The information on
this page was last updated on August 23, 2008. All information is subject to change.
Questions about our graduate program and the application process can be
submitted in the OSU Chem
Forum in Google Groups or by e-mail to jhambach@chemistry.ohio-state.edu.
When is the application deadline?
If you are…. |
Your application deadline is… |
A non-US
citizen/permanent resident who does not currently live in the US and who will
not receive a degree from a US institution prior to enrolling at OSU (if admitted) |
Monday, December
15, 2008 |
A non-US
citizen/permanent resident who currently lives in the US but will not receive
a degree from a US institution prior to enrolling at OSU (if admitted) |
Monday, December
15, 2008 |
A non-US
citizen/permanent resident who currently lives in the US and will receive a
degree from a US institution prior to enrolling at OSU (if admitted) and has attended a
university outside of the United States (for example, a
student who completed their BS in their home country and is completing an MS
in the United States). |
Thursday, January
15, 2009 |
A non-US
citizen/permanent resident who currently lives in the US and will receive a
degree from a US institution prior to enrolling at OSU (if admitted) and has never attended
a university outside of the United States. |
Thursday, January
15, 2009 |
A US citizen or US
permanent resident |
Thursday, January
15, 2009 |
Do I have to pay the application fee?
If you are…. |
You are required to… |
A non-US
citizen/permanent resident who does not currently live in the US and who will
not receive a degree from a US institution prior to enrolling at OSU (if
admitted) |
Apply online
through OSU Graduate Admissions and submit a $50 application fee. |
A non-US citizen/permanent
resident who currently lives in the US but will not receive a degree from a
US institution prior to enrolling at OSU (if admitted) |
Apply online
through OSU Graduate Admissions and submit a $50 application fee. |
A non-US
citizen/permanent resident who currently lives in the US and will receive a
degree from a US institution prior to enrolling at OSU (if admitted) and has attended a
university outside of the United States (for example, a
student who completed their BS in their home country and is completing an MS
in the United States). |
Apply online
through OSU Graduate Admissions and submit a $50 application fee. |
A non-US
citizen/permanent resident who currently lives in the US and will receive a
degree from a US institution prior to enrolling at OSU (if admitted) and has never attended
a university outside of the United States. |
E-mail Jennifer
Hambach prior to applying. |
A US citizen or US
permanent resident |
E-mail Jennifer
Hambach prior to applying. |
What are the required application materials?
If you are…. |
You are required to… |
A non-US
citizen/permanent resident who does not currently live in the US and who will
not receive a degree from a US institution prior to enrolling at OSU (if
admitted) |
Submit the
application materials according to the instructions on this application checklist. |
A non-US
citizen/permanent resident who currently lives in the US but will not receive
a degree from a US institution prior to enrolling at OSU (if admitted) |
Submit the
application materials according to the instructions on this application checklist. |
A non-US citizen/permanent
resident who currently lives in the US and will receive a degree from a US
institution prior to enrolling at OSU (if admitted) and has attended a
university outside of the United States (for example, a
student who completed their BS in their home country and is completing an MS
in the United States). |
Submit the
application materials according to the instructions on this application checklist. |
A non-US
citizen/permanent resident who currently lives in the US and will receive a
degree from a US institution prior to enrolling at OSU (if admitted) and has never attended
a university outside of the United States. |
Submit the
application materials according to the instructions on this application checklist. |
A US citizen or US
permanent resident |
Submit the
application materials according to the instructions on this application checklist. |
What are the minimum GRE, TOEFL, and GPA requirements?
The students who will be most competitive in obtaining an
admission offer from our program are those who have achieved the following
scores:
| |
Domestic (US) Students |
International Students |
GPA |
3.2 / 4.0 or equivalent |
Verb GRE score |
470 or greater |
420 or greater |
Quant GRE score |
600 or greater |
760 or greater |
Analyt Wrtg GRE score |
4.0 or greater |
4.0 or greater |
IBT TOEFL score |
N/A |
101 or greater
(20 or greater on the Speaking section) |
In order to be admitted to OSU,
the Graduate School requires international student applicants to achieve a minimum TOEFL score of 79 (IBT),
213 (CBT) or 550 (PBT). However, because chemistry graduate students need to have
excellent English skills in order to meet the teaching expectations of the State
of Ohio, our Admissions Committee typically offers admission to applicants who
score 101 or above (20 or above on Speaking) IBT, 250 or above (CBT) or 600 or
above (PBT).
The Graduate School requires students to have a GPA
of 3.0/4.0 or above in order to be offered admission to OSU.
Can I
send photocopies of my GRE and TOEFL score reports?
No. The Department of
Chemistry requires all applicants to have ETS submit official scores to
OSU. Please plan accordingly when
requesting score reports so that ETS has enough time to report your scores
before the deadline.
GRE
OSU – 1592
Dept. of Chem – 0301
TOEFL
OSU – 1592
Dept. of Chem – 62
I am not
happy with my GRE and/or TOEFL score. Can you please let me know if I qualify
for admission or if I should take the test again?
If you are not satisfied with the GRE and/or TOEFL score you achieved on your
first exam, please do not e-mail to request an evaluation of your score or to
inquire as to the probability of your being offered admission based on those
scores. Our Admissions Committee does not make decisions based solely on standardized
test scores. If you are concerned
that your GRE scores are not sufficient, the chart shown above details the
scores needed for being most competitive in receiving an offer of admission.
A TOEFL score of 79 IBT, 213 CBT and 550 PBT is REQUIRED for admission to OSU. Based on the information in
the chart and the stated TOEFL requirement, if you still do not feel as if your
scores are competitive, it is your decision whether or not to retake the TOEFL.
Applications
will be reviewed with the scores that have been reported to us at the time of
the application deadline. If two or more score sets from either the GRE or
TOEFL are reported, the committee will place the most weight during the review
on the most recent score set.
I took the GRE and/or TOEFL a long time ago; can I still submit these scores?
Unfortunately, GRE scores expire after five years and TOEFL scores expire
after two years. It is impossible for us to verify scores for these exams once
the scores have expired. Please be certain that your scores are still valid
at the time you submit your application, otherwise you will be required to
retake the exam(s) in order to
complete your application to The Ohio State University.
Can a
particular requirement be waived for me?
TOEFL: TOEFL scores can only be waived for those applicants who have
completed a degree at an institution located in a country where the native
language is English (e.g. the United States, Great Britain, Australia, et.
al.). In addition, TOEFL scores expire after two years. If you took the TOEFL
before or during 2006, we may not be able to verify those scores and you may
need to retake the exam.
GRE: The GRE cannot be waived for any applicant. It is a crucial
mechanism our Admissions Committee uses to evaluate applications. In addition,
GRE scores expire after five years. If you took the GRE before January 2004, we
may not be able to verify those scores and you may need to retake the exam.
Transcripts: It is never possible to waive the transcript requirement.
If you are an international student currently studying in the United States and
do not have OFFICIAL transcripts (not copies) from a previously attended
college/university outside of the US, please begin the process to obtain those
official transcripts as soon as possible as it often takes many weeks (even
months) for them to be processed and mailed to us.
GPA: The GPA requirement (3.0/4.0) cannot be waived for any student.
Letters of recommendation: All students must submit 3 letters of
recommendation. It is highly recommended that one of these be from the
student’s research advisor or from someone who can attest to his/her research
capabilities.
Are Associateships, Fellowships, Scholarships and/or
Financial Aid available to students offered admission?
Unless a student is self-supporting or is sponsored by the government,
the military, or another scholarship program, he/she will be funded by the
Department of Chemistry. The tuition will be paid and the student will be
awarded a stipend for their work as a Teaching Associate (TA) or Research
Associate (RA). The stipend for TAs is currently $1667/month (before taxes and
other deductions). Each RA’s stipend is determined by his/her research advisor.
The average RA stipend is $1500/month (before taxes and other deductions).
Unless awarded a University Fellowship, first-year graduate students are
typically appointed as TAs. First-year
international students will be appointed as GAAs at a
lesser stipend until becoming English certified.
Although the stipend is sufficient enough to live on in Columbus, OH, some
students wish to supplement their incoming with additional financial aid. For
information on Financial Aid, please go here.
Is health insurance available?
OSU requires all students to maintain enrollment in a health insurance
program. Some graduate students may be able to stay on their parents’ policy,
but for others, Student Health Insurance (SHI) is available. For 2008-2009, the
university will subsidize 85% of the cost of health insurance (approximately $406
per quarter) for funded graduate students. For students in the Dept. of
Chemistry, the remaining amount (approximately $72 per quarter) will be
deducted from their paychecks at a monthly rate of approximately $24. For more
information on Student Health Insurance, please go here.
After my application is received, how long will it be before I am notified of
the decision?
If you are…. |
You will be notified of a decision… |
A non-US
citizen/permanent resident who does not currently live in the US and who will
not receive a degree from a US institution prior to enrolling at OSU (if
admitted) |
by March 1, 2009. Completed applications will not be reviewed before the
December 15th application deadline. |
A non-US
citizen/permanent resident who currently lives in the US but will not receive
a degree from a US institution prior to enrolling at OSU (if admitted) |
by March 1, 2009. Completed applications will not be reviewed before the
December 15th application deadline. |
A non-US
citizen/permanent resident who currently lives in the US and will receive a
degree from a US institution prior to enrolling at OSU (if admitted) and has attended a
university outside of the United States (for example, a
student who completed their BS in their home country and is completing an MS
in the United States). |
within 2-4 weeks of the completion of your
application. However, completed
applications will not be reviewed before the January 15th application deadline. |
A non-US
citizen/permanent resident who currently lives in the US and will receive a
degree from a US institution prior to enrolling at OSU (if admitted) and has never attended
a university outside of the United States. |
within 2-4 weeks of the completion of your
application. However, completed
applications will not be reviewed before the January 15th application
deadline. |
A US citizen or US
permanent resident |
within 2-4 weeks of the completion of your
application. However, completed
applications will not be reviewed before the January 15th application deadline. |
How do I notify the program of my decision regarding my offer of admission?
The Dept. of
Chemistry requires all students who have been offered admission to notify us of
their decision regarding the offer by April 15, 2008. To do so, students should
send an e-mail to jhambach@chemistry.ohio-state.edu to state whether or not the offer is being accepted. If the offer is being
declined, we ask that students inform us as to which graduate program’s offer
they are accepting.
I am currently a graduate student at another university in the United
States. Can I be accepted into your program as a transfer student?
Under the following conditions, The Dept. of Chemistry
will accept applications from students who want to transfer:
1) the student submits a statement regarding their reason for requesting the
transfer
2) the student’s advisor will submit a letter of recommendation for the student
to the Dept. of Chemistry
3) the Vice Chair of the student’s current graduate program agrees to dismiss
the student to OSU if the student is offered admission
I want to study with a particular professor. Can I be admitted directly into
his/her research group?
The Department of Chemistry
does not admit students directly into research groups. Advisor selection
begins at the end of Autumn Quarter during a student’s first year in our
program. At that time, you can specify that you wish to join a particular
research group, but you cannot do so at the time of enrollment.
Helpful Links
Below is a list of links prospective chemistry graduate students may
find helpful as they move through the admission process at OSU. If you do not
see an OSU-related link listed below, please go to www.osu.edu and enter in the
search field the name of the department or office of which you are interested.
Department of Chemistry |
The home page for the Department of Chemistry. Links to personnel
directories, career resources, seminars, events and graduate information can
be found on this page. |
The Ohio State
University
|
The homepage for The Ohio State University. Links to commonly requested
departments and offices can be found on this page. For those departments or
offices not listed, a search field is provided. |
The
Graduate School
|
The homepage of The Ohio State University’s Graduate School. Information
for new and prospective graduate students can be found on this site. |
The
Graduate Admissions Office
|
The homepage of The Ohio State University Graduate Admissions Office. This
site is helpful for all admissions questions and concerns that are not
Chemistry Department-related. |
The Office of
Student Financial Aid
|
The home page of The Ohio State University Office of Student Financial
Aid. Information on how to apply for financial aid as well as downloadable
forms can be found on this site. |
The Office
of International Affairs
|
The home page of The Ohio State University
Office of International Education. This site is an invaluable resource for
prospective and incoming international graduate students. |
ETS
(Educational Testing Service) |
GRE
(Graduate Record Exam) |
TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) |
Included on these sites is information on how to register for the GRE or
TOEFL or how to order additional score reports. |
Accepted.com,
for advice on writing personal statements.
|
The leading admissions consulting and application essay editing service, their
purpose is to help students gain acceptance to a top school and land a great
job through exceptional advising and editing services. |
