NOTRE DAME

225 Nieuwland Science Hall
Notre Dame, IN 46556-5670 USA
phone: (574) 631-6386
fax: (574) 631-5952
email: physics@nd.edu
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Information for Prospective
Graduate Students in Physics

General:

We are happy that you have chosen to visit this page. Please contact us with suggested improvements so that we may better help interested prospective graduate students.

By heading, here are our suggestions on how to find out the information that you need:

Research Areas:

• See the Department of Physics Brochure (2005, 44 page, PDF format, 334 KB).
• See the current list of Physics Ph.D. Advisors.
• Browse the Physics web site under the Research or Faculty buttons. Also, look at the department-maintained web sites for individual faculty and follow up by examining material on their personally-maintained web sites.
• Email faculty in areas who match your interest. A word of advice -- do this sparingly after informing yourself about the research group, since generic emails sent broadly rarely impress.

Notre Dame Physics Ph.D. Program:

• Feel free to read through information for current graduate students.
• A summary of our academic program is found here.
• Some statistics for our program are available here.
• We have started an alumni web page -- there, you may read the abstracts of all physics Ph.D. dissertations in the last five years.
• You may contact any of the following with specific questions about our program:

• The Department of Physics: physics (at) nd (dot) edu .
• The Graduate Student Coordinator: Ms. Shari Herman, sherman (at) nd (dot) edu .
• The Director of Graduate Studies: Prof. Kathie E. Newman, newman (at) nd (dot) edu .

How to Apply:

• See: On-line Application to Notre Dame Graduate School .
• Notre Dame uses Apply Yourself software. Your application will be processed by the Graduate School.
• Application check list:
  • Application
  • Statement of Intent
  • Transcripts (Bachelor's degree or its equivalent from a foreign institution of acceptable standing at time of matriculation)
  • Three letters of recommendation
  • GRE scores (general and the subject test in physics)
  • For international students whose native language is not English, the TOEFL.
• Notes:
  • GREs older than five years are not accepted by the Graduate School.
  • GRE and TOEFL scores are needed by the time the committee makes its evaluations -- February 1, to be safe.

Admissions Information:

• Deadline for Fall 2009: February 1, 2009.
• We admit primarily students who start in the fall.
• All applications are read by at least one member of the admissions committee. We do not make strict "cuts" on candidates, but competive applicants who have the following minimal requirements:
  • Subject GRE: 600 and above
  • Grade Point Average: 3.2 and above
  • TOEFL: 600 and above (paper-based test); 250 and above (computer-based test); and 100 and above (internet-based test).
• Applications are evaluated by a physics admissions committee which consists of 5 or 6 faculty who represent the primary research areas of the department plus the graduate student coordinator. The committee makes recommendations to the department chair on which students should be admitted. The department chair then reviews the decisions. If the decision is positive, candidates are then informed that the department has decided to recommend them to the Graduate School for admission. The official letter offering admissions is sent to the candidate by the Graduate School.
• In our department, students are not admitted to work with a specific research advisor, though recommendations of funded research advisors are considered strongly by the admissions committee. Because of the breadth of the research areas in the department, we are a good option for students who are undecided on their research area. We do need to know whether a student has a preference for experiment or for theory.
• We value diversity in our department, welcoming in particular those from groups that traditionally have not studied physics (e.g., women and minorities). A limited number of fee waivers will be offered to prospective applicants who satisfy diversity goals. It thus is desirable to list your interest in Physics at Notre Dame on the prospective student list in the Apply Yourself web site.
• Early applicants with strong academic records will be automatically considered for internal fellowships offered through Notre Dame. For information on internal and external fellowships, click here.