The following policies apply to all applications to the Graduate School of Arts and Science (GSAS):

• General Admission Information
• Application Fee Waivers
• Multiple Applications
• Re-applying for Admission (Previous Applications)
• Joint and Dual Degree Programs
• Non-degree and Visiting Students
• Applicants Previously Enrolled in GSAS Degree Programs

General Admission Information

Admission is determined by the Graduate School and a faculty, departmental, or program committee that sets admissions standards and degree requirements for study in a particular area. Some departments require an interview and may require a writing sample. Please be sure to refer to your department's website to confirm all application requirements. A list of most department requirements is provided in Application Requirements and Deadlines for Departments and Programs.

All official notifications of admission decisions are made in writing by the dean of the Graduate School. Statements about admission, either expressed or implied (verbally or written) from any other source, are not official and may not be honored.

Application Fee Waivers

GSAS will offer a waiver of the admissions application fee under certain circumstances to an applicant who meets each of the following conditions:

• You are a U.S. citizen or permanent resident; and
• You are applying to a master’s or doctoral program of study in the Graduate School of Arts and Science (GSAS); and
• You have a cumulative undergraduate grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher; and
• You have not yet submitted your online application for admission; and
• You meet one of the following three criteria:
  1. Your family has financial hardship as reflected by your receiving a Pell Grant during your senior year of undergraduate study; or
  2. You have been offered a GRE Fee Reduction Certificate from Educational Testing Service (ETS); or
  3. You participated in one of the following programs:
     • AmeriCorps (participation must have occurred between September 2011 and the present)
     • Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS)
     • California Alliance for Minority Participation in Science, Engineering and Mathematics (CAMP)
     • CUNY Pipeline Program
     • Gates Millennium Scholar Program (GMS)
     • Institute for the Recruitment of Teachers (IRT)
     • The Leadership Alliance
     • The McNair Scholars Program
     • Mellon-Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program (MMUF)
     • NIH Blueprint Program for Enhancing Neuroscience Diversity through Undergraduate Research Education Experiences (ENDURE)
     • NYU Center for Neural Science or Sackler Summer Undergraduate Research Program (applicants to the Neural Science program in GSAS)
     • Peace Corps
     • Project 1000
     • Questbridge
     • Society for Advancement of Hispanics/Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS)
     • Summer Institute for Literary and Cultural Studies (SICLS)
     • U.S. military

If you meet the conditions stated above, then please email gsas.admissions@nyu.edu. In the subject line, please write "GSAS Fee Waiver Request for YOUR NAME." In your email, be sure to:

1. Clearly state how you meet each of the conditions stated above.
2. Name the department or program to which you will apply, the degree you are seeking, and the term of application (fall or spring).
3. Provide your application reference number. After you have started your online application, go to the "Home" tab—click on the link for "Application for Admission." You will see the reference number under "Details."

Please allow up to 10 days for your fee waiver request to be reviewed. You will receive a reply by email. Please do not submit your application until you hear back from us. We are not able to refund the application fee if you choose to pay the fee before a waiver is approved.

Multiple Applications

You must choose only one department and field of study and may submit only one application for consideration in a given term. If you submit more than one application for a term, all applications submitted after the first one will be held and will not be considered for admission. Thus, determine carefully the one program to which you will apply.

Applicants are permitted to submit admissions applications to two (or more) programs if they are within different schools at NYU. For example, you may apply to a program in the Graduate School of Arts and Science and to a different program at the Steinhardt School. However, you may not apply to both Computer Science and Economics at the same time because both are within the Graduate School of Arts and Science. If you choose to apply to programs that are in different schools, it will be necessary to complete and submit separate applications and pay each school a separate application fee. The following NYU graduate schools are separate from the Graduate School of Arts and Science: Tandon School of Engineering, Tisch (Arts), Sackler (Medicine), School of Law, Steinhardt (Culture, Education and Human Development), Stern (Business), Wagner (Public Service), Silver (Social Work) and Gallatin (Individualized Study).

Please note that if you are accepted to more than one school, you may not accept admission to both, unless you have been accepted into a dual-degree program. NYU does not allow enrollment in more than one school simultaneously.

Re-applying for Admission (Previous Applications)

Every year there are applicants who wish to reapply for admission to GSAS and want to know how to do so. These applicants may be:

1. Applicants who were not offered admission.
2. Applicants who were offered admission but did not enroll for the term in which they were admitted.
3. Enrolled students who are applying for admission to a different program.

If you reapply for admission, it will be necessary for you to complete an entire new application, with all new supporting credentials (see test score information in next paragraph). This means you must complete a new online application, pay the application fee, upload academic transcripts, arrange for new letters of recommendation, and submit all other supporting materials that are required as part of your application to the new program.

The only portion of your previous application which is retained are your official test scores. GRE scores are held for five years from the date of the test and TOEFL scores are held for two years from the date of the test. Official test scores are ones that have been sent to GSAS directly from the testing program.

A special note about using the online application: The online application will only allow one application submission per login name within an application cycle (the 2016 application cycle is summer 2016, fall 2016, and spring 2017). For example, if you apply for admission to the fall 2016 term and wish to apply again for the spring 2017 term, you must create a new login name (usually an email address) to the Embark system. However, if you applied for the fall 2016 term, and now wish to apply for the fall 2017 term, you will be able to use your same login name since it is a new application cycle.

Joint and Dual Degree Programs

Applications to joint degree programs are reviewed separately by both departments. Admission to a joint degree program is contingent upon acceptance by both departments. If one department does not accept your application for admission to the joint program, the other department, at its discretion, may consider you for admission to the individual department.

Applicants to dual degree programs (programs that are offered by different schools) must apply to each school separately. Applicants must complete the application requirements of each school. Application materials are not shared between schools. Admission to a dual degree program is contingent upon acceptance by both schools.

Non-degree and Visiting Students

Occasionally an applicant will demonstrate a particular need to study at the Graduate School without entering a degree program. A few students are permitted to register each year as non-degree or visiting students. Potential applicants should contact the department before applying to confirm that non-degree or visiting students are considered for admission into the program.

Note: The online application for non-degree study is accepted only from U.S. citizens applying to the non-degree programs in General Biology, Computer Science, Data Science, Math, Math in Finance, Physics, or General Psychology. All other non-degree and visiting student applicants must complete the paper non-degree application. See Instructions for the Non-Degree Application for Admission for more information.

Applicants Previously or Currently Enrolled in GSAS Degree Programs

Applicants who were previously enrolled in a GSAS degree program at NYU and who did not complete that degree must reapply for admission.