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Detailed Application Information

All applicants to the graduate program should apply online by following the steps at the BYU Graduate Studies website:

• Instructions for applying

Please note: All students (both domestic and international) with university degrees from non-U.S. schools, are required to upload unofficial copies of their complete academic transcripts and degree certificates online, as part of their BYU graduate application. Applicants to the Chemical Engineering program who are successfully recommended for admission will have their foreign credential evaluation initiated and paid for by the university, based on the unofficial documents previously included in their online application. However, upon arrival to campus and within the first semester of admittance, all original transcripts and degree certificates must be hand-delivered to the BYU Graduate Studies Office for final document authentication. Failure to provide these required original documents will result in a registration hold and/or possible termination from the program. We adopted this policy as a courtesy to our applicants as the foreign credential evaluation costs in excess of $100 and can take several weeks to complete. Please ensure that you plan accordingly and submit your application along with the required documents as noted above, as soon as possible, so as not to incur any unnecessary delays.

Application Deadlines

*Each year's entering class of graduate students is selected following the January 31 priority deadline. Applications completed after the priority deadline will be considered only if additional openings in our entering class become available.

The graduate program is organized so that Fall Semester is the normal starting time; we therefore will consider admission at other times of the year only for well-qualified applicants who are able to secure supplemental financial support from a potential faculty research advisor.

Application Requirements

Applicants whose native language is not English are required to take an English proficiency exam (such as TOEFL) as described on the BYU Graduate Studies web page.

All applicants must have a bachelor of science (B.S.) degree in chemical engineering, in another field of engineering, or in a physical science. Students in the final year of their B.S. program who will complete the degree before their graduate school entrance date are included in this group. The most competitive applicants will have a chemical engineering B.S. with a minimum 3.0 GPA (4.0 scale) in upper-division chemical engineering courses and a minimum overall 3.3 GPA.

Applicants with a technical, non-chemical engineering background will be considered and are encouraged to apply. Students in these areas who are admitted to the program are generally required to take supplemental chemical engineering coursework during the first year of graduate school on a case-by-case basis. Such students may also be admitted on a provisional degree-seeking basis, in which their status is changed to regular degree-seeking once necessary background courses have been taken.

Financial Aid and Choosing an Advisor

Every student in the chemical engineering graduate program receives financial aid in the form of a stipend (salary) and in many cases tuition support. This does not require a separate application. Each student accepted into the program will have his or her financial aid package specified in the offer letter.

Currently, the department pays full tuition for first-year Ph.D. students and partial tuition for second-year Ph.D. students. Most Ph.D. students take the bulk of their classes in the first two years and take fewer credits in later years. While the department does not guarantee tuition support after the first year, it is often available from faculty advisors through their research grants. The department does not currently provide tuition support for M.S. students. Tuition amounts can be found here, with additional information on the Graduate Studies Website.

Nearly every student receives a stipend through a combination of research and teaching assistantships. The yearly stipend for students in 2011-2012 is $23,000 for Ph.D. students and $22,000 for M.S. students. These amounts are sufficient that most students can avoid accumulating debt in the form of student loans.

Choosing a faculty research advisor is one of the most important decisions for graduate students. In our program this decision is made after a student begins the program and after he or she has been able to interview at least six faculty members as potential advisors. This policy is designed to allow sufficient freedom for the best match between students and faculty. We encourage students to correspond with potential advisors before applying to and attending BYU. However, no binding commitments with respect to the advisor can be made until after the student begins the graduate program.

BYU Honor Code

The BYU Honor Code establishes expected standards of honor, integrity, morality, and personal behavior for students, faculty, and staff. All students, upon admission to BYU, are required to observe the standards of the BYU Honor Code at all times, whether on or off-campus. A detailed description of the Honor Code can be found at the Honor Code Office website. The Honor Code is an integral part of BYU and prospective students should be comfortable adhering to it.

Ecclesiastical Endorsment

All applicants for graduate study must receive an ecclesiastical endorsement before being recommended for admission. Endorsement information is provided on the Graduate Studies webpage. Students who are not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints should send an email to INTL@byu.edu to have a telephone interview set up with the university chaplain who will explain the process and conduct the endorsement interview.

Additional Questions

If you have additional questions about the application process or the chemical engineering program at BYU, we would be happy to help you.