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Ph.D. Program: How to Apply

Head of Admissions (2014): Dr. Karen Frey
Application information and materials: Brenda Nikas-Hayes, Graduate Program Administrator (BNikasHayes@clarku.edu)

Deadline for Application Submission

The deadline for all applicants to the Ph.D. program in Geography is DECEMBER 31, 2013. We require that all materials, including letters of recommendation, be submitted in time to arrive on or before that date. Students who intend to apply will need to allow enough time to obtain the relevant test scores, transcripts, and letters of recommendation.

For Further Information

e-mail:

Brenda Nikas-Hayes
Graduate Program Administrator
Graduate School of Geography, Clark University
950 Main Street, Worcester, MA 01610-1477

Phone: 508-793-7337
Fax: 508-793-8881
Email: BNikasHayes@clarku.edu

Application Package

Please send your completed application in one package to arrive by December 31, 2013, to the address above.

A complete application packet will contain:

1. Application form and application fee ($60) Made out to Clark University;

2. Personal Statement of Applicant form - (if you wish to include additional information beyond the scope of the two questions asked on the Personal Statement form regarding research, teaching or professional objectives, you are encouraged to do so.)
3. Note: Electronic copies of Application, Personal Statement, Resume, and supplementary material may be sent to Graduate Program Administrator by e-mail.
4. Three letters of reference from people who know your academic qualifications, each in a sealed envelope that has been signed on the seal by the referee or sent via email as a PDF by the referee not the applicant;
5. Official transcript from each school attended, each in a sealed envelope with college/university stamp across the seal; and
6. For foreign students, the completed Financial Statement Form showing bank certification of ability to support oneself during the summer months.
7. GRE and TOEFL: It is required to take GREs. Also if you are a foreign student from a non-English speaking country, you also are required take the TOEFL or IELTS test. These tests results can be sent directly to the university.

Frequently asked questions about the application process

To Obtain Application Forms

We prefer you apply online. If you cannot access the online application, please download and mail in the application forms available below. NOTE: Only the application is available online at this time, all other forms must be downloaded and mailed with supporting materials.

Downloadable forms:

Application (use only if no access to internet for online application)
Personal Statement
Reference Form
Financial Certification (International Students Only)
Transcript Request

All of these forms are in PDF. You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer to access them. You can download the Adobe Acrobat Reader for free from Adobe's web site. Click the image above to download the free Acrobat Reader.

The Application Review Process

All applicants receive careful consideration from a faculty-student admissions committee, which reviews applications and meets early in the spring semester to evaluate the candidates. The entire faculty reviews the committee’s recommendations and makes the final decision about which candidates are offered admission. Decisions are based on the quality of the applicants, on the fit of their interests with departmental specialization and expertise and on the distribution of students by specialty areas. The number of students we admit is determined by the availability of funds to support them. In recent years incoming classes have averaged between 10 and 12 students who were selected from a very large applicant pool.

Tuition, Fellowship and Stipend Awards

Our policy is to provide tuition remission and a stipend for one academic year to every student we accept into the program who does not hold an outside fellowship or stipend award. This award is renewable for two additional years as long as the student remains in good academic standing. Further, we attempt to fund Ph.D. students in good standing for a fourth year of funding (stipend and tuition remission) if it is needed. The awards of tuition remission and stipend are not based on financial need; as it has been our policy to fund graduate students in the Ph.D. program equally because we have found it contributes to a sense of community among our graduate students. The stipend for the academic year (September through May) involves a teaching or research assistantship of 17.5 hours per week. (Stipends awarded to students are taxable.) For research opportunities at Clark see the list of recent research grants awarded to faculty. Read more

The Mary E. and Irene L. Piper Fellowship in urban geography is also available. It carries the same award as noted above and involves research activity in conjunction with a faculty member in urban geography. For advanced graduate students, funds are available from a graduate student endowment to partially support the costs of startup research.

There is also a fellowship available in Economic Geography. For more information on this please see following link:
Economic Geography Fellowship