Applying for graduate school

Please check out the information and links at CWU's Graduate Studies and Research webpage. As you prepare an application, investigate which Biology faculty conduct research in your areas of interest. Prior to completing your application, contact prospective faculty advisors via email to ask if they are interested in taking new students. Students are seldom accepted into our graduate program without first connecting with a faculty member who is willing to take them on as a student.

New students are usually accepted for entry in the fall of our academic year (mid- September). Applications for fall quarter priority admission and assistantships are due by Feb. 1. Students are encouraged to complete their graduate program in two years (although many good students have continued into a third year).

Funding your graduate program

Most of our graduate students use teaching assistantships as an important source of financial assistance and that support is normally guaranteed for two years, given adequate research progress and satisfactory teaching evaluation. If you are would like to be considered for a teaching assistantship, you must complete an assistantship application form (in addition to the application for admissions). Research assistantships and summer stipends are occasionally available on a competitive basis, as are other sources of funds related to specific externally-funded projects.

For information on graduate tuition and fees, assistantships, grants and fellowships, scholarships, financial aid, and student employment, please see the Graduate Student Funding section of CWU's Graduate Studies and Research webpage.