Graduate Student Admissions

No, please read through the information below regarding transcript requirements and information.
You must list in your online application each institution of post-secondary education from which you have earned credit. You must also submit your transcript / academic record (and diplomas or certificates of degrees if your degree is awarded and not listed on your transcript) for each of these institutions.

Unofficial Academic Credentials
Transcripts / academic records (and diplomas or certificates of degrees if your degree is awarded and not listed on your transcript) must be uploaded directly to the online application. English translations should also be uploaded if the credentials are not in English.

Official Academic Credentials
All credentials uploaded to the online application are considered unofficial. You will only be asked to submit official or attested credentials (transcripts, academic records, diplomas, certificates of degrees, etc) in a sealed envelope, with a certification stamp across the seal if you are admitted. These must be submitted during your first term of enrollment at the University of Utah.

The University of Utah reserves the right to require the submission of official credentials at any time during the admission review process.

Instructions for Uploading your Academic Credentials
You are required to upload a copy of your unofficial academic credentials prior to submitting your online application. English translations should be included if the credentials are not in English.

Please refer to the details below before proceeding:
Please do not mail or fax in a copy of the credentials which you have uploaded to your online application. Instead, use only the upload feature of our online application at this point. This saves you the time, effort, and expense of mailing transcripts to us during the initial processing and review of your application. It also avoids any delays resulting from the non-receipt of transcripts and assures you that your documents have been successfully submitted, since you can view them yourself online.

Only if you are recommended for admission will you need to provide official credentials (sent to us by mail directly from the institution). Your offer of admission will be contingent upon the receipt and verification of these official documents which must show the award of degrees. Please do not send these official records until we request them from you.

Below are some suggestions on how to proceed with uploading a transcript:
Please obtain an electronic version of your unofficial transcript / academic record (and diplomas or certificates of degrees if your degree is awarded and not listed on your transcript) or scan a copy of the document you may already have and that is current, at the lowest resolution that results in a legible document (we recommend to use under 200 dpi whenever possible).

You may upload an institutional web based transcript / academic record as long as the institution has put your name on the transcript/record.

You must ensure that your name, the institution name and other identifying marks are not missed during the scanning process and that your scanned copy is clearly legible and can print on letter size paper – 8.5 by 11 in (21.5 by 30 cm)

Please include a copy of the transcript legend or university key (back page in most cases) for each institution.

All credentials to be uploaded for each institution (transcripts and diplomas/certificates) must be uploaded in one file per institution listed.

Please be certain that your document is saved as a PDF file or Word document, and that its size does not exceed 1500kb. Scanning in “gray scale” or black and white may produce the best results.

If the scanned file is too large you may want to make a photocopy first (experiment with different settings until you find one that results in the smallest file size) then scan the photocopy.

Once you have uploaded the document into the online application, you will be able to click the “view document” button to verify whether the uploaded document is legible. If it is not legible, try again. (NOTE: The system automatically converts your uploaded document into a standard PDF file.)

The University of Utah reserves the right to require official academic credentials at any time during the admissions process, and rescind any offer of admission made if discrepancies between unofficial and official transcript(s) are found.

Yes, a minimum GPA of 3.2 for the MS degree and a 3.5 for the PhD degree in undergraduate work is required by the ECE Department. Most students accepted into the graduate program have GPAs well above that level.

Applicants from India should have a minimum percentile score of 80, and applicants from China should have a minimum percentile of 86.

If your GPA and/or test scores are slightly below the cutoffs, please do not email asking us about your scores. Records are not pre-evaluated. After reading our application information, applicants must make their own decision about whether or not to apply.

The minimum acceptable score for the TOEFL is 80. Our department expectation is 100.
The minimum acceptable score for the IELTS is: 6.5. Our department expectation is 7.5
The minimum acceptable score for Duolingo is: 105.

If you have graduated with a BS, MS, or PhD from a regionally-accredited U.S. college or university completed within two years of admittance we will waive the TOEFL or IELTS exam requirements.

You can learn more about our Graduate English Proficiency Requirements

If your test scores are slightly below the cutoffs, please do not email asking us acceptance likelihood. Records are not pre-evaluated. After reading our application information, applicants must make their own decision about whether or not to apply.

No, applicants with an engineering bachelor’s degree may waive the GRE exam. The GRE General Exam is no longer required for all applicants.

If an applicant chooses to take the GRE they should score 158 or above in the quantitative area, the analytical area must be 3.5, and the verbal area must be above 150.

If your test scores are slightly below the cutoffs, please do not email asking us acceptance likelihood. Records are not pre-evaluated. After reading our application information, applicants must make their own decision about whether or not to apply.

No. Applications which are submitted without the application fee will not be considered. The only application waiver available is for domestic PhDs.

*PhD Application Waiver: please email the Graduate Student Coordinator (Admissions Adviser) with verification that you graduated with a 3.5 GPA from an ABET Accredited Engineering Program (preferably in Electrical and Computer Engineering) and brief explanation of the research that you would like to do as a part of your PhD.  This waiver is only available for qualified domestic applicants. A domestic applicant is defined as a US citizen, PR card holder, asylee, or refugee.  International students are not eligible for this waiver.  Please do not email asking for a waiver/exception if you do not meet these criteria.

No, an application will be considered by the ECE Graduate Committee unless the application file is complete. All application materials must be received by the application deadline or the application will not be reviewed.

Detailed information about the ECE Department, faculty’s research interests, ongoing research projects, and recent technical papers are located at www.ece.utah.edu. Applicants should check the website regularly for updated information.

Please do not contact faculty members prior to being accepted into the program. The application will clearly ask you which research areas interest you and with whom you might like to work. Students may list any ECE faculty members here. Applicants will be considered for assistantships based on the faculty member(s) and/or research interests indicated on the online application. Applicants may contact a research group website with coursework questions. Sending multiple emails to faculty asking for support before admission does not advance the process of their application or help in funding decisions.

No, this information is not available.

We are looking for applicants with strong academic backgrounds who have demonstrated a potential to perform creative and innovative research in the research areas represented by the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department.