Doctoral and Select Master’s Programs (2024)

The following information is for applicants toall doctoral programsand the following select master's programs: Literary Arts, Medical Physics, Medical Sciences, Theatre and Performance Studies.

All applicants are required to submit a personal statement regarding their interests and/or intended areas of study. Some programs ask applicants to address specific questions in their personal statements. Please review thelistings for thePh.D.ormaster’sprogram in which you are interested for details.

We strongly encourage applicants to submit a scanned image of the transcript at the time of application, which can speed processing; however, a final, official transcript will be required of all admitted students who matriculate.Applicants who have attended international institutions must submit transcripts or certified attestations of study, with certified English translations. Once translated, the original transcript and the certified translations are to be sent to the Graduate School admission office. College seniors should submit current transcripts, followed by a final official transcript showing the award of the baccalaureate degree prior to matriculation, as is required and mentioned above.

The Graduate School requires three letters of recommendation by persons well qualified to speak from first-hand knowledge about the applicant's potential for graduate study. All letters should comment on an applicant’s ability to do research and perform in the program’s required coursework. At least two of these letters should be from faculty at the institution of current study or, if the applicant is not in school at the time of application, at the institution most recently attended. Letters of recommendation for applicants to master’s programs may be from academic or non-academic sources; please consult individual program listings for details. Letters of recommendation must be submitted online.If you are using Interfolio please refer to their website for instructions on submitting your recommendations electronically.

Applicants to programs requiring theGraduate Record Examinationmust have their results to the Graduate School or, if applying to one of the programs in the School of Public Health, to a separate Brown University code. Please refer to ourGRE pageand individual listings for thePh.D.ormaster’sprogram for details.

All international applicants whose native language is not English must ensure that the Graduate School receives their official score from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL),TOEFL ITP Plus for ChinaorInternational English Language Testing System (IELTS).

Admission to the Graduate School is determined at the program level with oversight by the Graduate School. Each program, in consultation with the dean of the Graduate School, sets its own admission criteria. The individual academic programs evaluate applications for admission. Admission decisions are made after a full review of the materials in the application.Programs consider previous records, test scores, and recommendations and look forclear evidence of the ability to do advanced work of the highest quality. The admission decisions are final. There is no appeals process.

Applicants should expect to be notified within four to eight weeks of the application deadline for their programs (February or March for a January 1 deadline). Whether or not applications that are submitted after a program's stated deadline will be reviewed is at the discretion of each program. While individual academic programs evaluate applicants for admission, offers of admission are only binding when made in writing by the Dean of the Graduate School. Admission may, in some cases, be deferred; aid offers cannot be deferred.