Admission Requirements

Deadline for Admissions

Application Instructions

Admissions Requirements

Students entering the doctoral program are expected to have a strong undergraduate preparation in physics. Courses in electricity and magnetism, optics, mechanics, atomic and nuclear physics, quantum mechanics, mathematical physics, differential equations, and analysis are essential. Any deficiency in these areas may delay degree completion by as much as a year. (Students are expected to make up any deficiencies during the first year of graduate study.)

The Graduate Admissions Committee reviews all parts of the application, but to help guide student expectations regarding the probability of admissions to our department, we offer you approximate averages in recent years.

• Average size of entering class: 25
• Average number of Students offered admission: 100
• Average number of Student applications: 400
• Average Advance Physics GRE of admitted students: 810
• Average General GRE of admitted students: 80 percentile
• Average GPA of admitted students: 3.8

The Physics Department welcomes students who have varied cultural experiences or educationally or economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and will therefore contribute to the intellectual and social enrichment of the Physics Department. If you wish to have these factors included in the review of your application, please provide a statement concerning your personal history, family background, and influences on your intellectual development. This statement should include cultural and educational opportunities (or lack thereof), social and economic disadvantages that you may have had to overcome, and the ways in which these experiences affected you. Include your special interests and abilities, career plans, and future goals. This statement can be incorporated into the Statement of Purpose.

Teach for America corps members who are admitted to the Physics Ph.D. program but wish to complete their two years of service prior to entering the Physics Department are guaranteed a two-year deferral.

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Deadline for Submission of Application Materials

For expected entry to study in Autumn quarter, students must submit all application materials by January 15th. The GRE exam results from a December test date will arrive a little later than January 15th, but all other materials must arrive by January 15th.

The suggested deadline for International applicants is November 1st. This deadline will ensure that there is sufficient time to process the paperwork. We will accept applications after this date, but we strongly recommend that International applicants submit materials to the Office of Graduate Admissions by November 1st.

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Application Instructions

For general admissions information, including application instructions, please see General Admission Information

To begin the online application process, please see World-Wide-Web Application for Graduate Admission

NOTE: As part of the Graduate School application, you will be asked to provide names and email addresses for three recommenders. These recommenders will then be asked by the UW Graduate School to provide recommendations electronically. The Department will then have access to the recommendations.

1. Submit the following materials to the:

   Office of Graduate Admissions
   University of Washington
   P.O. Box 84808
   Room 301, Loew Hall
   Seattle, WA 98124-6108

   International applicants

   • If you are currently residing in the U.S., provide photocopies of all I-20 Certificate of Eligibility forms with the F-1 visa stamp, or DS-2019 (Certificate of Eligibility forms) with the J-1 visa stamp or any current visa status forms issued to you
   • If you are requesting a DS-2019 (Certificate of Eligibility form) for J-1 status, please provide the following information: City of birth, country of legal permanent residence, present position in the country (i.e. student/faculty, as well as the name of the institution, if employed by a company, name of employer, etc.) If you are currently holding the J-1 visa, please let this office know if you are planning to return home before coming to this University. This information is important in order to issue an accurate visa application form.
   • UW Statement of Financial Ability form: once you have submitted your application online you must log back in to the online application at https://www.grad.washington.edu/application to access the form
   • Request Educational Testing Service, PO Box 6151, Princeton, NJ 08541-6151 to forward your TOEFL score report using our institution code #4854. Score reports over two years old (from the test date) are no longer valid
   • Copy of Graduate School application (signed and dated)
   • Set of official transcripts from all colleges and universities attended
   
   

   U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and immigrants

   • You do not need to mail any materials to the Office of Graduate Admissions if you submit your application and pay the application fee online by credit card, unless you have earned a bachelor's or higher degree from an institution outside the United States. If so, then you must print a copy of the application and send it, together with an official copy of the transcript and degree statement.
   
   
2. Submit the following materials to the Physics Department:

   Department of Physics
   University of Washington
   Box 351560
   Seattle, Washington 98195-1560
   Attn: Graduate Program Assistant

   International applicants, U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and immigrants

   • Official transcripts from all colleges and universities attended
   • Official GRE and Advanced Physics Subject Test Scores: Please submit unofficial scores if official scores are not yet available.(Our institution code is #4854. It is to your advantage to have scores sent in time for the January 15th deadline.)

For additional information, please email your inquiries to the Graduate Program Assistant or call 206-543-2488.

For additional information about graduate study at the University of Washington, please visit the Graduate School Home Page.

The University of Washington reaffirms its policy of equal opportunity regardless of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, or status as a disabled veteran or Vietnam era veteran in accordance with University policy and applicable federal and state statutes and regulations.