, directly from the Educational Testing Service. Personal copies are not acceptable, nor are "attested" or notarized copies. Some departments require the GRE Subject Test as well; see the departmental descriptions in the section Departments and Programs.

The Graduate School receives GRE scores electronically from the Educational Testing Service. Because we match scores by an applicant's name, it is important that you explicitly call our attention to any discrepancies that might occur between your name as reported on your application forms and as recorded on your GRE scores.

If you are applying for fall admission and award, be sure to take the GRE in time for official scores to reach us by the application deadline. For further information on the GRE and registration forms, please visit the GRE website at http://www.gre.org.

NOTE TO INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS: We realize that the GRE scores of international students, particularly those whose native language is not English, may be affected by language and cultural differences. This is taken into consideration when such students' applications are evaluated. The scores are nevertheless required and must come directly from the Educational Testing Service.

Additional Requirements

Individual departments may set individual requirements. These are outlined in the departmental descriptions in Departments and Programs and on departmental web sites.

If your department requires a writing sample, send it directly to the department and not to the Graduate Enrollment Services Office. This is the only exception to the general rule that all documents that are part of an application must be sent to the Graduate Enrollment Services Office.

Immunizations

North Carolina Statute G.S.: 130A-155.1 states that no person shall attend a college or university, public, private, or religious, excluding students attending night classes only and students matriculating in off-campus courses, unless a certificate of immunizations against diptheria, tetanus, whooping cough, poliomyelitis, red measles (rubeloa), and rubella is presented to the college or university on or before the first day of matriculation. The required forms and instructions are provided to students at the Student Health Center website. Click on the "Forms/Policies" link to access the Duke Health History and Immunizations form.

English Language Proficiency Tests (for international applicants)

Much of your success in graduate study in the United States will rest on your ability to understand, read, write, and speak English. If English is not your native language, evidence of proficiency in its use will be decisive in the review for admission.

The Duke University Graduate School requires that any applicant's whose native language is not English submit scores from either the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the academic modules of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), regardless of whether or not you have attended another U.S. institution or participated in an ESL program. The TOEFL is administered through the Educational Testing Service. The TOEFL institution code number for Duke is 5156 (departmental code not needed). The IELTS is administered by Cambridge ESOL, British Council, and IDP:IELTS Australia. More information about the test is available at www.ielts.org. Your score must not be more than two years old, and an official copy must be sent to the Graduate School directly from the testing agency. Personal copies are not acceptable, nor are "attested" or notarized copies.

It is the policy of the Graduate School to admit only those students with a minimum TOEFL score of 550 (paper-based test), 213 (computer-based test), or 83 (internet-based test), or a minimum IELTS score of 7.0. In many departments a higher score may be required if the applicant is to succeed in the competition for limited new student openings.

IMPORTANT NOTE: While the Duke University Graduate School will accept either the IELTS or TOEFL scores, the IELTS is the preferred English proficiency test

NOTE: All international students whose first language is not English are required to take oral and written English placement exams administered by the English for International Students program. (These exams are independent of the TOEFL/IELTS score submission requirement.) Depending on their exam results, students are either exempted from or placed into one or more EIS courses. Students with EIS requirements must begin these courses in their first year of study.

Visa Eligibility Forms (for international applicants)

In order to study in the United States, international students must obtain the appropriate visa. Students attending Duke University will receive one of the following types of visas:

1. F-1 Student Visa, with an I-20 Certificate of Eligibility issued by Duke University.

2. J-1 Exchange-Visitor (Student) Visa, with an DS-2019 Certificate of Eligibility issued by Duke University (or a sponsoring agency).

Before Duke can issue the I-20 or the DS-2019, U.S. immigration law requires that the university must have documented evidence that a student has adequate financial resources to cover the expenses of studying here. (Additional funds must be verified if a student plans to bring a spouse or children.) The Request for a Temporary Visa is the form that Duke uses to meet this requirement. The form will be provided to international students who are offered admission.

Note that the figure stated on the instructions for completing the Request for a Temporary Visa is an estimate only of expenses for the year beginning with the fall 2007 term. Figures are subject to change and may be confirmed by January 2008.

If you are being awarded any financial aid from Duke, we will use this information in filling out the I-20 or the DS-2019. Please note, however, that financial aid from Duke, if offered, may or may not cover the minimum amount required for a visa eligibility form to be issued. Each student must assume responsibility for the amount needed beyond what Duke may award. Permission for off-campus work is often difficult to obtain from immigration officials. Students should not count on this resource to supplement their incomes.

The I-20 or the DS-2019 is issued only after a student has been offered admission, has returned the on-line enrollment form, has provided verification of the necessary funds, and returned the Request for Temporary Visa Form. If you are an international student currently attending a U.S. institution and planning to transfer your visa to Duke, your current school must transfer your visa record to the Duke University International Office. It is the student's responsibility to submit the request to his/her current school. Only one visa eligibility form will be issued per student. Any unused forms must be returned to the Graduate Enrollment Services Office.

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