Graduate Programs Frequently Asked Questions
Financial Aid
All financial aid is awarded competitively based on standardized test scores and academic performance. In some cases, supplemental aid is available for highly qualified U.S. citizens. Students for whom English is not their native language must pass on-campus testing before receiving a teaching assistantship. International students are strongly encouraged to sit for the Test of Written English before applying for admission.
If you are admitted to our program and come to Ohio University, you should not expect to be considered for either a Teaching Assistant (TA) or Graduate Assistant (GA) position until after the first year unless otherwise notified. You should note that even after the first year, there is no assurance that you will be awarded a TA or GA since: (a) the number of positions available are limited and (b) awards are made to qualified candidates on a competitive basis.
Financial aid decisions are made after admissions decisions. Students will usually hear they are admitted before knowing if they will be offered financial aid. The vast bulk of financial aid is awarded to students starting in the Fall quarter. These decisions are usually made in March of each year.
To be fully considered for financial aid for Fall quarter entrance, be sure to have all applications materials complete no later than January 1.
Our school offers several forms of financial aid including research assistantships, teaching assistantships and grading positions. All forms of financial aid include a tuition waiver, however stipends vary depending on the type of award. Stipends range from $8,100 - $11,000 per academic year (9 months) for grader positions to over $15,000 per academic year (9 months) for some research assistantship positions.
In addition to these forms of financial aid offered by the school, individual faculty support students through sponsored research. Please wait until you hear about whether you are admitted before contacting individual faculty about the possibility of these types of awards. Most financial aid is awarded to second and third-year M.S. and Ph.D. students. It is unlikely that a new student will be awarded aid in the first year.
The Ohio University STEAM (Science and Technology Enrichment for Appalachian Middle-schoolers) Project offers graduate fellowships that provide a stipend of $30,000 per year plus tuition waiver. To apply, please submit your application using the on-line application system.
Applications
Applications are reviewed for admissions continuously. However, in order to be fully considered for Fall financial aid, application files must be completed by January 1.
Applications forms are available on-line.
Required EECS Documents (all documents should be sent to Graduate Studies in the McKee House and will be forwarded to us):
- Statement of Intent
- Transcripts (BS & MS if applying for PhD)
- GRE
- TOEFL
- 3 Recommendation Letters
For international students, due to recent new visa delays, and in order to ensure that we will have adequate time to review your application be sure to get all applications materials, including original GRE and TOEFL scores, to us as soon as possible, but no later than:
| For Fall quarter admission |
January 1 |
| For Winter quarter admission |
May 1 |
| For Spring quarter admission |
July 15 |
| For Summer quarter admission |
November 15 |
For US citizens and permanent residents, there is a bit more flexibility in the schedule, however, there is still a January 1 deadline to receive full consideration for financial aid.
GRE
Requirements
- Paper based GRE scores are required for all applicants. Only official results sent to us from ETS will be accepted. However, if an applicant has a B.S. in electrical engineering from an ABET-accredited electrical engineering program or a B.S. in computer science from a CSAB-accredited computer science program, an exemption from this requirement may be requested. Note: Almost all schools outside the US are NOT ABET or CSAB accredited. Students who will earn their BSEE or MSEE from Ohio University are automatically exempted from taking the GRE.
Minimum Acceptable Scores?
- Although there is no minimum GRE score required for admission, most successful applicants score in the top 25th percentile on the quantitative and analytical writing portions.
TOEFL
The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is required for nonnative speakers of English. Most successful applicants score 600 or above on the paper based TOEFL, or equivalently 250 or above on the computer based TOEFL. Nonnative speakers of English who are interested in financial aid are also strongly encouraged to take the Test of Written English (TWE). Only official results sent to us by ETS will be accepted.
As explained on the Graduate Studies web page, additional oral and written English language testing may be necessary, which may result in a requirement to take English language courses in the OPIE (Ohio Program of Intensive English) program.
Statement of Intent
Please include a one or two-page letter describing your motivation for graduate education, goals, and any special qualifications you may like to describe.
We would also like you to include on this letter the research area in which you want to concentrate. For the MSEE or Ph.D. (EE) programs, indicate one or two areas from the list below that most closely fit your research interests:
- antenna/electromagnetics
- avionics/navigation systems
- biomedical applications
- communications
- computers
- controls
- electronics
- manufacturing systems
- power
- semi-conductor physics/lasers
- VLSI
- other
For the MSCS or Ph.D. (EE with computer science concentration) indicate one or two areas from this list:
- networking
- artificial intelligence/robotics
- security
- real-time systems
- bioinformatics
- compilers
- programming languages
- theory
- software engineering
- other
It is the responsibility of the student to arrange a relationship with a thesis/dissertation directory after one or two quarters of coursework.
What is the status of my application?
Applications take some time to process. Please allow at least 6-8 weeks for processing before checking. To check on the status of an application, please contact the graduate secretary, who is currently Ms. Julie Stover (email: gradsec@eecs.ohiou.edu, phone:740-593-1922). Note: if you leave a phone message, be sure to leave a current email address as we will not respond via phone to phone messages.
