Frequently Asked Questions

Generally, we advise students with a B.S. to enter as a master's (M.S.) student rather than directly into the Ph.D. program. We will admit students with a B.S. to the Ph.D. program only if they have an exceptional record of achievement and have extensive research experience during undergraduate study. Publications and presentations to regional, national, and international meetings are evidence of your experience. Letters of recommendation from your undergraduate research mentor that explains your role in the research are also considered.

Admission requirements vary for the different graduate programs administered by the Department of Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences. These requirements can be viewed by clicking on the appropriate link(s) listed on the menu on the left side of this page. In general, all official graduate applications require (i) an official graduate school application form (completed online), (ii) unofficial transcripts (undergraduate plus graduate, if applicable), and (iii) a statement of purpose in which applicants describe their education, past research and/or work experience, and why they want to pursue study in their selected graduate program at Clemson University.

Recommendation letters are also important. The letter writers should be familiar with your academic performance and any research experience that you have. We require two letters for all MS degrees and three letters for all Ph.D. degrees. For international applicants, an English language proficiency test is required – we currently accept the following tests (minimum scores in parentheses): TOEFL (90), IELTS (7.0), PTE (61), or Duolingo (115). Applicants are not required to report GRE scores.

An admission status of “Accepted Provisionally” means that the Graduate School admissions office does not have your final official transcript. Most likely, you were admitted based on your unofficial transcript(s), or you haven’t yet graduated or provided a transcript with your final date of degree on it. Provisional acceptance doesn’t prevent you from registering or enrolling in classes, but you MUST provide your final official transcript(s) or certificate(s) (starting with bachelor’s and including any subsequent degrees) to the Office of Graduate Admissions during your first semester enrolled at Clemson University. A registration hold will be placed on all students who have not submitted final official transcripts during their first term.

An admission status of “Accepted Conditionally” means the applicant needs to complete specified conditions within two semesters (or on an alternate timeline specified by the program) of enrollment prior to full admission. A conditionally admitted student is not officially admitted to the university or to a degree program until all conditions are met. Until all conditions are met, students will be classified as non-degree students. Specified conditions may include, but are not limited to: completing an English language proficiency program and/or completing additional academic requirements. Once the specified conditions are met, the student must reapply to the program to be granted fully admitted status.

If the program accepts the student as fully admitted (meaning all requirements are met at an acceptable level), the Graduate School will issue a new decision letter and the student’s status will change from non-degree to degree-seeking. If the student fails to complete the conditions at the level specified or within the time frame specified by the admitting program, the graduate school will notify the applicant that they are not being admitted to the university and the applicant will be separated from the university.

It is best to apply for the Fall semester, which begins around the middle of August because the sequence of classes is designed for students who begin in the Fall. We do accept a few applicants each year for the Spring semester, which begins in January. However, there are usually no assistantships available for Spring applicants. Nearly all of our assistantships are awarded to applicants for the Fall.

We do not have a deadline for our applications. We accept applications throughout the year, but typically only admit during the Fall semester unless otherwise noted. If you wish to be automatically considered for a research or teaching assistantship, you must apply before January 15th for the following Fall semester. All application materials must be received before the deadline.

The Graduate School requires that English Language proficiency exams (TOEFL, IELTS, PTE, or Duolingo) for international applicants must have been taken in the last 2 years. The GRE is not required.

One of my teachers does not like online recommendations so obtaining the recommendation form from different universities is a difficult task. Can I send a recommendation letter from the teacher instead of the standard form of recommendation to your university?
Online completion and submission of recommendation letters is the most convenient and secure method available. Once you click “Submit Recommendation Request,” an email will be sent to your respondents informing them how to complete the online letter of recommendation. To ensure receipt of this email, please inform each recommender about this email prior to the submission of your application. Letters of recommendation are handled via an online recommendation system which is part of our online application. The host for this process is CollegeNET, the vendor that hosts our online application.

If your recommenders have technical difficulties while completing the letters of recommendation, they can send an email to lor_help@collegenet.com. The technicians at CollegeNET will be able to look at the letters of recommendation and help clear the problem.  You can change a recommender or send a reminder through the application portal (“Manage Your Account”). You can leave them a note and another email will be sent to the email address that you provided.

If your recommender prefers not to use the online form, they can download the form as a PDF and print it. Submission options are included on the form.

Statement of Purpose: You require a one-page SOP, however, in order to demonstrate my interest, background, and experience, I wrote a nearly two-page SOP, would that be a problem?
The SOP will be carefully evaluated during the admission process.  A longer statement of purpose or essay is not a problem. It is especially helpful for you to discuss your research experience and your research interests. This information helps to match you with faculty who can serve as potential advisors.

In my transcript, my university insisted on putting family name first (it is my nation’s custom). However, in other documents (eg. Recommendation letters) teachers may put my family name last. I am worried that this may cause misunderstanding. So how do I solve this problem?
Clemson University’s graduate admissions staff is familiar with this issue and has a good record of matching the documents with the proper application.

Financial Certification: Do I need to send the Financial Certification with all the other support documents to you at the same time, or later?
Once you are admitted, follow the steps found under “First Things First” then “International Students” on the Newly Accepted Students page.

Financial aid for our program comes in several forms. One is through assistantships, which the department or individual faculty member offers to qualified applicants. The department offers teaching assistantships (TAs), which typically provide tuition and a stipend for one to two years. Individual faculty members offer research assistantships (RAs), which also provide tuition and a stipend for one to three years. Applicants should contact faculty members who are conducting research that is of interest. Other forms of financial aid are fellowships that the applicant or admitted student obtains from sources outside the university such as the National Science Foundation or the US Environmental Protection Agency. These usually cover tuition and a stipend for one to five years.

Competition for financial aid is high and it is important to apply early (before January 15th) to be considered.

TA/RA Position Application: In order to apply for a TA/RA position, do I need to fill out some extra forms? Or I will be considered as a financial support candidate automatically?
In the online application, there is a checkbox that can be selected to show that an applicant is interested in receiving financial assistance.  Your official application must be complete by January 15th to be fully considered for an assistantship.

The Ph.D. program typically requires three to five years to complete. Matriculating students are required to take qualifying exams that cover the knowledge that would be expected of an M.S. graduate from our program. The Ph.D. coursework is custom designed for the student to supplement previous coursework or deficiencies revealed in the qualifying exams and to support the research area and interests of the student and advisor. The coursework and research hours must total 30 or more credit hours beyond the M.S. degree, or a total of 60 or more credit hours beyond the B.S. degree for those students who have been admitted without an M.S. degree.

Ph.D. applicants must have a faculty member who is willing to serve as a research advisor before they can be admitted to the program. Please visit our web page to learn about faculty research interests. Then contact faculty who share similar interests to you to determine if the professor is willing to serve as your research advisor. You may copy the graduate program coordinator and the graduate student services coordinator on any emails to faculty.

The Department of Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences currently has more than 100 graduate students in several graduate programs: M.S. in Environmental Engineering and Science, M.S. in Hydrogeology, Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, and M.S. and Ph.D. in Biosystems Engineering. There are approximately 50 students working on their M.S. in Environmental Engineering and Science, 10 to 15 students working on their M.S. in Hydrogeology, and 25 students working on their Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences. The Biosystems Engineering program typically has 5 to 15 students working on their M.S. and Ph.D. degrees each year.

The students come from a variety of academic backgrounds, and some have previous industrial or government experience. Students typically have backgrounds in chemistry, geology, physics, environmental engineering, civil engineering, chemical engineering, biosystems engineering, or mechanical engineering. Students hail from all over the United States as well as Mexico, Thailand, Vietnam, China, India, Poland, Ghana, Nigeria, and Turkey.

The majority of our master's graduates work in consulting firms. Some of the firms specialize in environmental remediation or water and wastewater treatment plant design whereas others are general engineering firms. Many of our graduates in Hydrogeology do field and modeling work related to site assessment and remediation at contaminated sites. Some of them work for engineering companies doing groundwater supply, and others work for the U.S. EPA or state environmental agencies. Many of our graduates in the Biosystems Engineering program work for environmental consulting firms from the ecosystems area, biopharmaceutical, biofuels, and food and agricultural bioprocessing sectors for the sustainable bioprocessing area. We generally have several students each year who receive job offers from industry to work as environmental engineers at plant sites. The job might involve the supervision of an industrial wastewater treatment system or compliance monitoring and dealing with environmental permits for air, water, or other emissions.

We also have graduates who work for state environmental agencies or municipal utilities. We have had a few graduates who found opportunities at federal agencies. Occasionally a graduate will find a job with a non-profit advocacy group or other non-governmental organization. Some of our graduates also pursue a Ph.D. with us or at another school. Our students find jobs throughout the US with many remaining in the southeast. Our alumni often come back to interview current students for job openings in their companies.

Our doctoral students also find opportunities in consulting companies and utilities as well as in universities and research laboratories such as the Department of Energy national labs. Those who chose an academic career often take a postdoctoral position first.