Admission

Students who wish to undertake graduate work at Duke University, whether for degree or non-degree purposes, must be formally admitted to the Graduate School by the dean. Prerequisites for admission include a bachelor's degree (or the equivalent of a four-year U.S. bachelor's degree) from an accredited institution and, for degree programs, satisfactory scores on the Graduate Record Examination. International applicants (both degree and non-degree) are required to also submit official scores for either the Test of English as a Foreign Language or the International English Language Testing System. Individual departments may specify additional prerequisites, which can be found in the chapter on "Courses of Instruction."

Students who do not intend to earn an advanced degree at Duke, but who wish to take graduate courses, may apply for non-degree admission. Such admission is granted in three different categories: (1) admission as a regular non-degree student with a particular department; (2) admission through the Office of Continuing Studies as a special non-degree student without departmental affiliation; and (3) admission as an unclassified student in the summer session only.

Credits earned by non-degree students in graduate courses taken at Duke before full admission to the Graduate School may be carried over into a graduate degree program if (1) the action is recommended by the student's director of graduate studies and approved by the dean, (2) the work is not more than two years old, (3) the amount of such credit does not exceed one semester at full-time tuition, and (4) the work has received grades of B (G on previous scale) or better.

Students who have discontinued a program of degree work at Duke must apply for readmission to the Graduate School. Those who discontinue study prior to completing a degree must, by letter, request permission of the dean to be readmitted to the degree program. Students who enter the Graduate School in a master's program must file a new application to be considered for the doctoral program.

A student seeking admission to the Graduate School may access application and program information on the Web, at http://www.gradschool.duke.edu. All parts of the application form must be filled out completely and submitted to the Graduate School Enrollment Services Office along with the application fee. The necessary supporting documents must also be sent before or after the submission of the electronic application. The fee is $75² U.S. However, if the application is postmarked and completed by November 15, the fee is reduced to $65. The required supporting documents are: (1) one copy of an official, confidential transcript from each institution (undergraduate or graduate) attended, sealed in a confidential envelope and signed across the seal by the registrar at the institution; (2) three letters of evaluation, on-line submission preferred; (3) official scores on the Graduate Record Examination General Test for applicants to all departments (Exceptions: Master of Arts in Liberal Studies and the Program in International Development Policy); and (4) official scores on the Graduate Record Examination Subject Test for applicants to certain specified departments. Additional requirements for international applicants are described below.

Materials submitted in support of an application are not released for other purposes and cannot be returned to the applicant.

Students applying for fall admission and award should take the Graduate Record Examination in time for official scores to reach the Graduate School by the December 15 deadline. Information on the times and places of the Graduate Record Examinations can be obtained from the applicant's college or the Educational Testing Service, P.O. Box 6000, Princeton, New Jersey 08541-6000, telephone (609) 771-7670, Web site, http://www.gre.org.

Additional Procedures for International Students. Fully qualified students from outside the United States are invited to apply for admission to full-time study in the Graduate School. The international student must, in addition to the information required of all students, submit with the application materials:

(1) If the student's native language is not English, certification of English proficiency demonstrated by official scores from the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), Web site: http://www.ielts.org, or the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), Web site: http://www.toefl.org. The Graduate School requires a minimum IELTS score of 7.0 or a minimum TOEFL score of 213 on the computer-based test or 83 on the internet-based test.

(2) A statement showing financial arrangements for the proposed term at Duke (estimated costs per academic year are approximately $53,000 for the doctoral program and $47,000 for the master's program).

English Language Requirements for International Students. All international students whose native language is not English must enroll in two sections of intensive English language instruction during their initial year at Duke, unless formally waived from this requirement by the Graduate School upon certification of competency in English.

Part-Time Graduate Study. Many graduate departments will consider applications from students wishing to pursue degree study on a part-time basis. (Consult application materials for listing of departments.) Admission requirements, procedures, and deadlines are the same for part-time study as for full-time study. Visa restrictions do not allow international students to pursue graduate study on a part-time basis.

Master of Arts in Liberal Studies Procedures. Students seeking admission to MALS should contact that program directly for information, www.mals.duke.edu/program.html.

Summer Session Procedures. Students who wish to begin graduate work during the summer must check first with the department of interest concerning available courses or research work, as well as funding possibilities; some departments have summer offerings and others do not. Applications should be submitted according to the fall deadline schedule, since summer files will be reviewed along with others who plan to begin in late August.

Students who wish to take graduate courses in the summer but not pursue a graduate degree may be admitted to the summer session under the following categories. Duke Students: current students in good standing may attend the summer session without formal application. Non-Duke Students: other persons may seek admission to the summer session provided they are (or were) in good standing at a fully accredited college or university.

Continuing Studies Procedures. A student seeking admission as a non-degree continuing studies graduate student at Duke must have received a bachelor's degree and must either reside in the area or be moving to the area with the intention of residing here for a substantial period of time. Application materials and additional information may be obtained from the Office of Continuing Studies, Duke University, Box 90700, Durham, North Carolina 27708-0700, telephone (919) 684-2621, e-mail learn@acpub. duke.edu or by visiting the Web site at: http://www.learnmore.duke.edu.

Review of Application and Notification of Status. All applications are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation or gender identity, sex, or age.

Application files are assembled in the Graduate School Enrollment Services Office, where all official record-keeping is maintained. Applications, once processed, are sent to the departments. A departmental admissions committee, usually headed by the director of graduate studies, reviews the applications and makes recommendations to the dean. Formal admission to the Graduate School is offered only by the dean. The process of admission is not complete until the student returns the online enrollment form.

Admission may not be deferred from one term to another; an admission offer is only for the semester, program and degree specified in the letter of admission. Students seeking the AM or MS degree must re-apply for admission to a PhD program.

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 diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, poliomyelitis, red measles (rubeola), 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 after their acceptance of the offer of admission.

It is the applicant's responsibility to make certain that the Graduate School Enrollment Services Office has received all required materials by the appropriate deadlines. Only complete applications can be considered. To ensure that the Enrollment Services Office will have adequate time to assemble all items submitted on an applicant's behalf, applications should be sent at least two weeks before the stated deadlines.

Consult current application materials for a more detailed explanation of deadlines and their enforcement.

November 15. Deadline for completion of applications eligible for the reduced application fee of $65. All applications submitted after this date must be accompanied by a fee of $75 or they will not be processed.

Applications completed by this date are guaranteed a review; those completed after this date are not guaranteed consideration. Late applications may be considered for admission only if all spaces have not been filled, and for financial aid, only if funds are still available. All students seeking fall admission should meet the December 15 deadline, since it is likely that enrollment in many departments will be filled soon after this date.

The final cut-off date for processing new applications is June 30. Few departments, however, continue to review applications this late. No applications for fall received after this date will be processed.

November 1. Final date for completion of applications for admission to the spring semester, space permitting. Not all departments accept new students for the spring semester, nor is financial aid readily available for spring matriculants.

Students seeking admission to the Graduate School for study in the summer session should apply for Graduate School admission according to the fall deadline schedule. There are two Summer Sessions, typically running from mid-May to late June, and early July to mid-August.

¹This chapter is a brief summary of information available online at: www.gradschool.duke.edu/admissions/index.html. This Web page should be consulted for more comprehensive information on all aspects of the process of applying for admission and award.

2008-09 Bulletin of the Duke University Graduate School

2008-09 Bulletin of the
Duke University Graduate School