Approximately 200-300 applications per year over the last 5 years.

Offers of admission are sent to 35-70 students per year.

Yes. We encourage applications from students with undergraduate degrees in related fields such as physics, biology and engineering, particularly when they have coursework or research experience that relates to ongoing work in our Department of Chemistry.

All applicants are required to provide a statement explaining the reason for transfer. In addition, at least one letter of recommendation from the applicant's current Ph.D. institution is required. Ideally, the letter should be from the student's research advisor or, if that is not possible, another faculty member who is familiar with the student and can provide information regarding current standing in the graduate program, such as the Director of Graduate Studies. A transcript of grades from the student's current university is also required.

Students are typically admitted for the fall semester. Spring admissions are limited and depend upon on the number of students who accepted offers and enrolled in the fall semester.

Yes. Documents are held until the application is received and then uploaded by the Office of Graduate Admissions.

No. Applications remain open until all required materials are received or until all offers have been extended. Timely submission of supporting documents is strongly advised. Applicants are encouraged to monitor the status of their application and contact recommenders or institutions directly with any concerns regarding submission of materials.

Lorna Williams-Rolley
Office of Graduate Admissions
Department of Chemistry
Carnegie Mellon University
4400 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

The application fee for this year is $75 dollars. Students who attend one of our online information sessions can receive a fee waiver. Visit the How to apply page to register for a session.

Your application will not be considered without the application fee being paid via a credit card — no checks will be accepted. If you experience problems providing credit card information after you submit your application, you may log into the application again and will be directed to the Instructions and Status page. There you will find a link where you can return to the credit card processing site, if needed.

Yes. Full financial support is offered to all incoming full-time Ph.D. students and includes tuition and stipend.

Graduate Records Examination (GRE) General and Subject tests:

CODES: Institution 2074, Department 0301

The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL iBT):

CODES: Institution 2074, Department 62

For initial review of applicants, students may report their own scores (raw scores and percentile) on the online application form. Applicants are required to submit official score reports before a final determination is made regarding admission.

Scheduling an earlier test date is strongly recommended. If you are unable to do so and opt for April testing, your application will be considered for admission though all openings may be filled. If you have a later test date it is recommended to include the planned date in your application.

Yes. See Tests for Non-native Speakers of English for the minimum scores for Carnegie Mellon graduate admissions. 

If you are admitted, official transcripts showing your completed degree(s) must be mailed directly from the institutions attended to the address below, or sent via an electronic transcript delivery network designated by the institution attended.

Lorna Williams-Rolley
Office of Graduate Admissions
Department of Chemistry
Carnegie Mellon University
4400 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

When you provide the recommenders' names and contact information, the recommender is automatically contacted via the email address provided by the applicant and prompted to submit the letter. Applicants only need to contact the recommenders to obtain their agreement to write a letter so that they expect and watch for the automated request. However, recommenders typically appreciate receiving information from students about where they plan to apply as early as possible to allow enough time to write the letters.

The email request to an individual providing a letter of recommendation on behalf of an applicant is an immediate/automated process. Occasionally, a spam filter may prevent an email request from being received by a recommender. If your recommender did not receive an email request, please contact chemgradoffice@andrew.cmu.edu to have the request sent again. All letters should be submitted directly to the application portal.

You can check this online. Applicants are encouraged to log in the Application page to check on the materials that are being received. Due to the large volume of materials received, applicants should expect that it will generally take 2-3 weeks from the time of their application until documents are received, processed and uploaded for faculty review.

The Application page will let you know when your application is complete. The Admissions Committee reviews complete files on a weekly basis. After admissions decisions are made and approved by the department head, you will be contacted by the department’s Office of Graduate Admissions.

Due to the large volume of materials received, we encourage you to wait 1-2 weeks after your application is complete before contacting us with specific concerns. At that time, you might email chemgradoffice@andrew.cmu.edu if you have specific concerns or email an individual faculty member of particular interest about your status. When the number of emails is high, it can slow down the admissions process.

You may submit optional additional materials, such as a resume or pdf of an accepted paper, by email to chemgradoffice@andrew.cmu.edu. You may not edit the original online application after submission.

Due to the large volume of materials received, we encourage you to wait until the end of January before asking about the status of the application. At that time, you can email chemgradoffice@andrew.cmu.edu if you have specific concerns. We receive a large number of applications and it takes several weeks to review and make admissions decisions. When the number of emails is high, it can slow down the admissions process.

Applicants will be contacted via email or letter with a decision regarding admission. Decisions are typically sent between January 1 and March 15 for fall admissions.

April 15.

The Chemistry Department's Admissions Committee, in consultation with individual faculty in the applicants' expressed area(s) of research interest, makes recommendations regarding admission to the department head, who then makes the final decision. Students are not routinely admitted to specific research groups and have the opportunity to consider different groups after joining the department. However, admitted students who have a very strong interest in a particular research group are advised to contact that faculty member early in the admissions process to discuss opportunities in that group.

Yes. Students who are offered admission are invited to visit. Please see the How to Arrange a Visit page about any other visits.

Yes, we welcome individual visits from interested students. Interested students must make the request at least two weeks in advance and are asked to provide a brief statement about their background, a resume/CV and research interests to aid in setting up a visit. However, travel reimbursement cannot be provided to students who have not yet applied and received an offer of admission.

Please direct all inquires to Lorna Williams, chemgradoffice@andrew.cmu.edu or (412) 268-3150.