Application Requirements

Stanford Graduate Application

Applications must be submitted through the Stanford Graduate Admissions website. The online application for 2025-2026 Autumn Quarter entry to E-IPER will open in September 2024, and the deadline for submission is November 12, 2024.  We encourage you to review PhD Admissions FAQs and Advice from Current Students to assist in preparing your application.

For information on sections specific to the E-IPER application, please see below:

Experience

E-IPER requires you to upload your resume. Our Admissions Committee considers resumes to be complementary to our Statement of Purpose.

Recommendations

E-IPER recommends that at least two (2) letters of recommendation come from academic sources. At least one (1) of the recommenders be a faculty member at the last school you attended as a full-time student, unless you have been out of school for more than five years. Substitutions for faculty recommendations may include work associates or others who can comment on your potential for graduate work.

All letters of recommendation must be received by the application deadline. It is your responsibility to ensure your references know that this deadline is final.

Program Supplemental

The questions in this section are tailored to the E-IPER PhD program. We ask all applicants to indicate their faculty interests and provide answers to three (3) question prompts.

Faculty Interests

In order of preference, select four (4) potential advisors whose research interests best align with yours. For each advisor you select, explain how their work might be helpful in your own research, and how they could advise you on your areas of interest. The maximum recommended length is 300 words, or three-quarters of a page, single-spaced.

NOTE: To support your explanation, please review each potential advisor’s recent research and publications. The majority of your potential advisors should be Stanford faculty members. A list of faculty and affiliates can be found on E-IPER’s website; applicants may also list faculty/affiliates not listed on E-IPER’s website. Your potential advisor selections at this point are non-binding, however, the Admissions Committee will contact the advisors listed for feedback as part of our evaluation process. If you do not see an advisor listed on the drop down menu, please contact E-IPER’s Assistant Director of Student Services, Tara Arenas.

Question Prompts (Short Answers)

1. Tell us about the research question that you want to address in your time at Stanford. Explain why this question requires an interdisciplinary approach. Describe at least two disciplines, or subdisciplines, in which you would need expertise in order to address this question. Another way to think about what you would need to address your research question and your interdisciplinary approach: in which fields of inquiry (FOI) would you specialize? See E-IPER website for more details on FOI. The maximum recommended length is 500 words, or one page single-spaced.
2. Tell us about the most useful criticism that you have received regarding your scientific/research ideas. How did you act on this information? How did it change your scientific work or thinking? The maximum recommended length is 500 words, or one page single-spaced.
3. Describe how your experiences in the time since you earned your undergraduate degree influenced the way you think about the environmental issues/research of interest to you. How have you evolved as a researcher? The maximum recommended length is 500 words, or one page single-spaced.