Application Process

Michigan State University uses a decentralized admissions process for graduate studies. Visit the College of Engineering graduate admissions page for details on the overall process.

Graduate Admissions Process

Updated: March 2022

Deadlines for Graduate Applications

Fall Semester, for full consideration for admission, financial support, university fellowships (US Citizen and permanent residents only) and college fellowships (US citizens, permanent residents, and international applicants), completed applications and all required documentation must be received by December 30th of the preceding Fall term. We will continue to review applications submitted after December 30; however, we cannot guarantee full consideration of those applications. We will continue to review applications submitted after January 10, however, we cannot guarantee full consideration.
Spring Semester, completed applications and all required documentation must be received by September 15th of the preceding Fall term.

Institution and Program Codes

Electrical and Computer Engineering – MASTERS – 8093
Electrical and Computer Engineering - PhD – 8095
Electrical Engineering – MASTERS – 8091
On-Line - 8094
GRE Department Code = 1203
GRE University Code = 1465
TOEFL Department Code = 66

Application Process

You should submit a completed application form on-line (GradSlate@grd.msu.edu) along with an application fee (valid for one year). Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. Note: We will accept compete applications after these deadlines, but there is no guarantee that a late application will be processed. Save your MSU applicant ID number and password as you will need this to upload the required documentation.

The graduate student portal allows you to check the status of your application, send e-messages to the department, upload various required documents, and request letters of recommendations. Log into the student portal with your Applicant ID and password at: GradSlate@grd.msu.edu.

Admission to the department is linked to the availability of support in the form of a graduate Teaching Assistantship (TA), research assistantship (RA), fellowship, or government scholarship. For international students, support is generally in the form of a research assistantship from faculty, or a fellowship/scholarship from the applicant's government. Our admission process is a two-step process.

The Graduate Admissions Committee reviews your application to decide whether your application is considered qualified for admission if support is available. Then the research faculty will review your application to decide if an RA will be offered. This decision is made by the individual faculty who has funding for RA's.

Note that following items, along with the MSU application and the application fee, are required for a complete application to be considered for admissions.

Enter the information for your references along with their email address. They will then be automatically emailed and asked to submit letters of recommendations. You will need three references (ideally at least two should be by a college faculty who knows you well).
Two "official “copies of transcripts from all previous universities attended (undergraduate and graduate), as well as proof of diploma (graduate certificate) in an unopened sealed university envelope or e-transmitted to ecegradadmission@egr.msu.edu by the university. Transcripts can be e-transmitted if domestic only. International students’ transcripts must be in the original language and in English, if applicable. These transcripts and certificates should be sent to:
Michigan State University
Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
428 South Shaw Lane Room
2120 Engineering Building
East Lansing, Michigan, USA 48824
MSU also does not accept transcripts that have been notarized, with the exception of countries in Eastern Europe that follow an apostille process.
Do not submit your only original transcript, certificate, and/or diploma! MSU does not return any documents we receive. Have your college/university make a photocopy of the documents and stamp the photocopies official. Place them in official university, sealed envelopes.
Graduate Record Examination (GRE) aptitude scores are required for all international applicants. GRE is strongly advised for domestic students, but not required. GRE test scores must be provided to us directly by the Educational Testing Service. GRE scores are generally above 159 for the quantitative portion. GRE Verbal scores less than 146 and Analytical scores less than 3.0 will generally not be considered acceptable.
TOEFL Scores (PDF) are required for all international applicants. Applicants are strongly urged to take the internet-based tests, not the paper-based test. TOEFL test scores must be provided to us directly by the Educational Testing Service. We will not consider copies of TOEFL scores for any reason. We will also honor IELTS test scores that are sent to us by the testing agency. TOEFL scores of a total of 80 (19 in each category except Writing which is 22), and IELTS is 6.5 or higher.
An Academic Statement and a Personal Statement are required.

Applicants with Fellowships/Scholarships If you have an external fellowship or scholarship of some kind, you should email ecegradadmission@egr.msu.edu with information about the fellowship/scholarship, including:

The name of the fellowship/scholarship (e.g., Fulbright)
The dates the fellowship/scholarship will cover (e.g., August 2015-August 2016)
The amount of support provided by the fellowship/scholarship (e.g., tuition and fees or $25,000/year).

Admission Requirements

Students should have a four-year bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or a closely related field.
A graduate assistantship, fellowship, or scholarship should be available to the applicant.
Successful domestic applicants are highly ranked in their bachelor's class. Most successful domestic applicants have GPA's of 3.5 or better. Domestic applicants with GPA less than 3.2 are generally not considered for admission.
A general profile of a successful international student applicant is as follows.
Graduate of a highly ranked school.
In the upper 10% of their class.
International MS applicants must submit an Affidavit of Support if they wish to pay for their own education. This procedure must include the Affidavit of Support form and a bank statement. This statement must be in English. The account holder’s name should be on the Affidavit of Support form and it amount must meet our funding requirement.

If you have any further questions, please email Lisa Clark at ecegradadmission@egr.msu.edu.

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Graduate Certificate

Next Steps