Graduate Admissions

For admission to the Graduate School, an applicant must have a bachelor’s degree from a college or university of recognized standing.  Most applicants have a Bachelor of Science in Civil or Architectural Engineering.  Those with a degree in other engineering disciplines, architecture, or natural sciences can be admitted but will need to make up extensive course deficiencies in undergraduate preparation.  Structural engineering MS degree candidates are expected to have had the equivalent of two structural analysis courses (CE 329 and CE 363), one reinforced concrete design course (CE 331), and one steel design course (CE 335).  Those without these courses can be admitted but will be required to make up these undergraduate deficiencies.  Such makeup courses will not be counted in the graduate program of work.

 All applications are considered individually by an admissions committee of the structures-construction materials group.  Careful examination of all credentials is carried out.  Judgment is made separately for admission and for financial aid.

 The Structural Engineering Group is aware of the time, effort, and costs required to develop a competitive admissions application.  While there are no hard and fast guidelines, the prospective applicant should consider the probable competition and carefully complete a self-assessment of the strength of their own record.  Some statistics from last year may be helpful in this regard.  In the 2006 application evaluation process for Structural Engineering, there were 221 applicants.  Approximately 51 percent were admitted to the program and 44 percent were denied admission.  The evaluation for financial aid is far more competitive.   About 16 financial aid positions (fellowship and assistantship) were available.  Only 14 percent of the admitted applicants received financial aid offers before all available financial aid was exhausted. The average GPA of students extended financial aid offers was 3.92. (Median 3.94).

To speak to the Structures Graduate Admissions Coordinator, or to visit the campus, contact:

Barbara Yates, Administrative Associate
Structural Engineering, ECJ 4.700
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX 78712
Telephone: (512) 232-3598
Fax: (512) 471-7259
E-mail: structures@engr.utexas.edu