Admission

An Admissions Committee comprised of representatives from the participating departments and units will vet students applying to the program. The explicit aim of the committee will be to seek out and select students who wish to work on higher human brain function using concepts and methods that cut across traditional departmental boundaries. Qualified students will include those with undergraduate training in biology, psychology, computer science, philosophy, engineering, as well as other areas. Scores on the general test of the Graduate Record Examination are required of all applicants. No subject test is required. TOEFL scores are required of international applicants. However, grades and GREs are only two factors taken into consideration in the review for admission. Letters of evaluation and recommendation and a statement of research interests are particularly important.

Each applicant should identify the probable department they expect to work in at the time of admission, although this will only be an indication and not in any way binding. For students who are uncertain of their eventual departmental affiliation, we will apply the criterion that they must be acceptable to at least one of the participating departments at the time of admission. Therefore on the drop-down menu in the Graduate School application form, select "Cognitive Neuroscience" as the Proposed Department/Program, and select "Ph.D." as the Highest Degree Sought. The next question asks for "Intended Special Field"; this is where you enter the department you may have chosen to work in (if indeed you've decided at this point). The major departmental choices are Neurobiology, Psychology and Neuroscience, Radiology, Psychiatry, Biomedical Engineering, Neurology, Biology, Computer Science, and Philosophy; note, however, that other departments would also be possible in special cases where the choice made sense in terms of the student's long term interests.

The Duke University Graduate School prefers that applicants use the electronic application, available on the Duke University Graduate School web site or at http://app.applyyourself.com/?id=dukegrad. Applications filed electronically are processed more quickly than paper applications. Therefore, the Graduate School no longer offers a paper application, except in those circumstances where it is impossible to file electronically; in that case, please call the Graduate School directly at (919) 684-3913.

The deadline for submission of applications for admission in fall 2008 is December 15, 2007. The application fee is $75, but for applications postmarked prior to November 15, the fee is $65. We encourage you to complete the application by the November 15 date if possible. The new GRE analytic writing test takes longer to score than previous GRE tests. Please take the exam early enough so that we have your scores by December 15. Please note that the institutional code for Duke is 5156. No code for specific departments is necessary.

The admissions committee reviews applications in December and January and identifies promising candidates. The selection is based on academic success, laboratory and research experience, personal statement, letters of recommendation, and GRE scores. We invite a group of domestic applicants to the Duke campus for an interview weekend in March; we contact competitive international applicants for telephone interviews usually in late January.

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