Each year, we welcome a small group of outstanding students to our program. Learn what makes a candidate competitive for admission to NYU Stern.
Admissions Overview
Admission to the NYU Stern Doctoral Program is highly selective. We enroll on average 20-24 new students each year, across our eight different fields of study. Students are admitted for the fall semester only. The program is full-time and requires students to be in residence for 11 months of the year. Admitted students receive full financial support from Stern for five years, unless they have funding from other scholarships or grants.
What Makes a Good Applicant?
The Stern doctoral program seeks to admit students from a diverse range of backgrounds, who have a passion to learn and ask interesting questions, demonstrate a high level of academic ability, and exhibit the motivation to develop into top quality researchers.
We look carefully at applicants’ academic performance as evidenced by courses taken, grades earned, academic references, and the rigor of the institutions attended.
Motivation for doctoral studies may be demonstrated through an applicant’s academic, work, and personal experiences, and the personal statement. Applicants should also have thought about questions or problems within their chosen field of study that they wish to explore.
Who is Eligible?
Students who will have completed their bachelor’s degrees before the Fall enrollment date are eligible to apply.
Students from all academic majors are eligible to apply. Having a strong foundation in the basic social sciences, math or engineering, depending on the discipline to which one applies, is preferred.
Previous graduate work and professional work experience are not admissions requirements.
