Application to the Ph.D. program is an extremely competitive process. The following requirements are minimal in that they are required for consideration. However, a limited number of applicants are accepted each year, so one should not assume that meeting the minimal requirements will guarantee admission.
To qualify for admission to the Graduate School, the student must have maintained at least a 3.0 (B) average of undergraduate study at an accredited college or university. All students who enter the graduate program are expected to have had undergraduate courses in the following areas: Calculus, Probability and Statistics, Matrix Methods, and Computer Programming. These prerequisite topics are generally covered in an undergraduate degree program in one of the engineering disciplines or in mathematics, statistics, physics, quantitative management, computer science, or similar fields. If there are deficiencies in the student’s background, then an articulation program of the indicated courses must be planned. Such undergraduate courses do not count for graduate credit, but they may be taken while the student is enrolled as a graduate student.
In addition to the schooling, the student must have received satisfactory scores on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). Three letters of recommendation, a resume and transcripts are also required.
The faculty of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering bases admission on a combination of factors, only one of which is the GRE score. In certain cases, students with outstanding prior academic performance may be admitted despite violating the department’s GRE score guidelines; in other cases, students who meet these requirements may be denied admission based on deficiencies in other areas. The guidelines for GRE test scores required for admission to the Ph.D. program are:
- Quantitative: at least 700
- Verbal: at least 400
- Analytical: at least 4.0
Accepted students’ Quantitative scores are typically at or near 800. Note that guidelines for the revised GRE format (Fall of 2011) are not available at this time.
In addition, foreign students whose native language is not English are required to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and achieve a score of at least 550 (paper), 213 (computer), or 80 (web). The Educational Testing Service (ETS) must send the GRE and TOEFL test results directly to the Graduate School. More information on the language proficiency requirements is accessible here.
For any further questions regarding admissions policies and procedures, please contact Ms. Cynthia Blunt (blunt@ise.ufl.edu).