What We Look For

We are looking for the well-rounded individual with proven academic accomplishment as well as demonstrated personal character and ambition. Our decision is based on careful evaluation of each applicant's complete record, including an online application, statement of purpose, TOEFL or IELTS scores if applicable, transcripts and letters of recommendation.

Important for the 2022-2023 admissions cycle: With the exception of our Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the School of Engineering is not requiring Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores for consideration for admission.

Also note: for international students who did not graduate from an institution in a country where English is the official language, proficiency in English must be shown by a minimum score of 89 on the TOEFL or 7.0 on the IELTS test. For the admission cycles for which we are accepting the DuoLingo test, the minimum acceptable score for this is 110. All programs will accept both the ‘iBT TOEFL home-edition’ as well as the ‘DuoLingo’ test to fulfill the requirement to submit proficiency in English for international applications (as substitute for the regular TOEFL or IELTS). This exception is for the upcoming Spring '23, Summer '23, Fall '23 admissions cycles.

Vanderbilt is a comprehensive research university and holds the highest designation of research universities in the Carnegie classification system. Preference is given to students interested in pursuing the doctoral degree; however, all applicants for both the master and doctoral degrees are considered on the basis of merit.

DATES TO REMEMBER

M.S. and Ph.D. applicants

August 1st
Date by which most programs begin accepting Fall applications. If you have further questions, please directly contact the office of your program of interest.

Application Deadlines

Deadline for receipt of completed application form and all supporting credentials for a decision about fall semester admission.

January 1st
Biomedical Engineering                                                                                                                              Environmental Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Civil Engineering

January 15th                                                                                                                                                              Computer Science
Electrical Engineering
Interdisciplinary Materials Science

Admission decisions:

March 31st
Target date by which admission offers for fall semester will be mailed to all applicants whose files are complete by the deadline of the program you chose.

Response to admission offers:

April 15th
Deadline for applicants to respond to offers of admission. If your reply is not received by April 15th, the department may reallocate any offer of financial award.

Application deadlines vary for M.Eng. and online degree programs

Transcripts:
Transcripts can be sent either via the postal service or via secure electronic delivery. In order to be considered official, transcripts and other documents must come directly from the institution attended. Some institutions provide secure electronic delivery of transcripts. These submissions may be made to cdm@vanderbilt.edu.
Transcripts sent via the postal service should be addressed as follows:

CDM
PMB 407833
2301 Vanderbilt Place
Nashville, TN 37240-7833