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• UD Home

• Undergraduate Program
• Master's Program
• Ph.D. Program

Admission Requirements

Enrollment

Maximum enrollment will generally be limited to approximately eight matriculated students, one or two accepted a year, dependent upon the amount of additional funding available to support students in this program, and by the availability of faculty members to serve as advisors within the demands of their individual workloads. Students will be admitted to the program based upon enrollment availability and their ability to meet the following recommended entrance requirements. 

Admission Requirements/Criteria

All applications must be made online.

• All minimum University requirements.
• A Master’s Degree in a discipline relevant to one of the program concentrations. All college and university transcripts should be submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies; these must come directly from the institution.
• A summary of intended dissertation research and the relation of this topic to existing UD expertise and resources should be incorporated into the answers to the three online essay questions in addition to a suggested list of courses taken from the online UD course listings.
• A personal statement discussing areas of interest, intellectual goals, and how this program would be seen to meet these goals. Applicants must demonstrate prior background work that will enable them to successfully complete graduate-level courses and conduct graduate-level research on the proposed dissertation topic.
• A professional and academic résumé is required.
• A writing sample to help the admissions committee assess the applicant’s ability to design and conduct a research project and to communicate findings to the scholarly community. Published papers on a relevant topic would also be helpful.
• Graduate Record Examination scores are required and must have been taken in the last five years to be considered valid. Applicants for whom English is not a native language should submit TOEFL scores in order to demonstrate satisfactory proficiency in the English language. A score of 550 or higher is required for paper-based TOEFL exams; 213 or higher is required for computer-based TOEFL exams.
• Three letters of recommendation that speak to the applicant’s ability to conduct research in the chosen area of concentration addresses to the PSP Director by the recommender and signed across the back of the sealed envelope or submitted online.
• Online submission of the official application form from the UD website to the Office of Graduate Studies by February 1.
• The committee may request additional materials. For additional information or arrangements to visit the UD campus and meet with faculty please contact Dr. Joyce Hill Stoner at jhstoner@udel.edu.

Applicants are to contact the PSP Director (currently Dr. Joyce Hill Stoner, jhstoner@udel.edu ) well in advance of the annual February 1 deadline, and preliminary discussions will be arranged by electronic mail in order to determine if there are potential faculty members available in the chosen concentration and what travel or analytical equipment funding may be necessary.

After receiving a c.v. and description of the proposed dissertation topic, the PSP Director will attempt to assemble a pre-admissions advisory committee of at least three interdisciplinary faculty members who can address the suggested topic to determine its suitability for available UD expertise. This committee will present its findings to a larger five-person interdisciplinary admissions/PSP advisory committee after all admissions materials listed above have been received. Admission to the program will be selective and competitive based on the number of well-qualified applicants and the limits of available faculty and facilities for each concentration and dissertation topic area. Applicants who meet stated minimum requirements are not guaranteed admission, nor are those who fail to meet all of those requirements necessarily precluded from admission if they offer other appropriate strengths. An on-campus interview with members of the pre-admissions advisory committee is strongly encouraged while the application is in progress.