Graduate Application

Applicants to the M.S. and Ph.D. programs must submit the following to the Auburn University Graduate School:

1. Graduate School Application Form

2. Application Fee ($60 - domestic students; $70 - international students)

The Auburn University Graduate School does not waive the application fee for individual applicants based on financial reasons. The Graduate School waives the application fee for applicants who meet one of the following eligibility criteria:

1. Current Auburn University graduate students enrolled in graduate courses
2. Full-time Auburn University employees
3. Alabama HBCU student applicants from the following schools (first 300 received per year): Alabama A&M and Alabama State Universities, Concordia, Miles, Stillman and Talladega Colleges, Oakwood & Tuskegee Universities – submit copy of school ID
4. Ronald McNair Scholars – must submit a memo from sponsoring institution
5. Florida A&M Feeders Program – must submit a memo from Faculty sponsor
6. GEM applicants – must submit a copy of their GEM application
7. Active Duty Military – with a letter confirming duty
8. Applying for an approved dual program – the second application fee is waived

The Graduate School uses, although very rarely, temporary policies to waive the application fee for applicants from a certain country for a certain period. If you want to verify if this country-based fee waiver is applied to your country, please contact the Graduate School at gradadm@auburn.edu.

Application fees are paid to the Graduate School; thus, fee waiver requests made directly to the CADS Department, for financial or other reasons, will NOT be accepted.

3. One official transcript from each college and university attended (if international, transcripts must include original language and English versions). During the online application, PDF copies of transcripts must be uploaded. After the applicant is admitted to Auburn University, the Graduate School will request the original official transcripts.

4. An official report of the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) scores– including Verbal, Quantitative, and Analytical Writing scores. Please note that GRE score report submission is required for admission to CADS graduate programs, and no exception requests based on financial or other reasons will be accepted. Though GRE scores are not a sole criterion for admission decisions, please be advised on the following minimum GRE score guidelines:

• For M.S. applicants: Verbal ≥ 138; Quantitative ≥ 144; Writing ≥ 3.0
• For Ph.D. applicants: Verbal ≥146; Quantitative ≥148; Writing ≥ 3.5
• The Auburn University’s institution code to be used for the official report delivery is 1005.

5. For international applicants, an official TOEFL or IELTS score report is required. This requirement is waived if the applicant has a completed bachelor’s or master’s degree from a university in the United States. Please note the following minimum score requirements by the Auburn University Graduate School:

• TOEFL
  • For tests taken after January 21, 2026: 4.5 or higher total score with a minimum score of 4.0 on listening, reading, speaking and writing components
  • For tests taken prior to January 21, 2026: 79 or higher iBT total score with at least 16 on listening, reading, speaking and writing components 79 iBT TOEFL total and at least 16 on listening, reading, speaking and writing components
• IELTS 6.5 or higher

Please also note that to be assigned as a graduate teaching assistant, 23 iBT TOEFL (taken prior to January 21, 2026) or 4.5 TOEFL (taken after January 21, 2026), or 7 IELTS on Speaking is required.

Please use the institution code 1005 when requesting the official TOEFL report delivery to Auburn University. We do not accept Duolingo or any other English scores. Only TOEFL and IELTS are accepted.

Also, please make sure to submit your Graduate School application BEFORE you send the transcripts, GRE and/or TOFEL/IELTS scores to the Graduate School. This is needed to ensure that these documents get directly linked to your submitted application when they are received by the Graduate School.

In addition to the Graduate School application requirements, applicants also must upload the following Departmental Requirements via the Graduate School Application Form.

1. Letter of Intent (i.e., describing your academic and work background, career goals, reasons for pursuing the degree selected, and reasons for choosing to apply to the Auburn University Consumer and Design Sciences program). 
2. Resume or Vitae 
3. Three (3) Recommendation Letters
4. An official report of the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) scores – including Verbal, Quantitative, and Analytical Writing scores. No exception requests based on financial or other reasons will be accepted. Though GRE scores are not a sole criterion for admission decisions, please be advised on the following minimum GRE score guidelines:
   1. For M.S. applicants: Verbal ≥ 138; Quantitative ≥ 144; Writing ≥ 3.0
   2. For Ph.D. applicants: Verbal ≥146; Quantitative ≥148; Writing ≥ 3.5
   3. The Auburn University’s institution code to be used for the official report delivery is 1005

In addition to the required application materials above, applicants are also encouraged to email the following optional but strongly recommended materials directly to the CADS Graduate Program Officer (GPO) Dr. Wi-Suk Kwon to further strengthen their application:

1. ePortfolio: Students from a design background are encouraged to provide (via email) a link to their ePortfolio website or the electronic file (e.g., PDF) of their digital portfolio.
2. Academic writing samples (e.g., English written thesis, conference proceeding paper, journal article, final research paper from courses you have taken): Academic writing sample(s) should be your own work. If you are submitting the writing sample that you wrote with other co-authors, your writing should account for at least 50% of the work (highlight the parts written by you in the writing sample file or email a description about the parts you wrote).

We have rolling admissions throughout the year, which means we accept applications at any time during the year. However, to be considered for Graduate Assistantships, which are limited, we recommend that you apply as early as possible by the first round deadline.

Fall admissions: To ensure that your application is considered in the first round of Fall application review by the CADS Departmental Graduate Committee, please complete your application, including all required materials and any optional materials, by January 5th for Ph.D. applicants and by January 15th for M.S. applicants. Applications submitted later than these first-round deadlines may or may not be reviewed depending on the funding availability and the number of admitted students in the first round. If you miss the first-round deadline, please contact the CADS GPO Dr. Wi-Suk Kwon to inquire about the availability of an additional round of review and application deadline.

Spring admissions: The availability of spring admissions varies every year depending on the funding availability and the number of students. Please contact the CADS GPO Dr. Wi-Suk Kwon for inquiries on the availability and application deadline for Spring admissions.

Applicants who are accepted into either the M.S. or Ph.D. program are automatically considered for Graduate Teaching or Research Assistantships. No separate form is needed to apply for graduate assistantships, and there is no need to contact individual faculty members to request an assistantship opportunity. Recommendations on assistantships are made through reviews by the Graduate Committee of CADS graduate faculty members. Whether or not an applicant can receive an assistantship and the level and type of the assistantship to be received, if any, will be notified to the applicant by the Department Head after the applicant is informed of their admission to our graduate program.

Students who receive assistantships support the teaching or research effort of faculty through working approximately between 10 hours per week (25% appointment) to 20 hours per week (50% appointment). In addition to providing a stipend, assistantships also carry two levels of tuition benefits. All assistantships waive the out-of-state tuition rate. A 33-50% assistantship completely waives the in-state tuition; a 25% assistantship waives one-half of the in-state tuition. See tuition information. The numbers of assistantship openings vary each year.

Assistantship appointments are dependent on the Department’s financial resources, the number of graduate students, and the match between a graduate student’s background and the Department’s teaching and research needs.