Autumn 2012 OSU Chemistry PhD Program Application Instructions


Application Eligibility

Students intending on pursuing a Ph.D. in Chemistry are eligible to apply for admission under the following conditions:

  1. The applicant must have a GPA of 3.0/4.0 or equivalent on an alternate scale.
  2. The applicant must have a 4-year undergraduate degree, a 5-year combined Bachelor's/Master's degree, or the equivalent to a 4-year US undergraduate degree.
  3. For international applicants, the student must have a total score of 79 on the TOEFL (This requirement applies to most non-US citizens who will not obtain a degree in the US prior to August 2012 and to US-permanent residents who obtained a green card during or after September 2011).

Please note the following before initiating the application process:

  1. Applications to the graduate program in Chemistry are not currently being accepted (4/11/12)
  2. All students who apply should intend to pursue a Ph.D. if offered admission to our program.
  3. Students are required to submit scores for the GRE general exam. The Chemistry GRE is not required. OSU's Graduate School does not mandate a minimum GRE score requirement to determine application eligibility.
  4. Official GRE and TOEFL scores ust be reported to OSU. Photocopies of score reports will not be accepted.
  5. The fee to apply is $5 and cannot be waived.
  6. Answers to the most frequently asked questions about our program are found at http://chemistry.osu.edu/graduate/faqs.

Application Instructions

1. Complete the online application

While filling out the application, all applicants must select the option to allow their referees to submit letters of recommendation online.
Supplemental application materials (resume, personal statement, et al) SHOULD NOT be uploaded along with the application

2. Request for ETS to report official GRE and/or TOEFL scores to Ohio State University

The insitution code is 1592. There is no need to specify a department code.

TOEFL scores are not required to be submitted by applicants who are citizens of or qho received a 4-year undergraduate degree in Australia, Belize, Caribbean, British West Indies, Canada (except Quebec), England, Guyana, Ireland, Liberia, New Zealand, Scotland, Wales, and the United States. US Green Card holders who have held their Green Card since or prior to August 2011 are also exempt from reporting scores for the TOEFL.

3. Assemble the folloring documents IN ORDER into ONE (1) PDF and submit it by e-mail to jhambach@chemistry.ohio-state.edu:

  1. Resume
  2. Personal Statement
  3. Scanned copies of official transcripts from ALL post-secondary institutions that the applicant has attended, including universities attended during high school, study abroad work and transcripts previously submitted to OSU as part of a freshman or undergraduate application.

Please scan each transcript (English-translated, if applicable) and the corresponding transcript key.
DO NOT include any untranslated transcripts.
DO NOT include any additional certificated WITH EXCEPTION to a Certificate of Rank, if one is available.
DO NOT include in your PDF any items other than those listed under item (c). PDFs containing non-required materials will be returned to the applicant.

4. Mail ONE (1) official transcript to the Office of Graduate & Professional Admissions, SAS Building, 281 West Lane Ave., Columbus, OH 43210-1132

5. Complete and submit the REQUIRED Research Interests Questionnaire at https://chemistry.osu.edu/node/add/chem-questionnaire

Please note that the following materials should be noted on an applicant's resume/CV and will not be reviewed if submitted as part of an application: theses or senior projects, publications, research summaries (please highlight research accomplishments within the personal statement). PDFs containing these materials or any other non-required materials will be returned to the applicant.

No materials should be sent by postal/express mail to the Department of Chemistry. All materials should be submitted electronically.

Official GRE and TOEFL scores are required from each applicant (no photocopies).  Applicants should schedule to take these tests well in advance of the application deadline (see this page for deadline information).  If an applicant's GRE and/or TOEFL scores cannot be reported to OSU by ETS by the deadline, then that applicant is REQUIRED to submit all other application materials by the deadline or the application will be considered incomplete and WILL NOT be reviewed even once the scores are reported.  A two-week grace period is allowed for reporting of GRE and/or TOEFL scores, but all applicants need to take the test AND order score reports in advance of the deadline.

**Applicants can check their application status at http://appstatus.osu.edu and should do so before e-mailing the Department of Chemistry with application status questions.  Following is an explanation of the codes used on that page.**

GRDREC - These codes refer to each of the three required letters of recommendation.
GRDPER - This code refers to the required Personal Statement
GPTRAN - This code refers to the transcript requirement.  There should be one of these codes for each college/university an applicant lists on his/her application.
GRDGRE - This code refers to the required reporting of GRE scores
GENG01 - This code refers to the required reporting of TOEFL scores (will only appear on an applicant's page if the TOEFL is a requirement for him/her)
GPDPFE - This code should be ignored.  It does not refer to any requirement the applicant is expected to meet.