Admissions and Financial Aid
Before You Begin
Admissions Requirements
- Application
- Processing Fee
- Transcripts
- Letters of Recommendation
- Supplemental Data Form
- Candidate’s Statement
- Writing Sample
- GRE Test
- English Language Requirements
Application
All applications must be made through the Online Application for Graduate Studies. The application for 2010-2011 is now available.
All documents sent to support your application must include:
- your full name
- OGSA-ID (assigned at the time of creating your online application)
- the name of the department to which you are applying
All documents supporting your application must be sent to:
The online application, all supporting documents, and the processing fee must be submitted no later than the appropriate deadline date. We process only those applications for which payment has been made and for which supplementary materials have been received in the Office of Admissions. Please refer to the Online Application for Graduate Studies for instructions. Please allow extra time when sending your material so that it arrives by the deadline. Incomplete applications are reviewed but may be severely disadvantaged. Late material is reviewed only at the discretion of the faculty admissions committees.Division of Social Sciences
Office of Admissions
1130 E. 59th St., Room 105
Chicago, IL 60637
Processing Fee
The application-processing fee is $55 for all departments except Economics, which has a fee of $100. Your processing fee payment may be made online by credit card (Visa or MasterCard only) at the time you electronically submit your application. If you make the processing fee payment online using a credit card, it takes two business days for the payment to finalize. We do not process an application until that time. You may also send a check made payable to the University of Chicago with your supporting material. The check must be drawn on a U.S. bank or a bank with a U.S. branch. If the check is not in your name, your name should be written in the memo line.
Application Fee Waivers
Applicants who would like to request a waiver of the application fee will need to submit the Fee Waiver Request Form (pdf), with appropriate documentation by email to admissions@ssd.uchicago.edu (with the subject line “Fee Waiver”) or by fax to (773) 834-3509. Fee waiver requests must be received before the admissions deadline for any application to be considered.
Please note: the application fee is nonrefundable. If you are applying for a fee waiver, do not submit the application fee online. If you are granted a waiver, further instructions will be sent. If your waiver is denied, you will be asked to pay the application fee either by credit card or by check.
Please DO NOT contact departments regarding fee waivers. All communication about fee waivers should be with the Office of Admissions.
The Division of the Social Sciences will consider application fee waivers for the following groups of applicants:
Category A: University of Chicago students or alumni from degree-granting programs
Category B: Participants in certain programs*
- Americorps
- Bill and Melinda Gates Millennium Scholar
- Institute for the Recruitment of Teachers (IRT)
- Leadership Alliance
- Fulbright/IIE Fellowship Recipient for 2009-2010
- Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship
- Peace Corps
- Ronald McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program
- Teach for America
- U.S. Military (currently serving)
Category C: Qualified applicants through the CIC FreeApp Program*
Applicants to PhD programs only, may qualify through the CIC FreeApp Program. In addition to submitting the Fee Waiver Request Form, applicants must also apply for the CIC FreeApp Program and must meet all CIC FreeApp Eligibility requirements. Additionally, applicants must meet at least one of our local criteria:
- Member of an underrepresented minority group, as defined by the National Science Foundation (see: http://www.nsfagep.org/)
- Participant in a CIC SROP program
- Participant in MARC, McNair, Howard Hughes, or COR Programs
- Currently receiving a Pell Grant
Category D: Current undergraduates receiving documented need-based financial aid*
Applicants must be U.S. Citizens or Permanent Residents currently enrolled as undergraduates in U.S. colleges or universities and must provide either a letter verifying Estimated Family Contribution (EFC) signed by the financial aid officer at the institution currently being attended OR the Student Aid Report (SAR) from the 2009-2010 year (available at the FAFSA website).
Category E: Applicants who have received Fee Waiver codes from a program in the Division of the Social Sciences at the University of Chicago
Please do not request Fee Waiver codes from programs or from the Admissions Office. Applicants receiving such codes will be contacted in advance by the program with instructions.
*Applicants in these categories B, C and D must be U.S. Citizens or Permanent Residents.
Transcripts
Request the Registrar or similar official of each college or university you have attended to provide you with one official copy of transcripts in sealed envelopes; send them unopened to the Office of Admissions. If work is in progress, you should submit your most recent transcript to be followed by the final transcript when available. If institutional policies require, submission of official transcripts may be mailed directly to the Office of Admissions by your university. Photocopies of transcripts are not acceptable. Opened transcripts will be viewed as unofficial. We will accept electronic delivery of official transcripts, if provided directly by your university or through My Credential Vault. In these cases, the designated receiver should be Assistant Dean of Students, Kelly Therese Pollock at kpollock@uchicago.edu.
Applicants who did not attend an institution where the primary language of instruction was English must submit an official English translation in addition to the transcript issued in the language of instruction. Applicants may prepare the translation themselves and have it verified by a person whose position requires knowledge of both English and the pertinent language, such as a professor of English at a French university, OR they may have the translation done by such a person. A signed statement or certificate of verification should be included with the translation. An official translation may also be obtained from a certified translation service, an embassy or consulate office, or other official entity requiring knowledge of both languages.
Letters of Recommendations
We require three letters of recommendation in support of each application. These letters may be submitted electronically (the preferred method) through the online application, or sent electronically through My Credentials Vault, or to us by mail. We do not accept letters of recommendation as attachments to an email or by fax. Special instructions for online letters of recommendation can be found in the “Recommendation” section of the online application.
Guidelines for Letters of Recommendations
Because of the highly specialized graduate training we offer at Chicago, we find that letters of recommendation from instructors at academic institutions are the most useful to the faculty reviewers.
If possible, instructors in the discipline to which you are applying should write them all. It is also acceptable to submit letters from individuals in related disciplines. For instance, those applying to Economics may submit a letter written by a Mathematics instructor. Those applying to Sociology may use a letter from a Statistics professor. However, the majority of the letters (i.e. at least two out of three) should come from instructors within the field to which you are applying.
The best letters of recommendation are likely to be written by those instructors with whom you have had a long and successful working relationship. Before asking an instructor to write a recommendation, consider how long you have known that person, how many of his or her classes you have taken, whether you have been actively engaged in those classes, and whether you have produced lengthy papers or other significant projects for that person. Receiving a good grade in a class may not be enough to guarantee a strong or useful recommendation letter for the purpose of gaining admission to graduate school.
Faculty admissions committees want to know what kind of professional colleague you are likely to become, what drives you intellectually, how you go about solving problems, and how committed you are to your goals.
We also recognize that some applicants who have been away from school for a year or more may have trouble obtaining letters of recommendation from their former instructors. Many colleges and universities nowadays offer credential services that store letters of recommendation in perpetuity. We strongly advise applicants to make use of such services before leaving a particular school so that letters of recommendation are always available to them.Letters of Recommendation Received by Mail
We encourage you to have your letters of recommendation submitted online if at all possible. Please note that if you indicate on the application that your recommenders will submit letters online, they still have the option of switching to sending letters by mail.
For those recommenders wishing to send their letter by mail, a form should accompany the letter and is included in the online application. Give the printed form and a stamped, addressed envelope to your recommender. The body of the letter must include the applicant’s full name. The letter must be signed with the recommender’s full name and title. The letter must be on department / institution letterhead with a "live" signature from the recommender. The letter and form should be mailed to:
Division of Social Sciences
Office of Admissions
1130 E. 59th St., Room 105
Chicago, IL 60637
Letters of Recommendations for the Department of Economics Only
It would be particularly helpful to the graduate admissions committee if the recommender can provide the following information, if applicable:
- Rank the performance of the applicant in their class or program (e.g. 3rd of 23).
- Compare the applicant to others with similar backgrounds who are applying or have recently applied to similar economics Ph.D. programs (e.g. the applicant is better than “x” who is attending university y but not as good as “z” who is also applying to Chicago).
- If a recommender is writing letters for more than one applicant, compare and rank them as completely as possible.
Supplemental Data Form
A summary data form is required by Economics (completed online as part of the application), Anthropology, History, Psychology, and Sociology (available within the Online Graduate Student Application as a printable .PDF). Please read the directions carefully.
Candidate’s Statement
A candidate’s statement of academic purpose should discuss your academic and career objectives in a concise, sharply focused, and well-crafted essay. This statement must be completed online as part of the Online Graduate Student Application. Admissions committees are particularly interested in this statement, so it is considered a vital part of your application. Therefore, you should be as specific as possible in discussing your academic objectives and research interest. There is a 5,000 word limit for the statement of purpose on our online application, but we do not expect that anyone will write a statement that long. We find that the best statements are often 1,500 to 2,500 words.Writing Sample
Programs requiring a writing sample are: Anthropology, Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science, Economics, History, Comparative Human Development, Committee on International Relations, Latin American Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Political Science, Committee on Social Thought, and Sociology. While other departments within the Division of Social Sciences may not require a writing sample, an excellent paper can strengthen an application, and we encourage applicants to include one.
The proper format for a submitted writing sample is:
- The writing sample must have a cover sheet and proper identification. The cover sheet must have your full name, the department to which you are applying, and the type of writing sample submitted.
- The writing sample must be in English, be printed on paper and have no binding of any sort other than being either stapled or clipped. It should be printed on both sides of the pages if at all possible. Writing samples not in English will be discarded. Any writing samples submitted on cassette tape, DVD, CD or media other than paper will be discarded. All extraneous material will be removed before review, such as folders, dividers, sheet protectors, coil or spiral binding, etc. Writing samples must be mailed or sent by a courier service. We do not accept faxed copies or email attachments.
- The writing sample is not a paper written specifically for your application but a written work submitted for either a grade or publication. The preferred paper to submit is one closely related to the field of study you wish to pursue in the Division of Social Sciences at the University of Chicago. The paper can be one submitted for a grade in a class, a degree paper or something for publication, such as a magazine feature or journal article. Departments prefer single-author papers. However, if you must submit an item with a collaborative work, all writers' names should be included with your name highlighted, along with a memo explaining your contribution to the work.
- Some departments have specific requirements when submitting a writing sample. It is suggested that you check the department's website and/or summary sheet (if required by department) for specific instructions. As an example, if you are submitting a BA paper or master's thesis, the Department of Sociology requires that you also attach a one-page abstract of no more than 300 words to the summary sheet. The abstract should be a brief, concise summary explaining the main arguments or topics in your writing sample to help reviewers quickly ascertain the paper's purpose.
Writing samples of more than 20 pages will not be stored with your application file due to their size. Departments will hold large writing samples separately. Please be advised that once final decisions have been made, all writing samples are destroyed. No material will be returned.
Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Office of Admissions at admissions@ssd.uchicago.edu.
GRE Test: Graduate Record Exam
The GRE is required of all applicants for admission. The scores cannot be older than five years old at the time you submit your application. The University does not have a minimum or average score requirement. However, because our master’s and PhD programs are extremely competitive, a strong GRE score is an important component of a strong application.
The GRE should be taken no later than Nov. 1 to ensure that the official scores are received no later than the deadline for the program to which you are applying. Applications that do not have a complete score report at the time of review will be considered as incomplete and will be reviewed as such. Please note that even if your application is reviewed without GRE scores, you will be unable to matriculate without official GRE scores on file. In the cases of multiple tests, the overall best test date is used for review purposes.
For more information on the GRE, visit the GRE website or you may call ETS at 609.771.7670. Two codes are required to have your report sent to the Division of Social Sciences: the institution code, 1832, and the major field code, 2299 (social science – other/general).
English Language Requirements
International applicants must demonstrate an adequate command of both spoken and written English, and they are required to submit English proficiency test scores as part of their application. Domestic applicants whose native language is not English or who have not attended undergraduate or graduate schools in countries where the primary language is English may also be required to submit proof of English proficiency.
The University of Chicago accepts either the internet-Based Test (iBT) of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) for the purpose of meeting the English language requirement.
*Minimum requirements for the TOEFL iBT are: no less than 26 in each of the four sections.
*Minimum required scores in the IELTS are an overall score of 7, with sub scores of 7 in each section.
Tests should be taken no later than November 1 to ensure the arrival of the scores by the deadline. Keep in mind it will take two to six weeks after the test date for us to receive the official reports.
The English language requirement may be waived if the applicant is a native of or studied in full-time status for at least one academic year within the last five years in the U.S., the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, or English medium universities in Canada or South Africa. Students who studied in English in other countries, for example, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc., are not exempt from the English language requirement. Please see the website of the Office of International Affairs for complete information.
Please note: TOEFL or IELTS score reports are valid for two years, and scores will be considered expired if the test was taken more than two years prior to the application deadline.
For more information regarding the TOEFL visit the ETS website.
For more information regarding the IELTS visit the IELTS website. The University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations, the British Council, and IDP Education Australia jointly manage the IELTS.
