ICME Graduate Program Application
ICME Graduate Program Application
Your application for graduate study at Stanford can only be completed online. A complete application consists of the following:
Personal Background
Stanford is committed to creating an inclusive, accessible, diverse, and equitable university for all of our community members. On this page, we invite you to share biographical and demographic information that may provide the admission committee with a more holistic view of your lived experiences. Your responses (or declining to respond to optional questions) will not have a negative impact on the review of your application.
Program Selection
You may apply to only one program per academic year. For ICME, you will be required to select either the PhD or MS program.
You will be required to select your entry term - ICME only offers admission for Autumn quarter.
Honors Cooperative Program
The Honors Cooperative Program (HCP) allows professionals to pursue graduate study on a part-time basis through the Stanford Center for Professional Development (SCPD). Only MS applicants are eligible to enroll as HCP students; the PhD program is full-time.
You will be required to select HCP enrollment in the "program selection" section of your application. HCP applications are evaluated in the same pool as full-time MS applications.
Academic History
List every post-secondary institution where you were enrolled — or are currently enrolled — in an undergraduate or graduate degree program. Your list must include the institution where you earned your bachelor’s degree or its international equivalent as defined in Stanford’s minimum education requirements for graduate study.
Transcripts
You are required to upload a copy of your unofficial transcript onto the online application for all institutions you have attended for at least a year as a full time student (a PDF generated from an electronic document is strongly preferred; a scanned copy of physical documents is accepted). Transcripts from Stanford and Stanford's Non Degree Option (NDO) program should also be uploaded. If you are offered admission to Stanford and accept the offer, you will be required to submit official transcripts/degree conferral documents. Refer to Stanford's graduate admissions website for additional guidance on transcripts.
You may upload copies of transcripts for attendance less than a year if you consider the coursework to be relevant for the program.
Grade Point Averages (GPA) Calculations
GPA scale varies from institution to institution. It is best to use the scale used by your institution. Information on calculating your GPA is available here
You are asked to enter both GPA and GPA scale for each institution you list on the application. Enter your GPA as it appears on your transcript. If a cumulative GPA is not provided, please leave the field blank. Do not convert your GPA to a 4.0 scale if it's reported on a different scale.
Test Scores
GRE
The GRE is not required for ICME admission. GRE scores will not be accepted or considered as part of the MS or PhD application packet.
TOEFL
TOEFL scores are required of all applicants whose first language is not English regardless of citizenship status. Individuals who have completed a Bachelor's, Master's, or a doctoral degree in the U.S. or another English-speaking country are not required to submit TOEFL scores. The complete policy can be found on the Graduate Admissions website.
Minimum TOEFL Scores
Stanford’s minimum TOEFL score requirement varies depending on your field of study and planned degree. For the Stanford School of Engineering (which includes ICME), the minimum scores are:
- MS applicants: 89
- PhD applicants: 100
If you score below 109 on the TOEFL and you are admitted, you will likely be required to complete additional English placement testing prior to the start of classes.
What you need to know:
- Scores must be submitted from a test taken within the last 18 months of the application deadline.
- TOEFL scores should be reported directly to Graduate Admissions from ETS.
- The Stanford score recipient number (also called "Institution Code") is 4704. The department code is not necessary.
- IELTS scores will not be accepted in lieu of TOEFL scores. There are no exceptions to this policy.
Experience
This section provides you an opportunity to share information about any relevant experience in the following categories:
- Research experience
- Publications/presentations/posters
- Awards & honors
- Work experience
Additionally, ICME requires a CV/resume to be uploaded for a complete application.
Letters of Recommendation
Choose Your Recommenders
Letters of recommendation should come from academic or professional references who know you well and are qualified to evaluate your potential for graduate study. Please choose recommenders who will write candidly about your qualifications, potential to carry on advanced study in the field specified, intellectual independence, capacity for analytical thinking, ability to organize and express ideas clearly, and potential for teaching. Specific examples--that describe such attributes as motivation, intellect, and maturity--are more useful than generalizations.
- Three letters of recommendation are required. You may optionally register a fourth recommender to serve as a backup in case one of your first three recommenders is unable to submit by the deadline.
- It is strongly recommended that at least one of these letters be from a university professor familiar with your academic work.
- You may send recommenders a preview of the form ahead of Stanford's graduate application open date.
Your recommenders must be the sole authors of your letters of recommendation. Drafting, writing, translating, or submitting your own reference, even if asked to do so by a recommender, is a violation of our application terms. You are responsible for informing your recommenders of this policy.
Register Your Recommenders
Register your recommenders below as soon as possible to ensure their letters are received by the application deadline.
- When you add a recommender, the application system will send a personalized link to that individual to submit the recommendation online.
- After your recommender submits the recommendation letter, you will receive an email notification and the status on this page will automatically update.
- Need to change a recommender? Click on the recommender’s name you wish to replace, then click “Exclude” at the bottom of the popup window (the recommender you exclude will not receive an email notification). You then will see the option to add a new recommender.
- For technical issues with submitting recommendations, please reach out to Technical Support by submitting a request via the "Request Application Support" button on the "Instructions" page of your application. ICME cannot assist with technical issues.
Statements
Statement of Purpose
Describe succinctly your reasons for applying to the proposed program at Stanford, preparation for this field of study, research interests, future career plans, and other aspects of your background and interests that may aid the admission committee in evaluating your aptitude and motivation for graduate study. The maximum recommended length is 1,000 words.
Enriching the Learning Community
Stanford University welcomes graduate applications from individuals with a broad range of experiences, interests, and backgrounds who would contribute to our community of scholars. We invite you to share the lived experiences, demonstrated values, perspectives, and/or activities that shape you as a scholar and would help you to make a distinctive contribution to Stanford University. Your statement should not exceed 500 words in length.
Program Supplemental
The program supplemental section is tailored to each department to ask questions relevant to preparation for a specific program.
All Applicants
The program supplemental section includes the following sections for MS and PhD applicants:
Course Preparation (required)
List up to 3 of the most advanced courses you have taken in each subject below.
- CS/programming
- Statistics
- Mathematics
- Engineering
- Economics
- Data Science
- Other
The coursework questions are in-depth, and require you to enter the course name, textbook(s) used, topics covered, grade earned, and if possible for you to include Stanford's equivalent course using Explore Courses or Stanford's Course Navigator. We strongly encourage applicants take the time required to fill this out carefully and completely. You will be asked to certify that you have listed the most advanced courses you have taken in each subject above at the end of this section. A screenshot of the course details question is included below.
Course Preparation FAQ
- If you have not taken any classes in a specific topic, please do not add blank responses under that topic. Instead, simply skip that topic in the "subject" dropdown menu. If you have taken fewer than three classes in a specific topic, enter the class(es) you have taken.
- When using Explore Courses or Course Navigator to find equivalent coursework, a few tips may help you search more easily:
- Both sites can be searched by topic (e.g. "linear algebra") or course name (e.g. "CME 100 - Vector Calculus for Engineers"). You may find it simplest to search your university's course title to find Stanford courses that pop up with a similar list of topics covered.
- Stanford courses do not follow universal numbering rules, but general guidelines are:
- 1-99: introductory level courses for all students
- 100-199: courses primarily for undergraduate majors and minors
- 200-299: courses for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students
- 300 and above: courses for graduate students
- Many Stanford courses are crosslisted (meaning the same class has a course number in two different departments - for example, CME 204: Partial Differential Equations in Engineering is also offered by the Mechanical Engineering department under ME 300B.) You may list either course number when listing your equivalent courses.
- You will be asked to certify at the end of the form that you have listed the most advanced courses you have taken in each subject above. This is a required step.
Professional Experience (required)
You will be asked to list the types of work experience you have had, and the total duration of those roles.
In this case, professional industry experience is defined as full- or part-time work in a CME-relevant industry after the completion of your degree(s). Internship experience is defined as trainee-level work experience for a fixed-term (e.g. over a summer quarter) prior to degree completion. Campus or academic research experience is defined as work under a faculty member or in a lab prior to degree completion.
Additional Experience (optional)
If applicable, list any extracurricular, volunteer, and/or leadership activities.
PhD Applicants Only
Academic Interest (required)
You will be asked to list at least one (and up to three) academic interest(s) from the following:
- Computational Finance
- Computational Linear Algebra
- Graph Models
- High Performance Computing
- Machine Learning
- Numerical Analysis
- Optimization
- Partial Differential Equations
- Statistical Inference
- Stochastic Modeling
If you have additional research interests not listed above, you will be able to enter this as well.
Faculty Interest (required)
Select up to three faculty members whose research interests best align with yours and who could serve as potential research advisors, in order of preference. Your selections are non-binding and will help us route your application to relevant faculty during the review process.
MS Applicants Only
Academic Interest (required)
List the MS track you are applying for.
Short Answer (required)
What are your career goals? How do you see the CME-MS program helping you achieve those goals?
Additional Information
In this section, you provide information (if applicable) about your applications to:
- Stanford professional schools
- Knight-Hennessy Scholars
- Other graduate institutions
- Non-Stanford scholarships/fellowships
You also disclose whether you have a prior or current affiliation with Stanford, for record-matching purposes.
Finally, you have the option to upload a supplemental document if you wish to share additional information that was not covered by the questions in the application.
Application Fees
Visit Graduate Admissionsfor the current year's application fee and information on the fee waiver process.
Application Fee Waivers
School of Engineering Graduate Fee Waivers
Start Your Application
All applicants must submit an official application through the Office of the Registrar, Graduate Admissions. For more information about the online graduate admissions process and how to apply for graduate admission visit the Graduate Admissions website.