Admissions Information

Prospective physics graduate students are welcome to contact faculty members to inquire about their research program. However, individual faculty members cannot accept students into the graduate program. All prospective students must apply through the Georgia Tech Office of Graduate Education, and then the application is reviewed by the School of Physics Graduate Committee which will provide an admission recommendation to the Office.

For more information on demographics, admissions, and time-to-degree for doctoral students in our program, go to Doctoral Student Statistics. Enter the search criteria for Physics.

Information and guidelines for applying to the School of Physics graduate program are shown below. Questions can be sent to the addresses listed in Contact Information. The application deadline is January 3rd.

All Applicants

  1. You do not need to have a BS in Physics to apply to our program, but you have to have taken junior/senior level courses in Classical Mechanics, Electricity & Magnetism, Quantum Mechanics, and Statistical (Thermal) Physics.
  2. If your career plan is to do Research, you should apply directly to the Ph.D. program – not the MS Program. Almost all students directly enter a Ph.D. program after earning their BS degree. Our Ph.D. students are given a Teaching Assistantship and tuition is not charged. Our MS students are given no financial support and must pay full tuition.
  3. The GRE Physics Test is NOT REQUIRED for all applicants.
  4. The General GRE Test is NOT REQUIRED for all applicants.
  5. Official transcripts are required with the application.
  6. If you have not graduated, send us an unofficial transcript that shows the courses you are taking in the Spring term.
  7. Review of applications occurs at the end of January. Decision emails are sent out in mid-February.

International Applicants

  1. The GRE General and Physics Tests are not required for all applicants.
  2. If you have been enrolled at a US university or college for at least one academic year then the English language test requirement is waived (see https://grad.gatech.edu/english-proficiency).
  3. The TOEFL minimum is 106 and official scores must be sent directly from ETS. Occasionally, offers are made to students with scores in the 100-105 range. If your score is less than 100, retake the TOEFL exam and raise your score. This will help improve your odds at all of the graduate programs to which you apply.
  4. The IELTS test minimum is 7.5, and all skills must be greater than or equal to 7. Official scores must be reported directly from ielts.org.
  5. Official transcripts and, if applicable, Degree Certification documents are required and must be in English.
  6. TOEFL and GRE codes are listed here.