The following policies apply to all applications to the Graduate School of Arts and Science (GSAS):
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 (PDF).
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
In almost all cases GSAS does not waive or defer the admissions application fee.
GSAS does offer a waiver for the admissions application fee under certain limited conditions to applicants who participate in certain programs. Two sets of criteria must be met.
First, applicants who participate in the following programs will be considered for a fee waiver:
- The McNair Scholars Program
- The Leadership Alliance
- Project 1000
- Institute for the Recruitment of Teachers (IRT)
- Peace Corps and AmeriCorps
- U.S. military
Second, if you participate in one of those programs, then you must also meet all of the following standards to be considered for an application fee waiver:
- You must be applying to a master’s or doctoral program of study in GSAS.
- You must have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher.
- You must apply for the fee waiver BEFORE submitting your application for admission. We are not able to refund the application fee if you choose to pay the fee before a waiver is approved. Apply for the fee waiver as early as possible, but no later than December 1.
If you meet both the first and second set of conditions above, then please contact
gsas.admissions@nyu.edu for instructions on how to apply for the fee waiver. In your email, be sure to indicate in which program you participate from the list in the first criterion, and how you meet each of the standards stated in the second criterion.
Please note that we do not offer application fee waivers for other circumstances.
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.
Graduate School policy permits no more than three applications for admission from any one person over time.
A special note about using the online application: The online application will only allow one application submission per login name within an application cycle (spring, summer, and fall). For example, if you apply for admission to the spring 2010 term and wish to apply to a different program for the fall 2010 term, you must create a new login name (usually an email address) to the Embark system. However, if you applied for the fall 2009 term, and now wish to apply for the fall 2010 term, you will be able to use your same login name since it is a new application cycle.
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: Tisch
(Arts), Sackler (Medicine), Steinhardt (Culture, Education and Human Development), Wagner (Public Service), Silver (Social Work) and Gallatin
(Individualized Study).
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:
- Applicants who were not offered admission.
- Applicants who were offered admission but did not enroll for the term in which they were admitted.
- 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 (or submit) academic transcripts, arrange for new letters of recommendation, and submit all other supporting materials not included with your online application. Please note that this is a new policy in the Graduate School, effective with applications submitted on or after August 27, 2009.
The only portion of your previous application which is retained are your official test scores from the GRE program (held for five years from the date of the test) or official test scores from the TOEFL program (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.
The application cycle for the spring, summer, and fall 2009 semesters ended August 26, 2009. The application cycle for the spring, summer, and fall 2010 semesters began August 27, 2009. If you applied for admission for the spring, summer, or fall 2009 semesters but did not enroll, your application materials are no longer available. If you were admitted and enrolled, some application materials are kept on file while you attend the Graduate School.
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, 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.
If admitted, such applicants may be required to remit maintenance of matriculation and registration and services fees for the semesters intervening between the last semester of enrollment in the original program and the first semester of renewed enrollment.
If the applicant is applying for readmission to the graduate program in which they were originally enrolled, they will be responsible for fees from only those unenrolled semesters that would have been within the time-to-degree limit for the original program.
