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Help for Applicants |
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If you are interested in applying for admission to our Graduate Program, please review the list of frequently asked questions (FAQ) and answers below.
Free online pre-application is available here.
Frequently Asked Questions and Answers 1.
What are the Graduate Admissions Requirements and Procedures for the
University of Texas at Arlington? Please
click on the following link and read for details: 2.
What are the formal application requirements for the UTA Graduate
School? Please
see the link to the Graduate School Website below that lists them all: 3.
What is the address to send application materials to? Office
of Graduate Studies 4.
What is the preliminary application used for? It
gives the Chemistry Department’s Recruiting Committee a rough and
unofficial idea of your credentials, background, test scores, degrees,
universities attended, GPA’s, and the courses you have taken.
It also helps us make a decision whether or not we should
encourage you to formally apply.
Its benefit to you is we can see whether or not you are a
competitive candidate, and you can save money on the application fee if
and until we ask you to formally apply. 5.
Can the preliminary application be used as my official application to
the University of Texas at Arlington? No,
you must formally apply with the Graduate School by the admissions
deadline and pay an application fee to be formally considered. 6.
Is there an application fee with the preliminary application? No,
it is free. 7.
Is there an application fee to formally apply with the Graduate School? Yes,
and the amounts are as follows: $40
for all U.S. citizen and U.S. resident alien applicants WITH NO foreign
college or university work $70
for U.S. citizen and U.S. resident alien applicants WITH foreign college
or university work $70
for ALL international students
8.
What are the deadlines for the formal application and admissions
process? The
Chemistry and Biochemistry Department accepts inquiries and preliminary
applications year-round but only admits students in the Spring and Fall
semesters.
Spring admission is being faded out so only in rare cases will
anyone be offered Spring admittance. We do not offer admission for
Summer terms. Please
go to the following link for the most recent deadlines: 9.
Can I be admitted early? / What is the Chemistry Department’s early
admission policy? Yes.
/ Exceptional applicants will be considered for early admission and
financial support in the form of a Graduate Teaching Assistantship (GTA)
or Graduate Research Assistantship (GRA). 10.
Why are the admission deadlines for international students so far in
advance of It
is due to the fact that not only does UTA have to process the admission,
but it takes 6-8 weeks after formal admittance is granted for most
countries to process the I-20 Visa form, and to award an applicant a
student Visa.
Plus international students must attend a special international
student orientation session a week or two before classes begin, so they
have to be here. 11.
What am I required to have submitted to the Graduate School by the
deadline? Application
and Application Fee (see question 7 for amount). However,
the longer it takes for your “official” transcripts, certificates,
and exam scores to arrive the harder it is for you to be offered
admittance and still have time for all other processing.
(This is especially critical for international students.) 12.
What should I send in by the deadline to better my chances of being
admitted? 1.
Application 13.
What are the Chemistry Department’s admission requirements? Requirements
for admission to the Chemistry and Biochemistry Graduate Program include
the GRE exam and, if you are an international student, the TOEFL exam.
The scores on these exams will be used in the decision to admit a
candidate along with your GPA, schools attended, transcripts/mark
sheets, and three letters of recommendation.
The Recruiting Committee looks at an applicant’s entire
package. The
department prefers a score of at least 1100 for the combined verbal and
quantitative GRE, with at least 600 in the quantitative portion.
The minimum scores for the TOEFL are as follows: if reporting the IBT,
(the preferred method), the required minimum score is 80 with a 23 or
higher in the speaking section; if paper-based, the required minimum
score is 550; if computer-based, the required minimum score is
213; and if the IELTS is taken, then a required minimum score of 7.0
must be attained. If your scores are borderline or significantly
lower and you want to be seriously considered for the Chemistry Graduate
Program, you will benefit from retaking the relevant test. Most of
our graduate students achieve scores much higher than these stated
minimums. We are seeking students who have achieved at least a 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale. If your GPA is given as a percentage, our Recruiting Committee knows what percentages are comparatively acceptable. Again, we prefer to use as many variables as possible in evaluating our compatibility as we consider you as a candidate for our Graduate Program. The GPA is an excellent measure for comparison, and an official transcript will be required from your current and past schools.
This
exam is required for applicants whose native language is not English.
In extremely rare cases where there are extenuating circumstances
we may make an exception, however it is very unlikely. Please see
questions 15 and 16 for more information. 15.
What are the TOEFL, TSE, TOEFL iBT and IELTS Test Score Minimums
for An
applicant whose native language is not English must demonstrate a
sufficient level of skill with the English language to assure success in
graduate studies.
Applicants must submit a score of at least 550 on the paper-based
TOEFL, a score of at least 213 on the computer-based TOEFL, a minimum
score of 40 on the TSE, a minimum score of 6.5 on the IELTS, or a
minimum TOEFL iBT total score of 79 with sectional scores that meet or
exceed 22 for the writing section, 21 for the speaking section, 20 for
the reading section, and 16 for the listening section to meet this
requirement. An
applicant holding either a bachelor's or a master's degree from a
regionally accredited U.S. college or university is not required to
submit a TOEFL, TOEFL iBT, TSE or IELTS score for admission purposes.
Any other waivers of the score requirements must be recommended
by the applicant's Graduate Advisor and approved by the Dean of Graduate
Studies.
(Admission Requirements and Procedures – 2008-2009 Graduate
Catalog) 16.
What are the English Proficiency Requirements for persons holding a
Graduate A
student whose native language is not English and who is the recipient of
a GTA must demonstrate acceptable skill in spoken English.
Such students must achieve a score of at least 23 on the TOEFL
speaking subtest or a score of at least 7 on the speaking section of the
IELTS.
Students who have not satisfied this requirement before arriving
on campus must either take the TOEFL or IELTS at a local testing center
and achieve the required minimum score or take and successfully pass the
UTA Developmental English course.
(Revised English Proficiency Policy for GTA’s - March 2009) Holding
a degree(s) from a U.S. college or university does not exempt
from this requirement, assistantship applicants who are
non-native speakers of English.
(General Graduate School Regulations and Information –
2008-2009 Graduate Catalog) Current
information about TOEFL iBT test dates, locations and registration
procedures are published by ETS at http://www.ets.org/.
Current information about IELTS test dates, locations and
registration procedures are published by IELTS at http://www.ielts.org/.
Official test score reports for the Test of English as a Foreign
Language (TOEFL) are issued by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) and
sent by ETS directly to the Graduate School.
Official test scores for the International English Language
Testing System (IELTS) are reported on an IELTS issued Test Report Form
(TRF) and sent directly to the Graduate School from IELTS.
(Admission Requirements and Procedures – 2008-2009 Graduate
Catalog) Students
who do not achieve scores on the TOEFL iBT, or IELTS high enough to
satisfy the English proficiency requirements for graduate teaching
assistants must enroll in the Developmental English Program and be
certified for English proficiency.
This 10-week program offered by the UT Arlington English Language
Institute emphasizes accent reduction and oral presentation skills
needed by teaching assistants.
Contact the English Language Institute at 817.272.2730 or visit
their Web site at http://iep.uta.edu
for details, including current class schedule and charges.
(General Graduate School Regulations and Information –
2008-2009 Graduate Catalog) 17.
What is the University of Texas at Arlington’s ETS school code where I
must It
is 6013. 18.
Are scanned images of the test scores emailed to the Chemistry
Department or No,
they are not.
ETS must formally submit them to the Graduate School. 19.
What kind of financial support does the Chemistry Department offer? Students
earning a PhD (admitted in the BS-PhD track) typically receive financial
support in the form of a Graduate Teaching Assistantship (GTA) or
Graduate Research Assistantship (GRA) which currently starts at $19,000
USD per year.
Most such students will also qualify for a STEM fellowship which
covers most of the tuition expenses.
Health insurance is also given to all supported students for a
fee. Students
earning a MS degree (admitted in the BS-MS track) are also eligible for
a GRA or GTA but not for a STEM fellowship. GRA
and GTA stipends increase as you progress through the program with
students in their third year and beyond having stipends on the order of
$21,000 USD/yr. The
department cannot guarantee financial support for a student's entire
course of graduate study – as financial circumstances may change
beyond our control.
However, we note that in our history we have yet to have such
dire financial circumstances arise and we have supported all our PhD
students (who remain in good standing academically) for a minimum of 4
years in the past. 20.
What are the various statistics on the number of offers of
assistantships you Currently
the department has ~75 graduate students.
We typically admit 10-20 BS-PhD track students with support each
Fall semester. 21.
Can I as an international student go to the U.S. for only a couple of
classes? No,
international applicants cannot apply for non-degree seeking status. 22.
Does a 3 year BSc degree from a university in another country qualify
an No,
a 3-year BS degree is not equivalent to a 4-year BS degree in the U.S.,
unless however, the applicant’s 3-year degree is from a university in
Germany.
Therefore to apply for our graduate program an applicant with a
3-year BS degree must either attain a 2-year masters degree or apply
here as an undergraduate. 23.
Do I need to commit to a specific field before I go to UTA? No.
We ask this only because we try to balance the incoming
applicants between fields (analytical, biochemistry, inorganic, organic,
physical).
We prefer that when you answer the area of study question in the
preliminary application that you choose your top three preferences in
order. 24.
Are permanent residents and/or Resident Aliens considered domestic
or They
are considered their own category, but they have the same application
deadline as international applicants.
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Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry |