Physics

Current graduate students may find the following links containing department and university policies helpful:

• Graduate Student Organization’s compiled resources
• Physics and Astronomy Graduate Student Handbook (PDF — Updated July 2025)
• Clemson Graduate School Policy Handbook
• The Graduate School
• Graduation deadlines
• Graduate School forms

After you have applied to Clemson, the status of your application for graduate study submitted through the Clemson University Graduate School can be checked online. If your status shows as accepted, this means you qualify for admission to the program. You will not officially be admitted to the graduate program until all final and official transcripts and test scores are received.

If you are accepted

After students are admitted, the Department of Physics and Astronomy makes all assistantship decisions. The Graduate School cannot tell you more about that status. It will typically take two more weeks before you receive official notification of an assistantship offer or if you are on the waiting list for an offer. If you are offered an assistantship, you must sign the letter and return it to accept the offer. All offers remain valid until April 15 (for admission to the fall semester) or Nov. 30 (for admission to the spring semester), after which they may be offered to other applicants. If you do not plan to accept our offer, please inform us as soon as possible so we may offer the position to another candidate. Note that fall classes begin in mid-August, and orientation for teaching assistants begins the first week of August. Plan to arrive in Clemson by the first day of orientation if you will be a teaching assistant for the fall semester. For the schedule for spring admissions, please contact the department.