Application Submissions by Mail / Email

Submit your application directly to the Department by mail or email and pay no application fee.

The Graduate School requires that applications be submitted online as described on the Graduate School website and these applications are not considered complete without the application fee. 

The Department has limited special funds to waive the application fee for US students: you need to select such a waiver when filling out the online forms. We are usually unable to consider mail or email applications from US students. 

Foreign applicants are generally expected to apply online.  We do recognize, however,  that for some prospective students paying the application fee poses an unreasonable financial burden. Therefore we accept applications sent directly to our Department with no fee from this category of foreign students only. The applications must be either in paper or in electronic format according to the instructions below.  We use exactly the same information irrespective of the method of submission.  Since our staff manually processes the paper or email applications, we must have the complete file (including letters of recommendation and a copy of transcripts) at least 7 business days before the application deadline. Late applications will be considered if there are remaining openings after the first round of decisions. 

Detailed Instructions for Paper/Email Submission

By January 1 the admissions committee must have your full package including your application form, GRE scores, TOEFL (or IELTS) scores,  your university transcripts, and letters of recommendation.  For the paper and email submissions, you must include all of the following: 

• Completed application form →  Blank application form in PDF format.
• GRE test scores → We are not longer requiring the GRE, however if you feel it will improve your application, you are welcome to submit it at your discretion.
• TOEFL or IELTS scores If you do not have a university degree from a country where English is the official native language, you need to take the TOEFL or IELTS test. For initial evaluation purposes, you may send us copies of your score; you will have to send an official score before we can formally accept you. Note that we require a minimum TOEFL iBt score of 100 (IELTS 7.0) for admission. We will consider applicants with TOEFL 95-100 (6.5 IELTS) if there is evidence of exceptional research aptitude. You do not qualify for admission if your TOEFL score is below this cutoff. 
• Transcripts from all colleges attended. For initial evaluation purposes, you may send copies.
• Three letters of recommendation.  The people recommending the applicant may send the letters of recommendation either electronically or by regular mail directly to the Department. Recommendation letters received from the applicant will not be considered.

For paper applications, submit them by regular mail to: 

Graduate Admissions
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA 70803-4001
USA 

For email applications, submit all the required documents to: 

pagradadmit@lsu.edu