Admissions

Writing sample

Examples of writing samples include prior scholarly work such as term papers, theses, or published articles. All writing samples must be written in English and uploaded to the online application system as a PDF.

Writing sample

Examples of writing samples include prior scholarly work such as term papers, theses, or published articles. Individual writing samples (instead of co-authored) are preferred. All writing samples must be written in English and uploaded to the online application system as a PDF.

PhD

Writing sample

Examples of writing samples include prior scholarly work such as term papers, theses, or published articles. All writing samples must be written in English and uploaded to the online application system as a PDF.

Personal bio statement

Describe concisely how your personal background and life experiences motivated you to further pursue graduate education. The personal biographical statement is not a statement of purpose that describes your academic plan. This statement should be no more than 500 words and should be uploaded to the online application system as a PDF.

MFA

Portfolio

All MFA applicants must submit a digital portfolio for review. The portfolio should contain no more than 20 images/pages. All materials should be combined into a single PDF. If you would like to include links to videos and personal websites, please include those in the PDF as links that can be copied and pasted into an internet browser. Each link you provide must be its own page in the PDF. Please provide a brief description (one or two sentences) of what kind of content the link links to (e.g., “this link will take you to my personal website where I display the dresses I make”).

Writing sample

Examples of writing samples include prior scholarly work such as term papers, theses, or published articles. All writing samples must be written in English and uploaded to the online application system as a PDF.

Supplemental Application portion of the online application:

• Have you completed (or are you in progress to complete) a Master’s degree?
• If you are coming with your Master’s Degree, what month/year did you earn (expect to earn) it?
  • From where?
  • Did you do a research-based thesis for your Master’s Degree?

The following questions help the Graduate Admissions Committee better understand and contextualize your application. Please keep your responses brief (1-3 sentences or bullet points).

• Please briefly summarize your research interests or overarching goals.
• Please briefly summarize any relevant research experience that has prepared you for graduate study (if any)
• Please provide any additional information about yourself that you feel would be of assistance to the Graduate Admissions Committee in considering your application.
• Which HDFS faculty member(s) have you been in contact with?
• Which faculty member(s) do you feel would be a good fit as your advisor and why?
• How did you hear about the UW-Madison Graduate Program in Human Development and Family Studies?
• Which other schools/programs are you applying to?
• Upload research abstract (if applicable).
• Please upload a writing sample here. Examples of writing samples include prior scholarly work such as term papers, thesis, or published articles. All writing samples must be written in English and uploaded as a PDF.

See the rubric used for application review here.

No additional materials required

Funding Guarantee:

PhD students are guaranteed 4-5 years of full funding depending on the named option of our Human Ecology PhD program and whether they are coming in with a research based masters degree

How that Guarantee is met:

Our full funding guarantee is met through a graduate assistantship appointment (TA/PA/RA). At the School of Human Ecology, we handle appointing our students to teaching assistantship appointments. Students are responsible for sourcing a research assistant or project assistant appointment.

Our students are typically appointed at a 50% rate, which is about 20 hours per week, for the academic year, which is a 9-month appointment. Students in a graduate assistantship position receive full tuition remission and a stipend. For more information, see here.

Additional Information:

• You do not need to complete any application for a graduate assistantship or other funding along with your graduate school application.
• • When you complete and submit your graduate school application, you will automatically be considered for fellowships like the University Fellowship.
  • As well, after you accept your offer of admission, if one has been extended to you, we will then work with you to place you into a teaching assistantship position here at SoHE.
• Finding your RA or PA appointment typically occurs after you have been made an offer of admission and you have accepted that offer. Usually, our students PA or RA for their faculty advisor. However, this is highly dependent on the advisor. As such, the vast majority of our students are TAs in their first year

To demonstrate English proficiency, all international degree-seeking applicants must meet at least one of the following criteria:

• Earned a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited United States college or university.
• Earned a Masters or PhD degree from a regionally accredited United States college or university not more than 5 years prior to the anticipated start of enrollment.
• Earned an undergraduate degree equivalent to a bachelor’s degree from an international institution where English is the exclusive language of instruction. The language of instruction must be stated on the official transcript or verified as the only language of instruction.
• Completed at least two full-time semesters of graded coursework from an accredited institution where English is the exclusive language of instruction not more than 5 years prior to the anticipated start of enrollment. This coursework cannot include English language learning classes.
• Provided official and admissible results of an English proficiency exam to the Graduate School. Scores must be within two years from the anticipated start of enrollment.

Please note that Test scores typically take 2-3 weeks to be processed and connected to your application once received by the Graduate School. Much of our test score and application matching is done manually by the Graduate School. Your test scores will not connect to your application until the application has been submitted.

For more information on acceptable English proficiency tests and test score minimums set by the Graduate School, please visit: https://grad.wisc.edu/apply/requirements/

Uh-oh, looks like you submitted the draft version of one of your required or additional program materials. No need to panic as there are a couple of ways to resolve this.

1. If you have not yet submitted your application, you can simply go back to your application and update the document by deleting it and then choosing a new file.
2. If you have already submitted your application, you will not be able to go back to delete the document and choose a new file. Instead, you will have to email gradprog@sohe.wisc.edu outlining which document it is that you would like updated and provide the updated document. From there, we will add your updated document as “Additional Materials” to your application (We are not able to delete or change documents that have already been uploaded).

If one or more of your recommenders are not receiving the email that gives them directions for submitting their recommendation letter, then try these trouble shooting steps:

• Sometimes the recommendation request email can end up in your recommender’s junk or spam folders. Ask your recommender to check those folders. It could also be that the email was blocked by a firewall, in which case you may need to send a new letter of recommendation request using a different email address (e.g., a personal email address).
• If you have yet to submit your application, go to the Recommendations section of your application and double check that the contact information is correct. If the recommendation email is wrong, you can choose to Exclude that recommendation. Then you can use the Add New button to create a recommendation request and input the correct information for your recommender.
• If you have already submitted your application, log into your Graduate School application and go to your application’s status page. Scroll down below the Application Checklist, and select the recommendation page link to be brought to your list of recommenders. Select the recommender you wish to review. If the information provided is not correct, select the Exclude button and then use the Add New button to create a new recommendation request and input the correct information for your recommender.

If none of the above troubleshooting steps work, then we recommend deleting and re-adding your recommender, perhaps using a new email, to your recommender list on your application. Please follow the steps in the I need to update my recommenders. How do I do that? section to learn how to do that.

If you have yet to submit your application, you can edit your recommenders following these steps:

1. Log into your Graduate School application portal at https://gradapply.wisc.edu/apply/ and then select the application link.
2. Go to the Recommendations section of the application, where you will find a list of your requested letters of recommendation.
3. Select the recommender you wish to edit. If the information is wrong in the pop-up window, you can use the Exclude button, which will effectively remove this letter of recommendation from your application. In the same Recommendations section, you can then select the Add New recommendation link to create and send out a new recommendation request, either to the same recommender or a different person. The recommender will then have to fill out a new recommendation form.

If you have already submitted your application, you can edit your recommenders following these steps:

1. Log into your Graduate School application portal at https://gradapply.wisc.edu/apply/ and then select the application link to get to your Status Page.
2. In the Status Page, scroll down below the Application Checklist, where you will find the following instructions: “To re-send notification emails to your recommenders, re-visit the recommendations page …” Select the recommendation page link to be brought to your list of recommenders.
3. Select the recommender you wish to edit. If the information is wrong in the pop-up window, you can use the Exclude button, which will effectively remove this letter of recommendation from your application. In the same Recommendations section, you can then select the Add New recommendation link to create and send out a new recommendation request, either to the same recommender or a different person. The recommender will then have to fill out a new recommendation form.

Yes, your application is still eligible for review. We will offer a grace period of two days after the December 1st deadline for your recommenders to submit their letter. If your recommender has still not submitted their letter by by the end of this grace period (December 3rd), their letter will not be considered by the review committee.

Yes, you need an official translation of your unofficial transcript. Your school should provide an official translation of your documents, or you must have a translation done by your school or an official translator.

No, you do not need a WES, or any other, credential evaluation for your unofficial transcript

Every item that you submit for your application must be in English. If you have a document that is written in your native language, please have this document translated to English.

Review committees for each of the School of Human Ecology’s graduate programs typically begin their review of applications a week after the December 1st deadline.

The speed at which each review committee completes their review of applications and deliberations on who to invite for an interview depends on the size of the applicant pool that review committee has.

Admissions decisions will be announced sometime in late January. Therefore, if you are selected to be interviewed, you could be invited to interview sometime in late December or early January.

The December 1st deadline is a hard deadline, and extensions will not be granted for any reason.