Graduate Admissions

Department-Level Admissions Requirements

Welcome, and thank you for your interest in our graduate program. The acronym for industrial and systems engineering is ISEN, not to be confused with INEN, which is the acronym for industrial engineering. We use the INEN acronym for our Master of Science (M.S.), Master of Engineering (M.E.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in industrial engineering degrees. 

Note: If you are currently enrolled as an undergraduate, degree-seeking student, please apply to the Quick Admit program. If you are enrolled as a graduate, degree-seeking student, or the break of enrollment between the two graduate programs at Texas A&M University will be less than one calendar year, submit a letter of intent or petition to the Graduate and Professional Studies School. 

*The department will no longer offer fee waivers.

Graduate Application Checklist:

1. View the application deadlines and save the deadline for the term you are applying to on your preferred calendar.
2. Check to make sure you meet the minimum requirements and have all prerequisites for admission into the department.
3. Decide what degree program you want to apply for.
4. Start your application on EngineeringCAS.
5. Request a minimum of three letters of recommendation on your EngineeringCAS application.
6. Upload your unofficial transcripts for all degrees you have completed or are completing. If admitted, you will need to submit all official transcripts and test scores. 
7. Upload your statement of purpose.
8. Upload your resume or CV.
9. Upload your unofficial GRE and ELP test scores. (The GRE is required for fall 2023; the ELP is required for international students.)
10. Pay application fees: $65 for U.S. Citizen/domestic applicants and $148 - Texas A&M University fee ($90) + EngineeringCAS processing fee ($58) - for international applicants. Submit your application before the department admission deadlines. Read more about application status. 

*If you have a status of “Received,” we will NOT review your application. We only review applications with a status of complete. EngineeringCAS will not consider your application complete until you upload your unofficial transcripts and test scores. If you have submitted official transcripts, please upload a PDF version in EngineeringCAS or the system will not count your application as complete.

Admissions Deadlines

ALL program deadlines expire at 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Times (UTC-D) on the date provide as the deadline.

Ph.D. Admission Deadlines

(Ph.D. deadlines shown below will be implemented for applications to Fall 2024.)

Master’s Admission Deadlines

NOTE: All new international students must be checked in with International Student Services and enrolled before the start of the first day of classes. Your application (and offer of admission) is valid for one year from the term of original application. However, your deferral request must be made before the start of that term.

Minimum Admission Requirements

1. All applicants MUST have a bachelor's degree to apply to both our master’s and doctoral programs. If you are unsure of your degree equivalency, please email the Office of Admissions. Applicants who do not possess a degree equivalent to a U.S. bachelor’s degree or higher may be denied admission.
2. GPA – A 3.0 out of 4.0 is required (3.25 preferred) for all master’s programs. A 3.0 out of 4.0 is required (3.5 preferred) for the doctoral program.
3. GRE – Required for fall 2023 applicants. Undecided for spring 2024.
4. TOEFL, ILETS – Ph.D. students wishing to become teaching assistants (TA) will have different requirements. Please email with questions regarding the TA ELP Certification.

Prerequisites

All students must have a bachelor's to apply for our graduate programs. Most entering students have a bachelor's or master’s in an engineering field, but a degree in another discipline such as business, management or engineering technology is acceptable, provided the following course material has been taken or is taken concurrently with graduate studies. 

These are recommended, not required:

• Two courses in engineering calculus
• One course in linear algebra
• One additional mathematics course that requires first-semester calculus as a prerequisite
• One course in engineering mechanics or calculus-based physics
• One course in calculus-based probability and statistics
• One course in computer programming

Letters of Recommendation

After you start your application, request three letters of recommendation via EngineeringCAS. You will want to do this as early as possible to provide your recommenders enough time to write and submit their letters. You do NOT have to wait for your recommenders to submit for you to complete and submit your application. Recommenders who can speak to your academic achievements (e.g., previous professors) are preferred. If you have been out of school for a few years and have lost communication with your university professors, letters from your employers or research colleagues will suffice.

Transcripts

Note for Texas A&M students: You do not need to submit a transcript from Texas A&M. Please manually enter your GPA for Texas A&M degree/s in quadrant two in the EngineeringCAS application. All non-Texas A&M transcripts must be uploaded.

Unofficial transcripts: You must upload your unofficial transcripts to your EngineeringCAS application. We will use these transcripts to review your application.

Official transcripts: All admitted applicants are required to submit official transcripts from each post-secondary university or college attended (excluding U.S. community colleges), and an official statement of the award of the degree or diploma is required for each degree completed. 

Statement of Purpose

Your statement of purpose, also known as a personal statement, should be limited to one or one and half pages using 12-point Times New Roman font. Upload your statement of purpose to EngineeringCAS.

The statement of purpose should include the following details:

1. Your interest in the field of study,
2. Your reasons for applying to one of our specific degrees,
3. How you would contribute to diversity and inclusion if admitted,
4. Your post-graduation career plans, and
5. Other aspects of your background and interests that could help the admissions committee evaluate your potential for graduate study.

NOTE: You can also use this opportunity to explain any low grades, test scores or GPA, and what you did or are doing to overcome it.

NOTE: If you are a master's or doctoral student interested in completing a thesis, please answer the following in addition to those previously mentioned:

1. Who do you want to work with and why?
2. What specialization are you most interested in (data science, health and human systems, operations research, advanced manufacturing)?
3. Include details regarding your qualifications, your research experience, academic and research interests.

Resume or Curriculum Vitae

We require that our applicants submit a resume or curriculum vitae as part of their application to our program. Although there are not any specific formatting requirements, please be sure to use a font and font size that is easy to read.

Unofficial Test Scores

We don’t require official test scores to be submitted as part of your application. However, if you are admitted into our program, you will need to provide your official test scores to the office of admissions.

The GRE requirement has been waived for spring 2023 applicants but is required for fall 2023. A decision has not been made for spring 2024.

Please self-report your GRE test scores (subject tests not required) in the Academic History section of your application. To locate this section, click on the tab labeled “My Application” in EngineeringCAS. When you are on this tab, a quadrant will appear. The top right quadrant is the “Academic History” section. Click on the Academic History quadrant/section and click on the tab on your left-hand side labeled “Standardized” tests.

1. Read the information at the top of the “Standardized Test” section.
2. Click the bar that says, “I have reviewed this information.” After you do this, a list of different tests you can upload will appear.
3. Find the section on the list that says GRE and click “Add Test Scores.”
4. Enter all required information and click “Save This Test.” Only click “Save and Add Another” if you have taken the GRE more than once and you would like to add the scores for the second GRE test you took.

We also ask that you upload copies of your unofficial test score reports in the “Program Materials” quadrant/section.

1. Click on the program you are applying.
2. Then click on tab at the top of page labeled “Documents.”
3. Find the section on the list that says Test Score Report and click “Add Document.”
4. Click choose file. Then click “Upload this Document.”

English Language Proficiency Test

Proof of English Proficiency: 

If your native language is not English, you are required to submit proof of English proficiency to be eligible for review. Please repeat the steps from the GRE section above. In step 3 of the instructions for the academic history section, you will click “Add Test Score” for the ELP test you took (IELTS or TOEFL). If you are an international graduate student holding a master’s degree or completed all years of a bachelor's degree or higher from an accredited institution located in the U.S., you qualify for alternative verification. Our department will only process alternative verification forms for applicants that have been admitted into our program.

I’ve Been Admitted. Now What?

Your Next Steps:

1. You will receive a letter from the Office of Admissions with your university-issued Universal Identification Number (UIN) and a prompt to activate your NetID. Please note that this is not a letter of admission.
2. Activate your NetID using the UIN provided to you.
3. Log into your Applicant Information System (AIS) portal and check to see if you have any holds.
4. The decision on your application for admission will be viewable in the AIS no sooner than 24 hours after this communication. 
5. Roughly 24 hours after creation, your NetID will allow you to access the Howdy Portal and other online services at Texas A&M.
6. Complete the Bacterial Meningitis Vaccination Requirement.
7. Work on submitting all official transcripts and documents to the Office of Admissions.
8. Complete your SBS To-Do List.
9. If you are an international student, you will need to complete your student check-in with International Student Services (ISS) AFTER you have arrived to the United States. Please see the Initial Check-In (F-1) for more details. 

Additional Steps for International Students

1. Connect with ISS.
2. Read the Applying for a Visa directions from ISS.
3. Read the Arrival Information directions from ISS.

For admission questions that are specific to the industrial and systems engineering department, please send an email to isengradadmissions@tamu.edu. All correspondence with industrial and systems admissions should always include your EngineeringCAS ID and your name as listed in your application.

For more general information on admission requirements applicable to all programs, please see the Office of Admission’s How to Apply Domestic Students and How to Apply: International Students webpages. You can email the Office of Admissions at admissions@tamu.edu for general queries about admissions. As a reminder, all correspondence with Texas A&M should always include your UIN, name and birth date.