Admissions Information

Graduate Programs

Master of Materials Engineering (M.M.E) 

  • Minimum of 30 credits; 21 of those credits must be at the 500-level or above and earned at CSU.
  • Coursework only.
  • Available on campus or online.
  • Self-funded

Master of Science, Materials Science & Engineering (M.S)

  • Minimum of 30 credits; 24 of those credits must be at the 500-level or above and earned at CSU.
  • Coursework and thesis-based degree.
  • Available on campus only.
  • Eligible for assistantship. 

Doctor of Philosophy, Materials Science and Engineering (PhD) 

  • Minimum 42 credits beyond a Master’s degree or minimum 72 credits beyond a Bachelor’s degree.
  • Coursework and thesis-based degree.
  • Available on campus only.
  • Eligible for assistantship. 

Accelerated Master’s Program (AMP) with Physics, B.S.-M.S.

  • Program only available to undergraduate physics students at Colorado State University. Students with a strong scholarly and research interests may apply for admission to a combined bachelor’s and master’s degree program to begin their graduate program during their senior year of undergraduate study. Advisors will help students identify which technical electives will count toward both of their degrees.
  • Up to nine credits of 500-level courses may be double-counted for the B.S. and M.S. programs.

Deadlines

Fall Terms:

   Master of Materials Engineering (M.M.E.): June 1st

   Master of Science (M.S.): January 5th

   Doctor of Philosophy (PhD): January 5th

Spring Terms:

   Master of Materials Engineering (M.M.E.): December 1st

   Master of Science (M.S.): September 5th

   Doctor of Philosophy (PhD): September 5th

Minimum Requirements

Minimum requirements* for all our programs are below. Meeting minimum requirements does not guarantee admission.

  • Bachelors of Science/Technology/Engineering in an engineering, physics or chemistry field

  • Minimum GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale

  • Multivariate Calculus

  • Ordinary Differential Equations

  • One year of calculus-based Physics

  • One year of collegiate Chemistry (AP credit counts)

  • Proficiency in Matlab, Python, or other coding program. Proficiency as demonstrated by:

    • A college level course

    • A certificate from code Academy

    • A certificate from an online university

    • A certificate from Mathworks

  • For international students: The minimum TOEFL score for admission without condition is 80, IELTS is 6.5 and Duolingo is 120.

*If you do not meet minimum requirements, please contact [email protected] to get your pre-requisites and prior experience evaluated before formally applying for the program. Depending on academic background, students may be required to take additional courses.

Application Materials

Master of Materials Engineering (M.M.E.) required application materials

  • Transcripts from any institution attended (unofficial copies are okay for review. Must be copies in English copies) Please note: unofficial copies can be uploaded after submitting your application.
  • 2 letters of recommendation
  • Resume or CV
  • Statement of Purpose (see below for details)
  • Complete CSU online application
  • Pay application fee (waiver information below)
  • 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 U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico. Learn more about English language proficiency requirements.

Two letters of recommendation
Two professional recommendations are required. Recommendations should be from individuals who can accurately evaluate your skills as a student, engineer, scientist, or researcher. You will provide information about your recommenders in the online application. CSU will contact them with instructions and a link to a secure form they will submit on your behalf.

Statement of purpose
In 700 words or less, address the following 3 items for the School of Materials Science and Engineering:

  1. Briefly describe your background, educational goals, long-term career goals, and why you would be a good fit for this program.
  2. Why you think you will succeed in this program.
  3. How you intend to be successful taking graduate level courses (you can skip the letter of intent on the Online University Application).

Fee waiver opportunities
CSU’s Graduate School offers several application fee waiver opportunities. Visit their website to determine if you are eligible for a waiver.

Master of Science (M.S.) & Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) required application materials

  • Transcripts from any institution attended (unofficial copies are okay for review. Must be copies in English copies). Please note: unofficial copies can be uploaded after submitting your application.
  • Three (3) letters of recommendation
  • Resume or CV
  • Statement of Purpose (see below for details)
  • Writing Sample (see below for details)
  • Complete CSU online application
  • Pay application fee (waiver information below)
  • 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 U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico. Learn more about English language proficiency requirements.

Three letters of recommendation
Three professional recommendations are required. Recommendations should be from individuals who can accurately evaluate your skills as a student, engineer, scientist, or researcher. You will provide information about your recommenders in the online application. CSU will contact them with instructions and a link to a secure form they will submit on your behalf.

Statement of purpose
In 800 words or less, address the following 4 items for the School of Materials Science and Engineering:

  1. Briefly describe your background, educational goals, long-term career goals, and why you would be a good fit for this program. Be sure to name the faculty you are interested in working with and how your experience aligns with their research
  2. Why you think you will succeed in this program.
  3. How you intend to be successful taking graduate level courses.

Writing Sample
A paper or report from a previous class or job, in which you are the primary writer. Chapters from a thesis are accepted. AVOID submitting publications or a full thesis as writing samples. All writing samples must be in English.

Fee waiver opportunities
CSU’s Graduate School offers several application fee waiver opportunities. Visit their website to determine if you are eligible for a waiver.

Submit Application Materials:

For documents that cannot be submitted through the application system, request that the documents be sent to the Office of Admissions:

Graduate Admissions
Colorado State University – Office of Admissions
1062 Campus Delivery
Fort Collins, CO 80523-1062

Click here to view your application status. View at any time to ensure your application is complete or to check on updates.

Frequently Asked Admissions Questions

The department is not offering waivers at this time, but we will review your application with unofficial copies of transcripts and/or test scores. Options for a free application:

1. There will be one free application day (December 1st) that falls before our fall application deadline (January 5th). This means the application needs to be complete and submitted on December 1st, but letters of rec and unofficial documents can be pending. You can only upload unofficial documents after submission. Thus, the application, your cv/resume, personal statement and writing sample must be ready by Dec 1st.

2. The other option is to see if you qualify for a waiver here.

MME program is not eligible for funding. MS and PhD applicants are automatically considered for funding. No additional financial application required.

  • No, but MS-Thesis and PhD applicants must mention 2-4 faculty they are interested in working with in your application and/or personal statement. Check out our faculty page and research areas for more information.
  • 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.
  • We do not offer funding for the Master of Materials Engineering (M.M.E.) degree program.

No. We do not require GRE for our application. Submitting GRE scores does not increase the likelihood of admission and not submitting scores does not hinder your admission review.

  • Yes you can apply. We can recommend students who have between a 2.8 and 3.0 (or equivalent) for admission. The graduate school has the final say on admission.
  • For applicants with a GPA below 2.800, the Access Admission Pathway (see Access Admission Pathway section) provides an admission pathway that balances accessibility with individual student success for applicants who have completed six credits of regular, graduate-level coursework at CSU and received a B or better in each individual course. Applicants who qualify for Access Admission will be provisionally admitted and immediately placed on academic warning.
  • CSU requires that proficiency in the English language be demonstrated either by the TOEFL, IELTS, Duolingo, or and PTE Academic tests prior to admission.
  • TOEFL minimum score – 550 (paper based), 80 (Internet based)
  • IELTS minimum score – 6.5
  • Duolingo minimum score – 120
  • PTE minimum score – 58

Official scores, taken within two years prior to admission, must be submitted directly from the testing agency.

  • General IELTS
  • IELTS indicator
  • iTEP
  • TOEFL Essentials
  • TOEFL ITP
  • TOEFL My Best Score

Yes, we will review the application with unofficial transcripts. You can submit unofficial transcripts in the portal after you submit the application. If offered admission, official transcripts will be requested and details on submission will be provided at that time.

  • An official transcript paper copy that is sent via mail to graduate admissions:

Colorado State University – Office of Admissions

1062 Campus Delivery

Fort Collins, CO 80523-1062

  • Copies emailed from the university ARE NOT considered official
    • An official transcript copy sent from the university through a secure service like TrueCopy or World Education Services (WES) will count as official. These must be sent to ADM GradProcessing at [email protected]

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.

A paper or report from a previous class or job, in which you are the primary writer. Chapters from a thesis are accepted. Avoid submitting publications or a full thesis as writing samples. All writing samples must be in English.

Yes, as a support document. Please do not submit publications as a writing sample.

Contact:

Still have questions or concerns about the application process? Contact our admissions co-chair: [email protected]