PhD Admissions

The PhD program provides training through advanced coursework and an in-depth thesis research experience. Applicants with an undergraduate degree or a Master’s degree in Materials Science or a related field (e.g., physics, chemistry, engineering) are welcome to apply. All PhD students in good standing receive financial support, including a living stipend/salary, full tuition, and a health insurance subsidy.

Application submissions for Autumn 2025-2026 opened in mid September and closed on December 3rd, 2024. To check your application status, see Visit Your Status Page. We will contact you if we need any further information.

Admission Decisions will be released by the end of January 2025. 

• Late submission policy and additional materials: Your application will be evaluated based on the materials submitted by the deadline of 12/3/2024 at 11:59pm PT. We do not accept updates to your resume or Statement of Purpose, and do not accept additional materials such as new grades or coursework.
• We do not accept submissions after the deadline except under very rare extenuating circumstances, such as a serious and prolonged medical emergency that lasted throughout the duration of the application period.
• Late letters of recommendation may or may not be considered, depending on the time of submission. Initial review and evaluation will begin with only materials submitted by the deadline. Do not contact the department regarding late letters of recommendation.

Review our Frequently Asked Questions BEFORE sending us your questions!

• Application Fee Waivers are NOT processed by the department. Do not contact MSE Admissions requesting a fee waiver. Instead, see here: Graduate Admissions and SoE Waivers
• Language Test Scores and TOEFL Waivers are NOT processed by the department. Do not contact MSE Admissions regarding your language test scores. See here: TOEFL Requirements, Exemptions, Waivers, and Accepted Scores
• GRE: Students who wish to apply for admission to our graduate (PhD and MS) program are not required to take the GRE or submit a GRE score report as part of their application process. We will not review any GRE scores submitted.
• Eligibility: Eligibility to apply and Official Transcripts & Degree Conferral Documents (2025 Entry)
• Applicants who hold a previous degree in a subject other than Materials Science and Engineering are welcome to apply. We welcome applications from students from a wide range of academic backgrounds. 

• Consultations, Tours, and Meetings: We do not hold info sessions and cannot schedule meetings with individual applicants to discuss their applications. We do not offer tours of the department or our laboratory facilities. Applicants may contact faculty directly or visit campus independently.  We receive a very high volume of requests and unfortunately we cannot provide individualized application advice to prospective students or host meetings with applicants.

  Websites of Interest:

• Stanford Graduate Admissions: https://gradadmissions.stanford.edu/apply/faq
• MSE Master’s Admissions Homepage: https://mse.stanford.edu/academics-admissions/masters-program/masters-admissions
• MSE Master’s Program Requirements: https://bulletin.stanford.edu/programs/MATSC-MS
• MSE PhD Admissions: https://mse.stanford.edu/academics-admissions/doctoral-program/phd-admissions

• MSE PhD Program Requirements: https://bulletin.stanford.edu/programs/MATSC-PHD

   

The university application is on the Graduate Admissions website. Please read all the information provided before applying (any general graduate admission information given on the Materials Science and Engineering website is subject to revision by the Graduate Admissions Office). TOEFL tests must be taken early enough for us to receive the test scores by the application deadline. No late test scores, recommendation letters, transcripts, or other applicable supporting materials will be accepted.

Again, review our Frequently Asked Questions BEFORE emailing us your questions!

The application consists of the following required materials, all of which must be received by the appropriate deadline for the application to be considered complete:

1. Online application completed
2. Statement of purpose
3. Unofficial transcript(s)
   1. Please submit your unofficial transcript(s) from all post-secondary institutions you have attended for at least one year. If admitted to the MSE program, you will be asked to provide an official transcript(s). You'll be asked to provide a second official transcript if you get admitted to the program.
4. A minimum of three (3) letters of recommendation
   1. A minimum of three (3), maximum of six (6) recommendation letters submitted online directly by the recommenders.* These letters can come from a wide range of individuals, such as research and academic advisors, instructors, and workplace supervisors.
5. Resume
6. If necessary, Official test scores reported by ETS if necessary (TOEFL only - GRE not required)
   1. Stanford's institution code is 4704; no department code is needed.

Stanford performs an individualized, holistic review of each applicant to its graduate and professional programs. We recognize that students may have faced significant challenges during the period of disruption caused by the pandemic, and we take such individual circumstances into account during the application review. 

We urge you to apply early and make every attempt to get your questions answered early. Please refer to Frequently Asked Questions BEFORE submitting your questions. Due to the volume of inquiries that we receive, we have compiled the most asked questions and have summarized the answers. Please refer to our Program Requirements page before submitting your questions about programmatic requirements. Should your question not be answered in our Frequently Asked Questions, please direct your questions to: mseadmissions@stanford.edu. 

Late applications on a space-available-only basis. We may accept late applications only if there is still space in our incoming class. This situation is extremely rare. Please contact the department with specifics of why you were unable to apply by the deadline (e.g. a medical emergency that started before the application opened and lasted until the application closed). For the PhD program, financial aid is highly unlikely if you miss the original application deadline. 

Reinstatement Application for Reinstatement in Graduate Study: If you are an admitted graduate student who has not maintained continuous registration (or been on an approved leave of absence), you must apply for reinstatement. After completing this form, submit it to your department for approval and then submit it to Graduate Admissions. If approved for reinstatement, you will be billed for the reinstatement fee.

PhD Program Specific Q&A:

Q: What is the best way to contact faculty and find out about their research?

A: All of the faculty members have public pages on the Stanford online directory, including contact information, and many have links to their labs. The web is a great place to start. The MSE website also has links to our faculty.

Q: Do I have to have made contact with a faculty member to apply? Are students admitted to work with a specific research advisor? Does my advisor have to be in MSE? If I want to work with an advisor outside of MSE, do I have to apply to their department? 

A: No. Applicants are not expected to have a confirmed PhD faculty advisor before applying. We admit students to the department as a whole, and their faculty advisors are matched during the first year of the program. 

We have many interdisciplinary students. There are MSE students that conduct research with advisors from other departments as well as students from other Home Departments (ChemE, MechE, Applied Physics, BioE, to name a few) that work with MSE advisors. In that respect, your research advisor and PhD research experience is determined by the advisor’s lab and their current projects. 

Admitted PhD students do laboratory rotations their first two quarters to align with an advisor. Our admissions process is holistic and is not based on a single advisor’s availability to take on students. We do not have information for applicants regarding individual faculty availability.

In choosing a home department or program to apply to, you should consider the coursework, the culture, and the other program requirements involved. We recommend comparing the course requirements and program info both on the Stanford Bulletin https://bulletin.stanford.edu/ as well as individual department websites. In addition, look at the specific faculty members that are doing research in your field of interest and see which department(s) they are affiliated with.

Last, students with a primary PhD advisor outside of MSE always have a Co-Advisor in MSE. This is all determined during the student’s time in the program, and is not decided prior to admission.

Q: Does your department consider diversity, equity, and inclusion during the admissions process?

A: We encourage excellent students from all backgrounds to consider Stanford University for their graduate studies. In making admissions decisions, the Department of Materials Science and Engineering complies with the requirements of the law as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States, evaluating each applicant based on their "experiences as an individual—not on the basis of race.” 

Q: I want to apply now, but I will not be able to start until next Autumn (September 2026). Should I still apply?

A: If you know you are unable to start next Autumn quarter, please do not apply. We generally do not offer deferrals to PhD students unless there is an urgent, valid medical/family reason.

Q: If I am admitted, can I defer for a quarter or two?

A: The PhD program starts in Autumn. If you need to defer, you will need to request a whole-year deferral. Deferral requests are not always approved. If you know in advance that you cannot start school the following Autumn, please wait to apply in a future year.

Q: I cannot afford graduate school. How can I apply for a fellowship?

A: We provide full financial support to all of our PhD students for the duration of their program, contingent on maintaining satisfactory degree progress. This financial support includes a living stipend/salary, full payment of tuition, and a health insurance subsidy. We strongly encourage all applicants to apply for outside fellowships, such as the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Q: Is it possible to get a teaching or research assistantship?

A: Yes! All PhD students without fellowships are placed in teaching or research assistantship positions. The selection of a research topic is carried out by mutual agreement between the student and the advisor(s). This financial support includes a living stipend/salary, full payment of tuition, and a health insurance subsidy.

Q: What are your acceptance rates?

A: A typical admit class is about 20-25 PhD students per year.