How to apply

Faculty in most programs begin to consider applicants for Fall admission in December of the preceding year (e.g. December 2011 for admission in Fall 2012).

Applications are only accepted for fall admission.

1. Review the "Admission Requirements" page for any program specific information

   • Check for any program-specific deadlines or requirements.
   • If the program you are interested in is available at more than one campus, be sure you know which campus you want to attend as it the first question on the Graduate School application.

2. Submit a Penn State Graduate School application and pay the associated application fee

   • Complete the online Penn State Graduate School application (opens in a new window).
     • If you are applying to a graduate program that is offered at both University Park and Hershey campuses, you will need to select just one of these to complete the application form.
     • Please select the campus where courses and faculty are likely to be of most interest to you.
     • All students are admitted to one campus; however, if your program is offered on two campuses, you will be able to participate in laboratory rotations on the other campus
     • You may be able to switch campuses should it turn out your advisor of choice is located on a different campus than you.
   • The following documents will be collected electronically as part of the Graduate School application process:
     • Three letters of recommendation
     • Personal Statement of Motivations and Goals
     • Curriculum Vitae / Resume
   • Make sure you pay the application fee. Applications without fee payment cannot be processed.

3. Test scores

   • Official GRE (Graduate Record Exam) scores for the General Test
     • Institution code: 2660
     • Department code: see table below
   • For international applicants, Official notification of TOEFL or IELTS score. With some exceptions, international candidates are required to take the TOEFL (Test Of English as a Foreign Language) or the IELTS (International English Language Testing System).
     • Department code: see table below
   • Department codes for GRE and TOEFL:

     Department	GRE Dept Code	TOEFL Dept Code
     Cell and Developmental Biology	5199	30
     Ecology	0207	30
     Genetics	0210	06
     IBIOS: Bioinformatics and Genomics	5199	30
     IBIOS: Chemical Biology	5199	30
     Immunology and Infectious Diseases	5199	30
     Molecular Toxicology	5199	30
     Molecular Medicine	5199	30
     Neuroscience	0213	30
     Physiology	0217	49
     Plant Biology	5199	30
     Master of Biotechnology	5199	99

4. Mail us the following:

   • Official transcripts from each higher education institution you have attended.

   Mailing Address

   Admissions Committee, [insert name of program] Program
   Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences
   The Pennsylvania State University
   101 Life Sciences Building
   University Park, PA 16802-5807
   USA

   Please do not send unsolicited materials with your application packet, e.g. copies of publications

   Please note

   The graduate programs and Penn State Graduate School are committed to verification of application materials. Therefore please ensure that all of your documents can be readily verified as being accurate and authentic. Admission is granted jointly by the Penn State Graduate School and the relevant program.