Admissions & How to Apply

This online database will help you compare graduate programs:

• Graduate School Finder
• A Guide for Potential Grad Students: Should You Go To Graduate School?

In Astronomy, an effective essay will be about 1 to 2 pages long with a description of your education and experience as it relates to your future graduate career. You should mention any research experience you have or special projects you may have done in a course, and maybe try to tie these, or other interests you have with a specific faculty member or researcher at the University to whom you are applying. One thing to remember is that this is very different than your essay to get into an undergraduate program. You have things to cite from your last few years as an undergraduate, so don’t spend too much time on any childhood wishes or experiences.

Find out deadlines for schools you are applying to; most are December or January - so ask for letters at least two months in advance... but faculty can’t send the electronic ones until you submit your online application. Make sure to let any recommender know the deadline, where to send/submit a letter, and send friendly reminders.

Timeline for your senior year of college:

• August — Notify your recommenders that you’d like to ask them for a letter.
• October — Send list of the universities you are applying to with deadlines to your recommenders. It’s a good idea to give your recommenders a resume listing your research and work experience.
• November — Remind your recommenders that you’ll need a letter (or online recommendation).

UT Austin enforces a minimum 3.0 GPA for all of its graduate programs. Beyond that, the UT Astronomy Department does not have a GPA cutoff that it uses in reviewing applications to our program.

Publishing a paper in a refereed journal (co-author or author) would be the best outcome from a research experience, but more often students are able to create a poster and possibly present it at a conference. This is invaluable experience even if it doesn’t result in a full length paper. When Graduate Admissions faculty are looking at your application, they will want to see something about research and listing a poster, presentation or paper is very important.

It is a good idea to visit schools, if you can. You can see what the environment is like and if you think the school would be a good fit for you. If you visit before you apply, try to meet with faculty or researchers to be able to talk about what they are doing with their research when you write your essay. (You may also find out about their research on their department webpages.) Make sure and prepare some standard questions to ask at each school.

No, especially if during that year you are getting more experience in research. Talk to your advisor before you leave for any time away (e.g. REU), keeping them in touch will assure that you are still fulfilling all of the residency requirements of UT.

**NOTE: many internships and Summer Research opportunities require that you are still a student, read the eligibility section closely.

Some of these opportunities will take graduating undergrads. Check their regular job sites for temporary or internship positions, or find faculty that do research that interests you and contact them to see if they would need a research assistant.

UT CNS Site - information on jobs and internships for science graduates

Ways to get job experience

Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) - Summer Program (considers graduating students)

LPI Summer Program

National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) has Undergraduate Summer Research Assistantships for graduating seniors

NRAO Research Assistantships

Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships (SULI) fellowships are offered at 17 participating Department of Energy (DOE) laboratories/facilities

Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships

Space Telescope Science Institute (STSCi) Summer Student Program
The SSP is oriented around upper division undergraduates, but we have had students from all academic levels and a broad variety of backgrounds. There are no restrictions on who may apply, and the SSP is open to foreign students. Complete information may be found at:

STSCi Space Astronomy Summer Program

Nokia Bell Labs — physics/computer science related internships (summer) — will consider graduating undergraduates

Nokia Bell Labs Summer Internship Program

Our admissions process is holistic and recognizes that there is no unique path that leads to success in graduate school. A successful applicant exhibits evidence of achievement or strong potential in areas that include:

• Research Preparation - Evidence of the cognitive and analytical skills necessary for research, and personal interest. Experiences include those from research, courses, extracurricular activities, etc.
• Academic Preparation - Demonstrates a thirst for learning astronomy and evidence of likely success in graduate level courses.
• Fit at UT - Would benefit from the UT Astronomy program and the UT Astronomy program would benefit from the applicant.
• Non-Cognitive Competency - Demonstrates perseverance, grit, optimism, and conscientiousness.
• Professional Maturity/Long-Term Goals - Has the professional maturity needed for a Ph.D. program.
• Community Engagement and Leadership - Has capacity and interest in being an ethical and engaged community member. 

Please address all relevant areas in your personal statement. 

The Department of Astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin is ranked in the top 10 in the nation. Faculty members have, over the years, won nearly every prize offered by the American Astronomical Society. The Hobby-Eberly Telescope located at McDonald Observatory gives Texas astronomers direct access to one of the generation of 9 m+ telescopes, one of the few that serves only a small community of collaborating universities rather than a national or multi-national community.

Other facilities located at the University of Texas McDonald Observatory include the 2.7 m Harlan J. Smith Telescope, the 2.1 m Otto Struve Telescope, and the 0.8 m telescope, including advanced instrumentation. All these facilities are available to graduate students.

The department offers strengths in many areas and the advantage of a diversity of fields in which to work. Graduate instruction and research are conducted in observational and theoretical astronomy and astrophysics and in associated astronomical instrumentation. Observational and instrumental opportunities are available in optical photometry, polarimetry, fast photometry, spectroscopy, spectrophotometry, and spectropolarimetry as well as in infrared and millimeter astronomy, in radio astronomy, and in space astronomy. These topics are applied to the study of asteroids, comets, planets, interstellar matter, star formation, nebulae, stars in all stages of their evolution, white dwarfs, neutron stars, black holes, supernovae, the chemical and physical evolution of galaxies, quasars, and intergalactic matter. There are also instruction and research opportunities in theoretical astrophysics including interstellar material and star formation, stellar structure and evolution in single and binary stars, accretion disks, supernovae and nucleosynthesis, the formation and evolution of galaxies and quasars, the formation of large scale structure, and cosmology.

The University of Texas offers the rewards of a first-class university. Austin, a growing high tech center, continues to offer its unique and varied heritage of live music as well as sports, theater, film, and outdoor entertainment.

Generations of astronomy graduate students have found the department a stimulating and nurturing place to live and work.

We welcome you to join us.

Prerequisites for graduate work in astronomy are at least fifteen to eighteen semester hours of upper-division coursework in astronomy and physics, which may include courses in mechanics, electricity and magnetism, statistical physics, and quantum mechanics. Effective in the Fall of 2016, applicants’ scores on the Physics GRE subject test are no longer considered for admission to our program. Effective Fall of 2022, we no longer require submission of General GRE test scores. 

The Admissions Committee usually reviews applications around the end of January or beginning of February. Your application file must be complete in order for the Admissions Committee to consider your application - this includes payment of the application fee and uploading all official transcripts. 

Once they have made a decision to admit, the Department makes a recommendation to the Graduate School via the Graduate and International Admissions Center. If the Graduate School application (see above) is complete, a letter of admission will be e-mailed within a couple of days. If the Graduate School application is incomplete and the Department wishes to admit you, you will be contacted about completing your Graduate School application. The Astronomy Department will also send decision letters via e-mail to all applicants notifying them of the Department’s recommendation, whether positive or negative. These letters usually go out mid to late February.

You can check on your Graduate School application at: Status of Admission Application.

GRE Scores are not required to apply to the Astronomy graduate program, and are not taken into account when reviewing applications. It takes up to 72 hours for the requirement to disappear from your MyStatus page after you submit your application. Please be patient!

The Astronomy Department makes an effort to provide support to all of its students through Teaching Assistantships and Graduate Research Assistantships. Both assistantships provide wages and full tuition coverage for 9 credit hours in fall/spring and 3 credit hours in the summer. An attempt is made to keep salaries competitive with other graduate schools in astronomy, accounting for cost of living in various areas. All of our current students are employed in the department if they are not on a fellowship, as has been the rule throughout the Department’s history.

For the Fall 2022 semester, about 1/2 of our graduate students work as Graduate Research Assistants or Teaching Assistants and the remaining 1/2 are on fellowships or internships. The Department regularly nominates its outstanding students for University Fellowships and encourages and supports applications for outside fellowships. See also information on Financing Your Graduate Education available from the Graduate Outreach Office.

Graduate Research Assistantships (GRAs) are usually arranged by the student with a faculty or research scientist doing work of interest to the student. This is done on an informal basis since most GRAs are employed by their Thesis/Dissertation Supervisor. New students are usually employed as Teaching Assistants unless they make arrangements for a GRA position prior to the beginning of the fall semester in which they enter the program. Some supervisors do not have grant money to support a student, in which case the student usually works as a Teaching Assistant. 

Please see the Graduate School’s page regarding health insurance options for graduate students. 

Please note that we only admit students who intend on pursuing a Ph.D. in Astronomy. We do not offer “master’s only” admissions. If you are admitted to our Ph.D. program, you have the option of applying for a masters in your second or third year.

Students must complete nine courses for a grade from a pre-determined set of courses, listed in section K of our Graduate A to Z handbook. 

Students begin research during their first year. Research is done under the supervision of an advisor and committee. Ph.D. research normally requires about five years. In spring of their second year, students must present a summary of their research to date, and pass an oral Qualifying Examination. Students must apply for Ph.D. candidacy by the end of the summer of their second year. Two presentations on research must be given in colloquia or seminars. Finally, the student must complete the dissertation and pass an oral examination on the dissertation.

More information on required and elective courses can be found in the Graduate Catalog.
 

Information about papers and research can be found in the AAS Annual Reports, listed in the Research section of our website.

Yes. Towards the end of your second year, you will make a public oral presentation summarizing the research you have done up to that point. This is accompanied by a written report of the research which is submitted to your Research Committee for review. The Research Committee will also conduct an oral exam after the public presentation. The oral exam will cover the research you presented as well as three areas of increasing breadth in which you will be expected to be knowledgeable. In consultation with your advisor, you identify these three areas beforehand to your committee. The approved written report may be submitted to the Graduate School as your thesis for obtaining the MA degree.

The average number of years to obtain a Ph.D. has been decreasing in our Department. Due to legislative measures limiting the amount of time graduate students qualify for in-state tuition, the Astronomy Department revised its curriculum to enable students to complete their degree within five full years. The current median number of years to Ph.D. is 5.4 years.

The University has dormitories and married student housing available through University Housing and Food. Most graduate students live off campus in apartments. There are links to apartment locator services at the page UT maintains about Austin. 

Learn more about living in Austin on the CNS department site.