Application Materials Needed
In order for applications to be considered, the following materials must be submitted to the addresses provided on the contact page. Apply here.
*All application materials must be received before any kind of decision is made.
Send to the Office of Research and Graduate Studies:
Send DIRECTLY to the department:
* Please note, any documentation sent in addition to that requested is not needed and will be destroyed.
* Do not staple documents.
Admissions Deadlines
Our department deadlines for admission are March 1st for the Fall semester, December 1st for the Spring semester, and April 1st for the Summer semester. For full consideration for fellowships, scholarships and research/teaching assistantships, applications should be received by January 1st. Application materials should indicate the interest in financial assistance or research/teaching assistantships.
Document Specifications
Application Fees:
| Domestic Students: | Paper | $55 | Online | $45 |
| International Students: | Paper | $60 | Online | $55 |
Statement of Financial Resources:
As a part of the application process, all students must submit credible evidence of financial support for the first year of study. Financial documents must be less than 6 months old, indicating the type and amount of currency in US dollars. If the bank account is not in the applicant's name, please attach a statement signed by the account holder indicating the relationship to the student for whom the support will be provided. There is no form for the Statement of Financial Resources, please send only the form(s) of documentation listed below. Applications cannot be submitted for consideration without the proper financial documentation.
Acceptable evidence includes:
Letters of Recommendation:
These letters should be sent as a signed document from your chosen references. There is no form for this document as the letters should be honest statements from your references regarding yourself and your work.
Statement of Purpose:
It is important to state the Area of Interest, such as Aerodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Flight Dynamics and Control, Propulsion, Structures, Materials, Aerospace Vehicle Design, Flight Testing, Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles, or Orbital Mechanics. It is very helpful also to indicate whether the primary interest is in aeronautics or in astronautics. This input will help the department match students with faculty advisors.
Contact Information
KU Graduate School:
The University of Kansas
Graduate Applications Processing Center
1450 Jayhawk Blvd, Room 313
Lawrence, Kansas 66045-7535
785-864-8040
E-mail Office of Research and Graduate Studies
Research and Graduate Studies Website
Aerospace Engineering Graduate Advisor:
Graduate Advisor
The University of Kansas
Aerospace Engineering
2120 Learned Hall
1530 W. 15th Street
Lawrence, Kansas, 66045
E-mail Graduate Advisor
Minimum Requirements for Masters Applicants
Students who wish to apply for admission to the MSAE or MEAE programs must have as a minimum: a BSAE degree from a university or college with a program equivalent to the KU-BSAE program. Students applying with either: a BS degree from an aerospace engineering program which is not equivalent to the KU BSAE program, or: a BS degree from a non-aerospace engineering program will have to make up certain undergraduate AE courses at the discretion of the department graduate advisor. Such make-up courses will not count toward the MSAE or MEAE degree. International students must apply to the MSAE program. Internships cannot be guaranteed.
Minimum Requirements for Doctoral Applicants
Students applying for admission to the Ph.D. or D.E. programs must have as a minimum an M.S. or M.E. in Aerospace Engineering, unless they are admitted on a Fast Track basis with a bachelor degree in engineering. The department graduate advisor will evaluate the total academic preparation to determine if additional courses are required to prepare the student for graduate work in aerospace engineering. Any undergraduate courses which must be taken do not carry graduate credit. International students must apply to the Ph.D program. Internships are not guaranteed.
Except for BSAE, MSAE or MEAE graduates from KU, all applicants must supply a recent Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and three letters of recommendation from individuals familiar with their academic record and performance. Applicants must have as a minimum a GPA of 3.5/4.0 for all courses taken during their M.S. or M.E. program.
GPA Requirements
Applicants must have a minimum GPA of 3.0/4.0 for a regular admission status. In exceptional cases applicants with a GPA of between 2.75-2.99 may be granted probationary admission. In such instances the student must maintain a GPA of at least 3.0/4.0 during the first semester of graduate study at KU. Grades of D and F are not accepted. A student failing to maintain these standards will be dismissed from the graduate program. A probationary student who maintains these standards will automatically attain regular graduate student status at the end of first semester. On rare occasions and as supported by other strong evidence of achievement (e.g., significant industrial experience), a provisional admission status may be granted to students with a cumulative GPA below 2.75. After one semester of full-time graduate studies and maintaining a GPA of at least 3.0, a provisionally-admitted student has to file a petition to change his/her status to a graduate student with regular admission status.
Applicants from outside KU must submit Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores and three letters of recommendation from individuals familiar with their academic performance.
Transfer Credit for Graduate Courses
Up to six hours of approved graduate work may be transferred to KU from other universities. Students with a BS degree from KU may transfer up to eight hours of approved graduate work from other universities.
GRE Requirements
Applicants must have a minimum of 50% on the Verbal and Analytical sections of the GRE and 85% on the Quantitative section. Applicants with lower scores, but otherwise exceptional record, will be considered for provisional admission.
Non-English Speaking Students
Applicants for whom English is not the native language must submit an institutional copy of their TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) score achieved no more than two years prior to the semester of admission. The following standards will be applied (with the first score being the paper test and the second being the computer test):
Once on the Lawrence campus, all students, regardless of their TOEFL scores, will be screened by the Applied English Center (AEC). If a student is judged by the AEC to have a written or a verbal deficiency, the student may be required to take not-for-degree AEC courses. This will limit the number of degree-counting courses, which a student can take. In such a case the student should expect to take a longer calendar time to complete the graduate program. All students who have not satisfied the AEC requirements by the end of the third semester on the Lawrence campus will be dismissed from the graduate program.
