Application Fee

A $75 application fee must be paid when an application is submitted. Applicants who want to be evaluated by more than one graduate program must submit and pay the fee for separate applications to each program. 

Application Fee Waiver

Applicants who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents may be eligible for fee waivers. Detailed information about fee waivers may be found on the Graduate School website.

Your completed application must be submitted 14 days before the program’s application deadline to be considered for a fee waiver. Choose the “Request a fee waiver” option as your method of payment on the payment information page.

Application fee waivers are not available for international applicants. In exceptional cases, the department may offer a fee waiver to international students, but this is really done for students with exceptional circumstances and a very well-established academic record. If you think this may be applicable to your case, you should contact physics-student-affairs@brown.edu before December 1.

Funding and Financial Support

Admission to our Ph.D. program includes at least five years of guaranteed funding – including stipend, tuition, health services fee and health insurance – for students who maintain good standing in the program.

Because we do not provide funding for students in the Master’s program, Sc.M. program applicants may want to apply for financial aid.

Financial support for doctoral candidates in Physics is available from several sources. Incoming students are generally supported for the academic year as either fellows or teaching assistants, and occasionally as research assistants. All of these forms of support cover full tuition and include a stipend sufficient for living costs of a single person during the academic year. Graduate students are encouraged to join a research group during the summer following the first year.

Throughout their time in the program, Ph.D. students in good standing receive full funding. Some are supported by either University or externally-funded fellowships. Most are supported by assistantships (teaching, research, or a combination), which allows and encourages three-quarter time study. Most forms of funding cover tuition, health insurance, health services fee, and a taxable stipend for living expenses during the academic year.

Fellowships

Some private and federally supported fellowships are awarded to incoming students. NSF Graduate Fellowships, Danforth Fellowships, and others are awarded directly by the granting organizations to successful applicants for such support. We encourage you to apply for these as well. Many of these programs have application deadlines on or before January 2, and we urge all students to check with their Deans or Faculty Advisors for specific dates and programs for which they may be eligible.

Assistantships

A number of research and teaching assistantships are available to entering graduate students for the summer prior to their first academic year. They are of great advantage in getting settled and acquainted at Brown before the formal course work of the first academic year.