Graduate Admissions | ECE | Virginia Tech

Applicants who do not have an EE or CPE degree or switching between EE and CPE are advised to be familiar with the ECE background requirements. See Students with Non-EE/CPE Backgrounds in the Graduate Student Policy Manual for details.

ECE awards Graduate Teaching Assistantships and Fellowships each year to qualified applicants. Preference is given to applicants that submit their application materials by the suggested application deadline.

Applicants are encouraged to communicate amongst the faculty in our many research programs to find research assistantship support from their contracts.

Research oriented graduate students are given preference to funding opportunities. Financial support is not guaranteed with admission. See Fellowships for details.

Applicants applying for admission to ECE Graduate Programs at all campuses are to use the online Virginia Tech Graduate School Application Form. All documents below must be uploaded in electronic format; the ECE Department does not accept paper application materials. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that all application materials, including scores and letters of recommendation, have been submitted online. After applying, contact grads@vt.edu if you have questions or to check the status of your application materials. Complete applications only will be reviewed by the EE and CPE Admissions Officers and the ECE Graduate Committee.

The complete application includes

• Virginia Tech Graduate School on-line application form; nonrefundable application fee $75.00.
• An up-to-date, electronic copy of all official transcript(s) must be submitted with your on-line application. Please do not mail your official transcript(s) to the Graduate School until you have received an offer of admission from Virginia Tech. (Note that the ECE department does not require an official copy of your transcript(s).
• Three (3) letters of recommendation.
• Graduate Record Examination (GRE).
• This is not required for Virginia Tech undergraduate students earning a B.S. degree in ECE at Virginia Tech with a GPA of 3.5 or higher in their last 60 hours.
• TOEFL or IELTS exam for applicants earning undergraduate or graduate degrees from non-English institutions.
• A Resume and a Statement of Purpose submitted with the on-line application.

Students applying for the Ph.D. program typically have a masters degree from an accredited college or university in EE, CPE, or a related field.

Highly qualified applicants without a masters degree who wish to apply to the Ph.D. program must apply for the direct-Ph.D. program.

A student graduating from Virginia Tech is only required to submit two recommendations, although more are acceptable. Virginia Tech students earning a bachelor's degree in ECE who have a 3.5 or higher GPA are not required to take the GRE exam.

Students from Virginia Tech who have a 3.5 or higher GPA on their last 60 credit hours of course work should consider applying to the Accelerated Undergraduate/Graduate Program section in the Graduate Student Policy Manual.

The Accelerated Masters Program is for Virginia Tech undergraduate students who are interested in pursuing graduate studies at Virginia Tech. Students must be accepted into the program prior to the beginning of the semester in which they would enroll in courses to be used in the accelerated program.

Students who are currently enrolled in the master's degree program at Virginia Tech, and desire to continue their studies toward a Ph.D. degree, must formally request admission into the Ph.D. program by the departmental admission deadline. The request should be made by using the online Virginia Tech Graduate School Application Form. In addition, one letter of reference from an ECE faculty member willing to commit to be the student's faculty advisor, with research funds, must be submitted to the ECE Graduate Admission/Recruiting Office.

All international students whose native language is not English and who have not earned a bachelor or masters degree from an American, Canadian, or British institution are required to take the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) Exam as well as the GRE. Their applications will not be acted upon until both the TOEFL and the GRE test scores have been received.

International applicants must provide proof of funding from their government, employer, or a graduate assistantship offer from Virginia Tech to support studies financially for the first year at Virginia Tech. This financial/funding information and documentation may be submitted along with the application for admission or after the admission decision has been made. This information is submitted to the Graduate School and not to the ECE department. More information on financial requirements for international students can be found on the Graduate School web site.

Deferral of admission will only be approved under exceptional circumstances. Typically a funding offer cannot be deferred. Students not offered admission and wishing to be considered for admission for subsequent semesters must submit a new on-line application, including new copies of all supporting documents.