- The first step is for the applicant to ensure his/her file is complete (letters of recommendation, test scores, transcript documents, financial documents, etc.) and for the Graduate College to evaluate the candidate's degree equivalency and eligibility for studying in a graduate program. The length that this process takes depends crucially on how careful and responsive the candidate is in ensuring that his/her file is complete. It may also take the Graduate College several weeks to determine eligibility.
- The program's admission officer will not evaluate the qualifications of candidates until the first step is complete and eligibility is determined. Clearly, candidates who apply early have more time to ensure their file is complete and can be evaluated by the program.
- The program follows a rolling admission process. This means that it evaluates the candidates as their file becomes complete. We do not wait for the completion of all files before starting our evaluation process. This means that the earlier you apply and ensure your file is complete, the higher will be your chance of admission (everything else being equal).
- Evaluation typically starts sometime in February and the first set of admission/rejection letters are sent out in late February/early March and continued thereafter.
- All the admissions that are sent out in February and March have a deadline of April 1 for a response by the candidates.
- Evaluation of a candidate's file in the first round results in one of three outcomes: Admit, deny, or "wait list". The last category consists of those candidates who are deemed qualified but not on top of the list of the candidates we want to admit. Whether or not they will be admitted to the program depends on how many of the more qualified candidates we have admitted accept our admission offer. This will be known sometime late in April after we ascertain how many of our more preferred candidates have accepted our offers.
- The candidates who have been admitted in the first round or rejected in the first round will be notified immediately. However, the candidates who are wait-listed are not.
- If you have not heard a decision from us by early April, it means that you fall in one of the following categories: (i) Your file is complete but has not yet been evaluated; (ii) Your file is incomplete; (iii) Your file has been evaluated and you have been wait listed. If you are interested in knowing to which category you belong, please contact the MSPE office.