Applicant FAQ

To be eligible for admission to graduate study at Stanford:

• You must hold, or expect to hold before enrollment at Stanford, a U.S. bachelor’s degree or its international equivalent from a college or university of recognized standing.
• You must meet the university’s minimum requirements for English proficiency.

Refer to the Graduate Admissions Eligibility webpage for more details.

Citizens and residents of all countries are eligible to apply for graduate study and matriculate at Stanford University, including those who are undocumented.

A majority of the Biosciences PhD Programs do not have specific course requirements for admission.  The faculty like to see that you have taken a rigorous course load, but they will be particularly interested in your research experience.  While many of our graduate students have undergraduate preparation in a life sciences curriculum, it is feasible to enter from other programs, including chemistry, computer science, mathematics, psychology, or physics.  The Biomedical Data Science, Biophysics, Molecular and Cellular Physiology, and Structural Biology programs have prerequisite or background course requirements. We strongly recommend that you reach out to the programs to which you plan to apply, to ask for specific course requirements/suggestions.

You may apply to only one graduate program per academic year. The only exception is within the 14 Biosciences PhD Programs, where you may apply for two Biosciences PhD programs within a single application. The 14 Biosciences PhD Programs include:

• Biochemistry
• Biology
• Biomedical Data Science
• Biophysics
• Cancer Biology
• Chemical and Systems Biology
• Developmental Biology
• Genetics
• Immunology
• Microbiology and Immunology
• Molecular and Cellular Physiology
• Neurosciences
• Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine
• Structural Biology

Admitted students are expected to enroll in their Home Program in September of the year they are admitted. Deferral requests will be reviewed by your admitting program’s admissions committee and are approved on a case-by-case basis. The maximum length of an admissions deferral granted by Stanford is one year. Typically, deferral requests are only approved for military, medical, visa, or education-related purposes.

All recommendations must be submitted using the online application system as recommenders are required to respond to specific evaluation questions on the recommendation form. Letters of recommendation cannot be submitted via a letter service (i.e. Interfolio), mailed, emailed, or faxed.

The Biomedical Data Science program is the only Biosciences Program that currently offers an MS degree program.  Information about the program and its application process can be found on their website.

If you are not interested in one of the 14 Biosciences PhD Programs, you can find a list of all the currently offered degrees at Stanford (along with their contact information) on the Graduate Admissions Explore Programs webpage.

You will not need to secure a research supervisor prior to applying. Incoming students usually do 2-4 lab rotations during their first year.  Information on the rotation process can be found on the Rotations webpage.  If you realize a few weeks into a rotation that the lab is not a good fit for you, then there is no reason for you to stay any longer.

Graduate Admissions only requires admitted applicants who accept the offer of admission to submit official transcripts that shows their degree conferral. More details on this can be found on the following Graduate Admissions Transcripts (Academic Records) webpage.  Please do not send or have sent any transcripts to us or to your program. 

We have a limited number of fellowships (which include a yearly stipend, tuition, and health and dental insurance) available to the most highly competitive international applicants. The stipend for the 2026-27 Academic Year is $58,460 ($14,615 per quarter).  Admittance to the Biosciences Programs for international applicants varies from year to year, depending on funding and available space. We strongly encourage applicants to apply for scholarships/fellowships in their home country that can be used overseas. Some useful websites that include information on external fellowships are:

• Fulbright Foreign Student Program
• The Fogarty International Center at the NIH
• International Center at the Institute of International Education (IIE)

Applying for scholarships/fellowships generally takes some time to arrange, so plan ahead. You will be able to list any scholarships/fellowships that you have applied for and been awarded in the “Additional Information” section of the online application under “External Funding for Graduate Study”.  For more information about the costs and estimated expenses of attending Stanford, please visit the Student Budget webpage.

The Bioengineering PhD program is not one of the 14 Biosciences PhD Programs and has a separate admissions process and Interview Session.

On the Recommendations page of the application, click on the recommender’s name you wish to replace, then click Exclude at the bottom of the resulting popup window. You then will see the option to add a new recommender. The recommender you exclude will not receive an email notification.

For GRE Subject and TOEFL scores, refer to the ETS instructions for sending your GRE Subject and TOEFL scores. Stanford’s ETS institutional code is 4704. Individual department code numbers are not necessary. As long as you select the institutional code of 4704, the score is electronically delivered to Stanford.

For IELTS scores, send your official scores via the IELTS Results Service E-delivery option. Our organization’s account name is Stanford University Graduate. We do not accept test results via postal mail. For more information, refer to the IELTS website.

If more than two weeks have passed since you requested scores to be sent to Stanford, please submit a request to Graduate Admissions.

The Knight-Hennessy Scholars program funding covers the first three years and your admitting Home Program will cover the remaining years.

Applicants who wish to reapply follow the same application process as first-time applicants. Reapplicants have the option of using letters of recommendation from their prior submitted Biosciences application or having new ones submitted.  Prior applications from the Autumn 2024, 2025, and 2026 admission cycles have been retained. It is highly recommended that one new letter of recommendation be submitted on your behalf.  When completing the application, you will be required to enter the information for a minimum of three recommenders (including the information for the letter writers that you plan to reuse).

For the letters you plan to reuse, please notify your recommenders in advance that they will receive a recommendation request but should not take any action.  Once you submit your application, please submit an email to the Biosciences Admissions Office indicating which letters you would like to reuse so we can add them to your application.

Information about the English Proficiency Test requirements and exemptions can be found on the Graduate Admissions English Proficiency Test webpage.

In that case, the admissions representatives confer and attempt to determine which Home Program best fits your interests and should serve as your host. They will use the information you provided in your Statement of Purpose and on the Biosciences Supplemental Form. In most cases the best match is clear, but in rare cases where this is not the case, an admissions committee member will contact you directly to discuss with you which Home Program would be the best to host your visit. You will also have an opportunity to meet with faculty affiliated with other Home Programs during your visit.

You are asked to enter both GPA and GPA scale for each institution you list on the application. Enter your GPA as it appears on your transcript. Do not convert your GPA to a 4.0 scale if it’s reported on a different scale. If your institution did not calculate a GPA for you, leave this section blank.

There is no minimum GPA requirement to be considered for admission. The application review process is holistic and all aspects of the application (prior coursework, letters of recommendation, the statement of purpose, prior research experience, and test scores {if applicable}) are considered by the Admissions Committee when making an admissions decision.

Occasionally, some email servers will send recommender link emails directly to Spam or will not allow the email to reach the primary inbox at all (particularly for email addresses located outside of the United States). Please reach out to Technical Support by submitting a request via the “Request Application Support” button on the “Instructions” page of your application.

The offer of admission for the 2026-27 Academic Year included a stipend of $58,460 ($14,615 per quarter), health and dental insurance, and graduate tuition. Students are required to be enrolled at Stanford and in good academic standing within their graduate program to maintain these benefits. The stipend and benefits for the 2027-28 Academic Year will be set sometime in March 2027.  For more information about the costs and estimated expenses of attending Stanford, please visit the Student Budget webpage.

The Knight-Hennessy Scholars program develops a community of future global leaders to address complex challenges through collaboration and innovation. The program will award up to 100 high-achieving students with three years of funding to pursue a graduate education at Stanford. To be considered, you must apply to both the Knight-Hennessy Scholars by Tuesday, October 6, 2026, at 1:00 pm (PST) and to one of the Stanford Biosciences PhD programs by Tuesday, December 1, 2026, at 11:59:59 pm (PST).  Information about the program and the application process can be found on the Knight-Hennessy Scholars program website.