Application Requirements | The Graduate College | The University of Vermont(title)

Welcome, let's get started!

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We are excited that you're interested in graduate study at UVM and we're eager to read your application. Please check your program's deadlines for applying and for any financial aid opportunities. Also, visit the UVM Graduate Catalogue to review enrollment requirements and curriculum details within your program of interest.

Policy regarding support materials:

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Please note that all materials received in support of an application, except international documents considered irreplaceable, become the property of the Graduate College and cannot be returned, copied, or transferred.

General Application Requirements

Eligibility

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To be eligible for admission to any program, applicants must hold a U.S. baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution or an equivalent degree from an accredited/recognized foreign institution prior to the date of  graduate enrollment at the University of Vermont. Individual degree programs may have additional requirements as described within the UVM Graduate Catalogue and under Programs and Degrees. Many departments and programs provide opportunities for selected current UVM undergraduates to participate in Accelerated Master’s Pathway.

Applicants to UVM graduate programs are expected to be fluent in English; instruction at the University of Vermont is conducted in English. There is no intensive English as a Second Language program at the university, although limited instruction is available to enhance speaking fluency in English.

Electronic Application & Application Fee

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Applications are only considered complete once the application fee has been paid or an application fee waiver has been granted. For more details on fee waivers, please refer to the FAQ section below.

$65 for UVM Application to Master's and Doctoral programs

$25 for UVM Graduate College fee for CAS applicants (select programs)

$20 for Certificate of Graduate Study

Statement of Purpose

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In your statement of purpose, please outline your reasons for wishing to undertake graduate study and comment on your career plans. Describe the strengths and weaknesses of your preparation for graduate study in your proposed field. If you are presently enrolled in a graduate program, please explain why you wish to apply to a new program. If there are gaps in your academic career, please address them.

You may need to respond to a different program-specific prompt instead of the one above. Please refer to the "Requirements" section for your program on the  Programs and Degrees for more information. 

Resume

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Graduate College applicants should include a resume with their application submission.

Letters of Recommendation

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UVM's Graduate College requires three letters of recommendation evaluating your academic work and potential for graduate study. On the application form, where you list the name, address, email, etc., for each recommender, please click “Submit Recommendation Request.” This automatically generates an email to each explaining that you are applying to the Graduate College at the University of Vermont. That email includes a link to the recommendation form our recommender will complete and submit directly to the Graduate College electronically. We advise you to let your recommenders know they've been selected and an email will be forthcoming.

 

If your recommender is having trouble with the online recommendation form, they can contact graduate.admissions@uvm.edu for further guidance.

Transcripts

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Transcripts must be obtained from each of the post-secondary educational institutions you have attended, alongside, as appropriate, a notarized English translation of the transcripts. At this time, we accept electronic transcripts from the following services:

  • Direct from your institutions registrar's office
  • eScripts
  • National Student Clearinghouse
  • Parchment Exchange
  • NACES or AICE approved third-party credential evaluation service which requires official transcripts for evaluation (for international students)

Electronic transcripts can be sent to: graduate.admissions@uvm.edu.

Official Paper transcripts can be sent to:

The Graduate College Admissions Office
The University of Vermont
330 Waterman Building
Burlington, Vermont 05405-0160

“Official” transcripts are transcripts that are sent directly to The University of Vermont, Graduate College Graduate Admissions Office, by another institution or – as unopened documents – by the student who received them from the institution.

“Unofficial” transcripts are transcripts that have been opened by the student or printed from an institution’s student portal.

Except for Public Health programs, we accept unofficial transcripts during the admissions review process, which you can upload directly to your application. If admitted, you must submit official transcripts to the Graduate College by the first day of classes. Failure to do so will result in a hold on your account, preventing you from registering for the upcoming semester. If you are currently completing your undergraduate degree, you must submit an official transcript documenting the completion of your degree before enrollment.

We do not automatically receive UVM transcripts.  If you have attended UVM you will need to log into your MYUVM portal and request that the Registrar send an official transcript to graduate.admissions@uvm.edu. This service is free and the process straightforward.

Writing Sample

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Writing samples (term papers or essays) are required by some programs: see the "Requirements" section of your program on the Programs and Degrees page.

Test Scores: GRE & GMAT

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A few graduate programs require test scores – please review your specific program requirements.

 

The ETS Institution Code for test scores for UVM is: 3920

 

Special note: To meet the needs of students who are unable to take the GRE® General Test at a test center due to public health concerns, ETS is temporarily offering a GRE General Test at home option. The Graduate College will accept scores from the GRE General Test at home option for admission.

For more information about taking the GRE exam remotely, please visit ETS’s website at – GRE® General Test Takers.

 

Most UVM graduate programs do not require GRE or GMAT test scores.  Please check the requirements at Programs and Degrees to see if your department or program requires GRE subject scores in addition to the general scores. If your program requires GRE or GMAT test scores, you must request that official scores be sent from the administering agency to the Graduate Admissions Office using school code 3920.  Scores are valid for 5 years from the test date.  Please be sure that the names you use for your application match exactly the names you used in test score contexts.  Please allow 1-2 weeks for your scores to be sent and for your application status to indicate that scores have been received.

 

Note that The University of Vermont does not have minimum GRE/GMAT scores, and most programs do not require or consider scores.  Those that do, use scores as only one component of your whole application in a holistic review process.

 

Questions about the GRE examination may be directed to:

Graduate Record Examination
Educational Testing Service
Box 6000, Princeton, NJ 08541-6000
Telephone, 609-771-7670
www.gre.org

 

For the GMAT examination:

Graduate Management Admissions Test, ETS
Box 6103, Princeton, NJ 08541-6103
Telephone, 609-771-7330
www.mba.com

Test Scores: English Proficiency Examination

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Applicants whose native language is not English are required to submit proof of English proficiency. For further information about the English Proficiency Requirement, and waiver options, please visit our international admissions page.

Admission FAQs

Am I eligible for an application fee waiver?
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The Graduate College at The University of Vermont provides application fee waivers to help lower financial barriers for prospective graduate students. Please note that fee waivers are granted on a case-by-case basis, and not all requests may be approved. To apply for a fee waiver, begin your application to the Graduate College and follow the instructions to submit the required documents. All requests are reviewed, and responses are issued within 48 hours during our regular business hours, Monday through Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. EST.

Types of Fee Waivers

1. If the application fee represents a financial hardship for an applicant they may qualify for a fee Waiver.

2. We are pleased to offer application fee waivers on the basis of participation in the following programs, fellowships, and events:

  • American Geophysical Union Bridge Program (AGU Bridge)
  • American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES)
  • AmeriCorps (current participant or recent alum, within the last two years)
  • Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS)
  • APS Bridge Students for Physics
  • BTAA
  • Black in AI
  • Cientifico Latino Graduate School Mentorship Program (GSMI)
  • Ecological Society of America Diversity Forum
  • Gates Millennium Scholars
  • HIS Pathways to the Professoriate
  • Institute of for Recruitment of Teachers (IRT)
  • Laureates & Leaders Program
  • Leadership Alliance
  • Lewis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LS-AMP)
  • Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program (MMUF)
  • Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC)
  • Moore Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program (MURAP)
  • National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Science (GEM)
  • National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE)
  • National Science Foundation - Research Experiences for Undergraduates (NSF-REU)
  • National Society for Hispanic Physicists (NSHP)
  • National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP)
  • Peace Corps (current participant or recent alum, within the last two years)
  • Post-Baccalaureate Research and Education Program (PREP/NIH)● Project 1000
  • Ralph Bunche Summer Institute (RBSI)
  • Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE/NIH)
  • Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program
  • Society for Advancement of Chicanos & Native Americans in Science (SACNAS)
  • Teach for America (current participant or recent alum, within the last two years)

3. We are pleased to offer application fee waivers to the following applicants:

  • Applicants who have earned or are in the process of earning an undergraduate or graduate degree from a Minority Serving Institution (MSI) within the United States
  • Honorably Discharged Veterans and Active-Duty members of the U.S. Armed Services
  • Current University of Vermont staff
  • Current University of Vermont Graduate student
  • Current University of Vermont Undergraduate Student applying to the Accelerated Masters Pathway (AMP)

4. International applicants: If you are applying through certain outside fellowship organizations, you may be eligible to have your application fee waived.

Can I apply to more than one Graduate College degree program?
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The University of Vermont allows you to apply to multiple programs; however, you must submit a separate application for each one, as each application is tailored to the specific program’s requirements. After submitting and paying for your first application, you will need to log back in using the same UserID and password to start a new application for the additional program. When you submit the second application, you will be prompted to pay the corresponding application fee.

If you are applying to both a degree program and a certificate program, begin by applying to the degree program as instructed above. Once admitted to the degree program, you can log back into your portal and select the option to apply for a certificate program. This will prompt you to contact Graduate Admissions for a fee waiver code. Please note that all waiver requests will be reviewed to ensure you have been admitted and enrolled in a graduate degree program before granting a fee waiver for your concurrent certificate program application.

I would like to check the status of my application
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You can log into your application portal to view your status at any time during and after the application process. You will be able to see which materials have been received, whether the application is in review, and, eventually, when a decision is made.

How will I know when a decision has been made on my application?
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After a decision has been made on your application, you will receive an email from graduate.admissions@uvm.edu notifying you to log into your portal. Once logged in, you will be able to view the decision. If accepted, you will have the option to accept or decline the offer. Please confirm your decision through the portal at your earliest convenience.

How can I find out information about housing and getting around Burlington?
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Information about housing and other helpful information about the town of Burlington can be found on our Graduate Student Life pages.

I have been accepted by the University of Vermont Graduate College but I need to defer my enrollment (change my start date to a later semester). What do I do?
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If you've received an offer of admission from the Graduate College, you may request to defer your enrollment for up to one year beyond your originally intended start semester, subject to approval from your prospective program. To submit your deferral request, please click here.

Request to Defer Graduate Degree Admission (InfoReady is best viewed in Chrome/Edge) 

Your application and supporting materials remain valid for one year. If you wish to defer your admission beyond this period, you will need to submit a new application along with updated supporting documentation and the current application fee.

Questions?

Contact us with questions concerning your application or our graduate programs:

Email: graduate.admissions@uvm.edu 
Phone: 802-656-2699

The Graduate College Admissions Office
The University of Vermont
330 Waterman Building
Burlington, Vermont 05405-0160