Admission Requirements

Our Chemistry/Biochemistry Graduate Admission Committee considers applications by mid-September for the following Spring admission and by mid-March for the following Fall admission.

Note that applications for admission to the Chemistry or Biochemistry Ph.D. program in the Spring semester are only considered on an exceptional basis. We prioritize applications to the Ph.D. Program. You do not need to have M.S. degree to apply to our Ph.D. program.

We do not have a strict deadline, and applications are reviewed as soon as they're received by the admission committee. However, it's advisable to submit your application as soon as possible, particularly for international students, to allow ample time for processing the official offer letter and visa procedures.

For more information about NDSU Graduate Programs and to apply, visit the NDSU Graduate School.

As soon as your application is submitted and proceeded by the NDSU Graduate School, our Graduate Admissions Committee at the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department will consider it and make the decision based on the following criteria:

  1. The high score for GPA (not less than 3.0 from 4.0 max). The official transcripts are required. We follow the NDSU Graduate School policy: The Graduate School prefers that your educational credentials be evaluated by WES (World Education Services), ECE (Educational Credential Evaluators), SpanTran (The Evaluation Company), or another NACES (National Association of Credential Evaluation Services) member. Please note: the evaluation must be on a course-by-course basis. More information about this question can be found here.
  2. The GRE is required for students who obtained their degree from schools outside the United States. For students obtaining their B.S. or higher degree at a United States institution, GRE is not required but encouraged. The requirement for earned scores is soft. We give preference to applications with a minimum of 50% on the GRE Quantitative Reasoning section, while also considering other components that are no less than 20%.
  3. If you are an international student and obtained your degree from schools outside the U.S., you must have a minimum TOEFL ibT score of 81 (IELTS of 7; PTE Academic equivalent of 54), a TOEFL ibT Speaking subscale score of 23 or above and a TOEFL ibT Writing subscale score of 21 or above. The IELTS equivalent scores are 6.0 for both, and the PTE Academic equivalent scores are 62 and 56, respectively. The Duolingo score is 115 or greater.  There is a list of countries exempt from the English proficiency examination requirement that you can find here. If you have been raised in one of the countries from this list or have earned a bachelor's degree or higher from a recognized institution in one of the following countries, you do not need to provide a foreign language examination score. 
  4. Your statement of interest (maximum 2 pages) should explain your motivation for joining the Chemistry or Biochemistry Graduate Program at NDSU. Additionally, please specify your primary scientific interests and indicate any research groups within our department that you are interested in collaborating with. Include details about your scholarly, teaching, and research background, emphasizing your strengths as a prospective graduate student.
  5. Three letters of recommendation are required. Experience in conducting research, published papers in peer-review scientific journals, and presentations at scientific conferences are not required, but are very beneficial activities, which will be carefully considered by the committee.  
  6. The Admission Committee might ask you for virtual interview (via Zoom).  
  7. We prioritize applications to the Ph.D. Program. Applications to the M.S. program are accepted only when the Admission Committee has a request from faculty members. Note that you do not need to have M.S. degree to apply to our Ph.D. program. If you are interested only in the M.S. program, contact a professor from our department working at the research field of your interest to discuss whether he/she is interested in taking M.S. students in his/her group.  
  8. You do NOT need to directly contact faculty members to choose your research group and the supervisor. We have the Rotational Course offered in the first semester, where a new student chooses three different groups at the Department and works for one month in each of these groups during Fall Semester. Based on results from this Rotation Program, a student can choose his/her Ph.D. supervisor and research group.
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