Application to the Graduate Program

• Deadlines
• Eligibility and Requirements
  • Applying to the MA Program and the PhD Program
• English Language Requirements
• How to Apply
• Application Fee and Fee Waivers
• Funding and Tuition
• After You Apply
• Accepting Your Offer

Deadlines

PhD and MSI Fall applications have one strict deadline: December 15.

MA and MSQIST Fall admissions are rolling, opening December 15. International applicants must apply by May 1, which is also the deadline for full consideration. Domestic applicants have until June 15 to apply, but should also aim for May 1 to receive full consideration.

Spring admission is very limited, and it is practically impossible to secure a teaching-assistant position for a Spring start. Please contact the department before applying for Spring Admission in any degree program. Applications from prospective MA and MSI students for Spring are welcome; PhD applicants should only apply for Spring admission if they already have a pre-arranged source of funding.

If you are applying to the PhD or MSI program from a country where your local deadlines run later than ours (for example, much of Europe) and you missed our December 15 deadline, contact the Graduate Program Director. If we still have open positions, late applications are considered until June 15, though the admission rate for these is much lower than for applications received by the regular deadline.

Eligibility and Requirements

The Graduate School requires a minimum GPA of 3.0 for admission to any graduate program at Stony Brook. If your GPA is below 3.0, admission is only possible under exceptional circumstances, and in most cases you should not apply.

For admission to the PhD, MA, or MSI programs, in addition to the Graduate School’s requirements, you need:

1. A bachelor’s degree in physics or a closely related field from an accredited institution.
2. A minimum grade average of B in all undergraduate coursework, and B or better in your science and mathematics courses.

In special cases, a student not meeting these two requirements may be admitted on a provisional basis; if so, you’ll be told what’s needed to end provisional status.

Successful PhD applicants typically have a GPA of at least 3.6 on a 4.0 scale – keep this in mind when deciding whether to apply. The Admissions Committee reviews each transcript individually, so a lower overall GPA may still receive serious consideration if your science and math grades are strong.

We do not require the general or Physics GRE for any of our programs, and no longer accept these scores.

Admission to the MSQIST degree has its own, separate requirements:

• An undergraduate degree in science or engineering.
• A 100-level, calculus-based introductory physics sequence.
• A 200-level Modern Physics course or equivalent. However, most successful applicants and students will have taken a 300-level undergraduate course in Quantum Physics.

Applying to the MA Program and the PhD Program

If you apply to the PhD program, the application itself lets you indicate that you’d like to be considered for our MA program in case you are not admitted to the PhD program – no second application is required. Indicating this interest will not reduce your chances of PhD admission. Note that if you already hold a Master’s degree in Physics, we cannot admit you to our MA program.

English Language Requirements

Applicants who are not native or primary speakers of English, and don’t otherwise qualify for an exemption (e.g. a degree from an English-instruction institution, US citizenship/National status, or English-instruction TA experience), must submit TOEFL, IELTS, or Gateway English Test scores. Under the TOEFL iBT’s current scoring scale (effective January 21, 2026), the minimum overall score is 5 for doctoral applicants and 4.5 for master’s applicants.

A separate, higher speaking-score threshold determines Teaching Assistant eligibility. Applicants who don’t meet it may still be admitted but will not be allowed to serve as a TA until they complete a sequence of remedial Oral Academic English (OAE) courses.

All applicants must declare their native language as part of the admission process; intentional misrepresentation is academic dishonesty and grounds for dismissal. TOEFL and IELTS scores cannot be more than 2 years old. Have ETS send your TOEFL scores directly to the Graduate School (institution code 2548) – paper copies are not accepted.

See the Graduate Catalog’s English Language Proficiency policy for the full score tables (TOEFL, IELTS, Gateway, and the TA speaking-score breakdown), complete exemption criteria, and conditional-admission details.

How to Apply

All applications are submitted online at the Graduate Admissions page. Before starting, read the “Application Instructions” linked from that page. You can only access the full application once the application fee is paid.

Your application should include:

• A statement of purpose, describing your interests and motivation for pursuing a PhD or MA/MSI degree. It will be read by physicists outside your specific field, so keep it at a level any physics bachelor’s graduate can follow, and keep it to 1-2 pages – we read hundreds of these, and a concise, exciting statement stands out. Mention faculty you’d like to work with (no need to contact them in advance). In the current system, the statement of purpose and CV are uploaded as additional materials after the rest of your application.
• Transcripts from every college and university you’ve attended, uploaded electronically, along with your CV. Only applications with an uploaded transcript will be considered; we’ll request two official paper copies only after you’re admitted.
• Three letters of recommendation, submitted electronically.
• TOEFL/IELTS scores, if required – see English Language Requirements above.

If you’re applying before your Fall grades are available, send your transcript without them by the deadline; you can send an updated transcript later, though there’s no guarantee it will be used in the decision. If admitted, you’ll eventually need to submit a complete official transcript with all grades.

Application Fee and Fee Waivers

An application fee of $100 is required, except in specific circumstances:

• Domestic (US) applicants: see the eligibility requirements and waiver procedure from the Graduate School.
• Applicants from Latin America (including Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean): the Department covers the application fee through a pre-application process, described below. Further assistance may also be offered to admitted students under this program.

If you’re not eligible for a waiver under either path, we regret that we’re not able to waive the application fee.

Latin America Fee Waiver. To apply for this assistance, email a pre-application to the Graduate Program Director (derek.teaney@stonybrook.edu) by December 1 (see Deadlines), and be ready to submit your full application by our December 15 deadline. Your pre-application should include an up-to-date academic transcript, a CV, and a brief description of your scientific interests (including who you might like to work with in our program).

To be considered, you should have – or be on track to complete – the equivalent of a 4-year undergraduate degree and/or a Master’s degree in Physics, Astronomy, or a closely related subject, with the equivalent of a US GPA of at least 3.5. We also consider your research interests and how well they match our program. Being successful in the pre-application is not a guarantee of admission.

Funding and Tuition

PhD students receive full financial support for the duration of their studies. Most are supported as a Teaching Assistant (TA) or Research Assistant (RA); some may also have grants, scholarships, or fellowships. The current 9-month TA stipend is $30,000, plus an additional $8,000 for a full summer TA position. Research Assistant salaries are:

The TA stipend is expected to rise over this same period to match the RA salary schedule.

PhD students also receive a scholarship covering full tuition and most fees. See the PhD Handbook’s Graduate Funding and Tuition Waivers sections for the full policy details.

Master’s students (MA, MSI, MSQIST) are not guaranteed financial support, though they may find support from a research group. Master’s students hired as an RA or TA do not receive a tuition scholarship; tuition cost depends on residency status – see the Cost of Attendance page for current figures.

After You Apply

PhD and MSI admission decisions are only made after the December 15 deadline. The bulk of our offers go out in February and March, and most applicants hear from us well before April 1. MA and MSQIST applications are reviewed, and decisions made, on a rolling basis as they arrive.

All applications are evaluated centrally by the Admissions Committee – there’s no need to contact individual faculty, though you should mention in your application which faculty you’d be interested in working with.

You’re welcome to visit the department any time, and we’re happy to help plan your trip. Once admitted, limited travel-reimbursement support is available (US citizens/permanent residents only). The best time to visit is our “visiting weekend,” usually a Sunday-Monday in March.

Accepting Your Offer

PhD offers must be accepted online by April 15, a date agreed upon by the Council of Graduate Schools’ April 15 Resolution. This agreement was recently reaffirmed, and most schools honor this date. Any doctoral program pressuring you to decide earlier than April 15 is profoundly disrespectful of your decision process. Offers for other graduate degrees (i.e. not funded doctoral programs), may have different acceptance dates specified in the offer letter. If you miss your deadline, your spot may be offered to another student. If you’re declining an offer, please do so as soon as possible so we can offer the spot to someone else.

If our offer expires without a response by April 15, we assume it’s been declined. In some years we may have positions open after the deadline – if you’d like to be reconsidered, contact the Graduate Program Director.