Prospective students applying to the APDesign Ph.D. in Environmental Design & Planning should submit their applications by January 8 to receive priority consideration for competitive awards and funding. The final application deadline for all applicants is February 1.
Previous Degrees
Applicants are normally expected to have earned a master’s degree in the design or planning fields.Applicants with a master’s degree in the natural sciences, social sciences, or humanities may sometimes be considered.
Prospective studentwithouta previous degree in the design or planning fields maybe wish to instead consider applying to one of the College’s master’s degree programs:
Acceptance into one of these programs does not imply a commitment to admit the student to the PhD program and requires a separate application.
Major Professor/Advisor
One member of thecore Ph.D. facultymust accept mentorship responsibility for any student prior to their admittance to the doctoral program. Applicants are strongly encouraged to be in contact with Ph.D. faculty members with whom they share interests, and if possible, obtain a commitment from a faculty member to support the application.
Application Review Committee
Even with faculty commitment, the application must be reviewed and approved by the PhD committee before an offer of acceptance can be made.
3.0 grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) in all higher education to-date.
Transcripts: Include transcripts from any institution of higher education you have attended.
Statement of intent: Statement of intent should be one to two pages and should include the prospective student's background, research interests, objectives, and reason for applying to the program.
Research Proposal: This is a short (approx. 5 page) proposal that outlines your intended research. The proposal should be formatted in standard form. The research will likely change after completing the coursework and consulting with the major professor, but the proposal will help us better understand the direction the student would like go.
Evidence of Past Research: The “portfolio” should include the prospective student’s work, whether design projects, research projects, samples of written work, or other examples of creative and/or research efforts. We are particularly interested in seeing evidence of previous research and published scholarly writing.
Letters of recommendation: Three letters of recommendation are required. At least two should be from academic references.
GRE score report: Not required, but optional. Ph.D. applicants may be requested to submit GRE scores on an individual basis if additional information is needed.
TOEFL/IELTS/PTE report (international students): English proficiency test scores are required if English is not your native language and you are not a US Citizen or Permanent Resident. See the K-State Graduate School application for further details.
Financial statement (international students)
Application fee (Domestic $90 & International $100)