Although Genome Sciences has a vibrant community of international scholars at the Ph.D. student and postdoc level, our Ph.D. program relies heavily on funding from the National Institutes of Health that can only be used towards graduate tuition and stipends for U.S. citizens and permanent residents. This structural issue limits the number of graduate students we are able to accept from countries outside the United States. We typically admit 2 or 3 international Ph.D. applicants per year, though we are able to accept more when they have procured their own fellowship funding.

To maximize your chances of admission as an international applicant, keep in mind that our admissions committee is not always very familiar with other countries’ grades, awards, honors, and educational systems. We make every effort to avoid letting these knowledge gaps bias our decisions toward students with achievements that are familiar and easy to evaluate (for example, research experience in US-based labs), but a clear explanation of the significance of your academic achievements, awards and honors will help us evaluate your application as fairly as possible. 

Note that international applicants are not eligible to apply for the fee waivers offered by the UW School of Medicine. If the $85 application fee presents a significant obstacle to your application, please contact Brian Giebel (bgiebel [ a t ] uw.edu) to discuss your candidacy.