Frequently Asked Questions
Have Questions About Applying to UD?
Below you'll find answers to general questions about the application process for graduate school at the University of Delaware.
Please direct specific graduate program questions or decision inquiries to the individual graduate program contacts. Graduate Admissions can answer questions about the application process, but graduate Program Directors and faculty have the most knowledge of their programs and decision-making process.
Before You Apply
Each graduate program sets its own unique admission requirements. Information on our graduate degrees and their specific requirements can be found on the Graduate Programs page.
After selecting a program page, you will find a link to admission requirements on the right-hand sidebar under ‘Program Info.’ Program contact information, tuition rates, and deadlines are also listed on this page.
The graduate application fee is $75.00. Waiver categories are listed on the Application Fee webpage. If you qualify for one of the fee waiver categories listed, go to the ‘Additional Information’ section in the application and check the appropriate box in ‘Program Association’. You will need to upload a letter from the director of your program confirming your status which will be verified by the Graduate Admissions staff.
We encourage applicants seeking an application fee waiver to begin an application and submit the application without submitting a payment. You may contact the department coordinator, listed inside each individual program page, and send a request with your 9-digit application ID — departments may be able to pay the application fee for you based on your academic merit.
The Computer Science and Chemistry & Biochemistry departments will not pay the fee for its applicants; please do not contact these programs with this request. If you feel you qualify for a fee waiver for reasons that aren’t listed on the Application Fee webpage, contact gradadmissions@udel.edu and we will review your application for further consideration.
At this time, the Graduate Admissions office is not able to waive fees based solely on financial hardship.
Each graduate program sets its own unique admission requirements. Information on our graduate degrees and their specific requirements can be found on the Graduate Programs page. After selecting a program page, you will find a link to admission requirements on the right-hand sidebar under ‘Program Info.’ Program contact information, tuition rates, and deadlines are also listed on this page.
Those who meet these requirements are not guaranteed admission, nor are those who fail to meet the requirements necessarily precluded from admission, if they offer other appropriate strengths. Applicants must begin a graduate application to be considered for a graduate program with the University of Delaware.
Yes, as long as you will graduate before your program courses begin, you can apply before graduation. If you are admitted, before matriculating in the fall, you will need to send us a final, official transcript(s) from your school(s) showing your degrees received.
Transfer students at the graduate level are treated as new applicants and must complete a full Graduate Application.
Students wishing to transfer credits from a previous institution in the United States may only do so after admission with the permission of their graduate program. A maximum of 9 credits (usually 3 courses) may be transferred.
Credits from institutions outside of the United States are generally not transferable. Courses counted toward a previous degree at a different institution cannot be transferred into a degree at the University of Delaware.
For more information on transfer credits, please see the Graduate Policies page. If there is anything else we can help you with, please let us know.
As referenced on our Transcripts webpage, please do not send official transcripts electronically or by mail during the application process. A graduate program's faculty admission committee will use unofficial transcripts submitted in the application for its review. Please ensure that you upload an unofficial transcript for each academic history entry. You will receive further instruction on this requirement if offered admission.
As referenced in the TOEFL/IELTS area of our Test Scores webpage, a waiver of proof of English Proficiency is allowed when:
A bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree has been or will be earned from a university recognized by the ministry of education in a country where English is the primary language. Our list of approved countries includes Anguilla, Antigua, Australia, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Cameroon, Canada (except Quebec),Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Ghana, Guyana, Ireland, Jamaica, Kenya, Liberia, Montserrat, New Zealand, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Singapore, South Africa, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks and Caicos, The United Kingdom, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
- A bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree has been or will be earned from a college or university located in the United States and accredited by a regional accrediting association.
If you meet one of these requirements, please follow the instructions to complete a waiver request in the ‘Test Score Waiver’ area of the application. We will be able to complete the TOEFL waiver once you have submitted the application, paid the application fee, and we can review your unofficial transcripts. You will be able to monitor the progress of your waiver in your Application Checklist.
Unfortunately, we cannot accept participation in other English Language Programs as proof of English Proficiency. If you are an International applicant, proof of English proficiency is required, and waivers are only authorized under strict exceptions. Waivers must be formally requested by the leaders of the graduate program to which you are applying. They may contact the Director of Graduate Admissions to discuss the process.
If you are admitted as an International Student, proof of English proficiency is required, and waivers are only approved under strict exceptions. All programs currently accept the TOEFL ibt, paper-based test and ‘at Home’ exams. As referenced in the TOEFL/IELTS portion of our Test Scores webpage, it is up to each graduate program if they will consider the IELTS, IELTS Indicator, TOEFL Essentials, or iTEP Academic exams in place of the TOEFL ibt. Each department sets unique admission requirements for their programs. Information on our graduate degrees and their specific requirements can be found on the Graduate Programs page.
‘STEM’ refers to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, an acronym popularized by the National Science Foundation. This designation is important for eligibility for certain funding opportunities (e.g., the National GEM Consortium), for international students interested in certain post-graduate school opportunities, and for other purposes. Several of our departments have STEM designated programs. These include:
Animal & Food Science, Applied Mathematics, Applied Physiology, Applied Mathematics, Applied Statistics, Bioinformatics & Computational Biology, Biological Sciences, Biomechanics & Movement Sciences, Biomedical Engineering, Biopharmaceutical Sciences, Biotechnology, Business Analytics & Information Management, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Civil Engineering, Climatology, Clinical Health Science, Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Data Science, Economics, Economics & Applied Econometrics, Educational Technology, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Energy and Environmental Policy, Engineering & Public Policy, Entomology & Wildlife Ecology, Evaluation, Finance, Financial Service Analytics, Geography, Geological Sciences, Health Behavior Science & Promotion, Interdisciplinary Neuroscience, Marine Policy, Marine Studies, Materials Science & Engineering, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Medical Laboratory Sciences, Medical Sciences, Nutrition Science, Ocean Engineering, Oceanography, Operations Research, Physics, Plant & Soil Science, Psychological and Brain Sciences, Quantum Science & Engineering, Robotics, Statistics, Water Science & Policy, Wildlife Ecology
Application Process
Program contact information, tuition rates, and application deadlines can be found on the Graduate Programs page. After selecting a program page, you will find a link to admission requirements on the right-hand sidebar under ‘Program Info.’
Current tuition rates are shown on the program pages. Note that certain programs cover tuition for most or all of their students. Therefore, you should confirm typical funding packages with your graduate program(s) of interest to determine how much of the tuition you will be responsible for covering.
There is only one application which can be used by U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and international applicants.
The most important thing to know about the GRE / GMAT at the University of Delaware is that it is an admission requirement set by the graduate programs themselves. If you would like to know whether your particular program of interest requires a test and/or what scores they consider acceptable for consideration, please check the program’s website, on the right side link called ‘Program Admission Requirements’. Even if an average score or score range is provided, remember that some students who were admitted scored below that number and you should not view it as a strict cutoff.
As referenced on our Recommendations webpage, the University of Delaware’s graduate programs exclusively use electronic recommendation submissions. Exceptions can only be authorized by a direct communication from a UD graduate program, and are rarely granted.
While the application system will allow you to submit additional letters of recommendation, you should check with your program on the maximum number of recommendations they will allow.
Yes, the University of Delaware has dual degree programs that you can apply to within the application. Aside from dual degrees, applying to more than one graduate program requires a separate application, including application fee, for each program. If you are applying for multiple concentrations or levels within the same program or department, you may only need to file one application - please check with your program(s) of interest as listed on the individual Graduate Programs pages to be sure.
Each application must contain separately uploaded materials and separately created/submitted recommendations. An application fee must be paid for each unique application. Biographical information, academic history (including unofficial transcripts), and test scores will be carried over to a second application if created using the same account.
The application and supporting material submitted to the University of Delaware Graduate College become our property and will not be returned to the applicant under any circumstances.
All self-reported and official test scores appear on the Application Status Page beneath the application checklist. If the official scores have been received, a green checkmark will appear in the verified column. As scores are sent by testing services to our database then transferred to applications in an automated process, it takes several weeks for official score reports to arrive in our office and be reflected on the status page, therefore please allow 3 weeks for processing from the date the scores are sent.
If you applied to multiple programs, you will see separate tabs in your account for each program.
Please know that the email you received was an automated message sent to all students upon receipt of the application fee or fee waiver to encourage the submission of any outstanding official test scores, regardless of the current status. You may refer to the test scores section of your Application Status Page to confirm if we have received your verified scores. If you have received a test score waiver or your program does not have test score requirements, official test scores need not be submitted.
Admissions Notification
You may check your application status at any time on your Application Status Page. If your application lists a submission date, your application has been submitted. Any missing documents will appear in your application checklist as ‘awaiting.’ All materials, including letters of recommendation, must be submitted for your application to be reviewed. If your application checklist is fulfilled, then your application is complete and awaiting review by your graduate program.
Please direct questions regarding decision timelines to your graduate program. You will receive an email notifying you that an update has been posted to your Application Status Page when a decision has been made. These notifications will come from gradadmissions@udel.edu, so we encourage you to adjust your filters to avoid having messages from that address sent to your spam/junk folder.
All requests for deferral of admissions offers must be approved by the individual graduate program. Contact your Program Director on the Graduate Program page.
The University of Delaware does not currently have housing for graduate students available on campus. Most graduate students live off campus in rented apartments or houses. Please see the Residence Life website for more information about off-campus housing options.
Funding
Funding is determined by your graduate program, therefore all funding information is provided in a funding offer update from the program office separate from the official decision letter from the Graduate College. We encourage you to contact your program directly with any questions about your offer or funding availability. You may also wish to review the additional funding opportunities listed on our website.
U.S. citizens and permanent residents who wish to be considered for Federal loans and/or work-study should review resources on the Graduate Student Financial Services website
Competitive awards and funding assistance from the Graduate College are determined based on nominations by the graduate program leadership. If you would like to be considered for one of these opportunities, contact your graduate program to learn how they decide which prospective students to nominate.
Yes, international students are eligible for many types of program funding.
There are many types of funding opportunities available for graduate students. A full description is available on the Graduate College Funding webpage. Note that some opportunities on this webpage will only consider students who are nominated by their graduate program. So, you will need to communicate with your program about being considered for one of their nominations.
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234 Hullihen Hall, Newark, DE 19716 USA grad@udel.edu General: (302) 831-6824 Fax: (302) 831-8745