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Masters plan A and PhD:
January 15th: Application deadline for fall admission.
September 1st: Application deadline for spring admission.
Masters plan B
Rolling admission
Minimum Requirements:
The School of Advanced Materials Discovery believes in reviewing your application holistically. Each piece of your application informs our admissions committee about what you can bring to the program and how our program can accentuate your skills and potential. At this time, our program does not require the GRE. The CSU Graduate School minimum GPA is a 3.0 on a 4.0 scale (or equivalent). If you are below a 3.0, get in touch with our admissions contact (below) about your options. We recommend you request letters of recommendation from individuals that know you well. Write a personal statement that tells us what may not be visible in your application. For tips on writing your personal statement, click here.
A Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) Bachelors of Science is not required for admission to our MSE Graduate Program. If you are an applicant without a MSE Bachelor’s degree, below are courses/subjects our admissions committee recommends you demonstrate knowledge of:
- Intro to Materials Science
- One year of calculus-based physics
- One year of collegiate chemistry for the sciences
- Calculus and differential equations
- Matlab or other coding program
Once admitted, the admissions committee may recommend/require additional courses to ensure all students are successful in our MSE program. Additional courses may be recommended and/or required of the student’s thesis/dissertation committee as well.
Please note: The CSU Graduate School requires a minimum 3.0 GPA (on a 4.0 scale) and minimum 80 TOEFL score (IELTS minimum is 6.5). Like other departments on campus, we can accept students below a 3.0 GPA, but the student would be placed on an academic agreement for their first semester. If the student does not meet a 3.0 GPA their first semester, dismissal is likely to occur.
Admissions contact: Carolina Bañuelos
Phone: 970-491-4879
Frequently Asked Admissions Questions
Contact the co-chair of the admissions committee to find out about eligibility and application fee coverage options via email at: Carolina.banuelos@colostate.edu.
- All PhD and MS-thesis applications (domestic or international) are considered for funding, no additional application for funding is required. Our program offers financial support in the form of Graduate Teaching Assistantships, Graduate Research Assistantships, and Rotating Graduate Assistantships. Assistantships cover all of tuition and provide a monthly stipend.
- No funding is offered for the MS-coursework only degree.
No, but you should mention 2-4 faculty you are interested in working with in your application and/or personal statement. Check out our faculty page and research areas.
Yes. Regardless of residency status, you are eligible for funding when applying to PhD or MS-thesis degree programs. There is no additional funding application required at this time.
No. We do not require GRE for our application.
- Regardless of US citizenship or residency, applicants may be required to demonstrate proof of English language proficiency if they do not have a degree from an institution where the primary language of instruction is English.
- Proof of English language proficiency is required for applicants from countries or United States territories where there are official languages other than or in addition to English. This includes the United States territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico.
- English proficiency scores are not required for applicants who are citizens of the countries published in this TOEFL Exemption document. Students may also be exempted from English proficiency requirements if they recently earned a degree at a U.S. University.
- Minimum TOEFL score for admission without condition is 550 (paper based), or 80 (internet based).
- Minimum Academic IELTS score for admission without condition is 6.5.
- Minimum PTE score for admission without condition is 58.
- Duolingo
- General IELTS
- IELTS indicator
- iTEP
- TOEFL Essentials
- TOEFL ITP
- TOEFL My Best Score
Yes, our MSE program is interdisciplinary. Our faculty and students come from a variety of backgrounds (chemistry, physics, mechanical engineering, math, textile engineering, etc.). However, our admissions committee highly recommends you demonstrate knowledge of most of the following subjects/courses:
i. Intro to Materials Science
ii. One year of calculus-based physics
iii. One year of collegiate chemistry for the sciences
iv. Calculus and differential equations
v. Matlab or other coding program
Yes- IF the rest of your application is complete and submitted by the due date and you contact the program manager (Carolina.banuelos@colostate.edu) to let them know you are waiting for official transcripts to be sent.
Updated 10/2022
Important note: without the official transcript/s, we cannot make an official admissions decision and we cannot “hold” a spot for you while we await your documents. The sooner we get official document/s, the sooner the committee can move forward.
4-6 weeks after the due date. The committee does not review applications until we have a complete applicant pool. We do not have an early admission for early decision timeline. Please be patient with our process. We take our time and review your application as holistically as possible and have several “stops” in the process.
Submit Application Materials:
After submitting your online application and paying your application fee, begin submitting your supporting materials to complete your application.
- Upload a variety of supporting documents directly to your application.
- To submit official transcripts, contact your previous institutions to request they submit official transcripts to Colorado State University (use institution code 4075).
- To submit test scores, contact the testing agency to request that scores be sent to Colorado State University (use institution code 4075).
- For any documents that cannot be uploaded, submit paper copies directly to the Office of Admissions at:
Graduate Admissions
Colorado State University – Office of Admissions
1062 Campus Delivery
Fort Collins, CO 80523-1062
Check Your Application Status
View the status of your application at any time to ensure your application checklist is complete or check on updates. This new online application status is only available to applicants for Fall 2016 and beyond.