Admissions & Financial Support
Admissions Standards
Admission to the doctoral program is very selective. Recent applicant pools have averaged about 250 per year, with about 1 in 25 applicants being accepted for the program.
The main criteria for admission are:
- Previous academic background and record
- Letters of recommendation
- GRE scores
There is no automatic cut-off based on GRE scores, but average scores for students admitted recently are: 93rd percentile in verbal; 84th percentile in quantitative; and 87th percentile in analytic. - Curriculum Vita
- Quality of a philosophical paper submitted to the department.
Prospective Students: Request More Information
How to Apply
Complete an online application at:
http://graduateschool.nd.edu/html/admissions/application_gateway.html
When online submission is absolutely not possible, materials may be sent to:
Office of Graduate Admissions
502 Main Building
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556-5641
A complete application requires:
- Arrange for notification of GRE scores (verbal, quantitative, and analytic) by the Educational Testing Service, to be sent to the Office of Graduate Admissions. (GRE and TOEFL school code: 1841, GRE department code: 2801, TOEFL dept. code: 20)
- Request official transcripts of all previous college work and have them sent to the Office of Graduate Admissions .
- Submit a Curriculum Vita (academic resume) through the online application system .
- Arrange for three letters of recommendation from persons able to evaluate the applicants philosophical ability and potential, to be submitted through the online recommendation system associated with the online application.
- Submit a sample (typically 10 - 15 typed pages in length) of the applicant's philosophical writing and attach it electronically to the online application through the Uploads section.
- Submit a statement of intent through the online application system (a brief, no more than two to three typed pages, statement of the applicant's motivations and goals in undertaking graduate study of philosophy).
- Submit the application fee by credit card, check, or money order using the apyment system associated with the online application.
Deadlines
The deadline for admission is January 15 of the year for which admission is sought. All application materials must be submitted by this deadline.
Typically, only students planning to begin graduate work in the fall semester are considered for admission. In special circumstances, applications to begin work in the spring semester will be considered; but these must meet the same January 15th deadline as ordinary applications.
Applicants will be informed of the Department's decision on their applications by April 15.
Financial Support
All regular full-time students in good academic standing and in residence receive full
tuition scholarships. In addition, almost all receive fellowships or assistantships to help
cover living expenses for five years of graduate work. Stipend support beyond five years
is not guaranteed but is contingent on the availability of funds.
Fellowships support study with no requirement of service from the recipient.
Normally, all first-year students receive fellowships. Students who have submitted
dissertation proposals and are engaged in full time work on their dissertations are eligible
to receive one semester of dissertation fellowship sometime during their fourth or fifth
year.
Graduate assistantships (GAs) require recipients to assist regular faculty in their teaching duties, ordinarily by leading discussion sections and grading papers and tests.
Teaching assistantships (TAs) are awarded to fourth- and fifth-year students
who have submitted dissertation proposals and to students in their six-year and beyond as
funds are available.
Fourth- and fifth-year students are responsible for teaching one section of their own three-hour undergraduate course each semester. Students in their sixth year and beyond teach two sections each semester.
Summer Funding
There are at times limited funds to support students during the summer when they are preparing for the written comprehensive exam and during the summer of their fourth year, provided they have submitted dissertation proposals and are actively working on the dissertation. This funding is not guaranteed.
Support for Further Study
Our students, with departmental support and outside funding, regularly visit distinguished philosophy departments both in the U.S. and abroad to undertake further study. Notre Dame graduate students have recently visited at Arizona, Brown, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio State, Rutgers, Cambridge, Oxford, Louvain, Göttingen, Münster, Halle and the Free University.
