PS As an applicant, you are required to submit an essay (approximately 1,000 words) describing your academic and professional background, your career goals, and how the program will help you achieve your goals. Your essay should contain only true information and your own, original writing. If you include a quote or text written by any other person or published in any printed or online format, you must surround the copied text in quotation marks (") and indicate the original source of the text. Heinz College admissions utilizes several methods to identify plagiarized and falsified content in uploaded documents. Submission of false or plagiarized material as part of the application for admission may result in automatic denial of admission to any degree program. CV As an applicant, you are required to submit a résumé along with your application for admission. Please submit a one or two page summary of your education skills, accomplishments, employment experience and volunteer experience. The résumé MUST be current and include all part time and full time work experience, the dates of when the employment began and ended and a brief description of your responsibilities under the title of the position. Click here for an example of a résumé. Please consider using the "Optional Essay" to address the reason for any "gap" in your résumé, if applicable. Your résumé should contain only true information and your own, original writing. If you include a quote or text written by any other person or published in any printed or online format, you must surround the copied text in quotation marks (") and indicate the original source of the text. Information reported on your resume is subject to verification. Heinz College admissions utilizes several methods to identify plagiarized and falsified content in uploaded documents. Submission of false or plagiarized material as part of the application for admission may result in automatic denial of admission to any degree program. Fee The Heinz College does not charge an application fee. RL All applicants are required to have three (3) recommendations submitted on their behalf. Recommendation forms must be completed by three people who can provide academic or professional references. Please note recommendations from friends, family members or acquaintances, and other sources not able to evaluate applicants on an academic or professional basis, will not be accepted. Recommendations are submitted electronically through the online application system by your recommenders. We do not accept recommendations submitted on paper. The applicant must input the names and contact information for each recommendation provider into the application system. Prior to requesting that your recommendation providers complete the recommendation online, be sure to check with them to ensure that you register them with the correct email address. Please let your recommenders know that they may upload an electronic document or scanned copy of a paper-based recommendation using the online system rather than using the text box response fields (but they must upload their recommendation via the online system). All recommenders will be asked to provide brief answers to the following questions. Recommenders may skip questions that are not applicable to what they know about an applicant. How long and in what capacity have you known the applicant? Please clearly indicate your position in relation to the applicant (i.e. - professor/instructor, direct supervisor, mentor, advisor, colleague, etc.). Do you believe the applicant gives her/his maximum effort and perseveres towards the stated goal when given a task, assignment or project? Please provide details to support your answer. Discuss how the applicant works in a group (including interpersonal skills) and/or functions in a leadership role. Describe the applicant's ability to communicate in oral and written form. Provide an example where the applicant worked to solve a problem or handled a difficult situation in a professional manner. If you are able, please describe the applicant's understanding of, background in and commitment to this academic/professional field. Please share any additional information about the applicant’s personal qualities, maturity, academic or professional record which you believe would be helpful to the admissions committee. Transcript All applicants to the Heinz College's Ph.D. programs must provide evidence of receipt of an undergraduate degree (a bachelor's degree or its equivalent) by a regionally accredited institution prior to matriculation*. Within the application form, students are required to list all colleges and universities where they have earned a degree or completed pre-requisite coursework related to applying to the Heinz College. We must receive an official transcript (please see instructions below) from each school you list within the application form. Each official transcript should show the titles of all courses taken, grades or marks received, and the date and title of any degree(s) conferred. We must receive official transcripts before your application will be considered complete. Please note: if you completed courses at one institution that transferred to another (transfer, study-abroad) for a degree, the degree-awarding institution's transcript will be sufficient if all of the transferred course titles and grades/marks appear on the degree-awarding institution's official transcript. the official transcript may differ from the unofficial transcript available to you as a student/alumnus. do not list institutions where a transcript was not issued. do not list secondary/higher secondary or high school. * Applicants who have not completed their bachelor's degree by the time they submit their application for admission may be admitted to the Heinz College with the condition they submit their final transcript, including their date of graduation, prior to the start of their first semester at Heinz. The following instructions pertain to all applicants for the Ph.D. programs affilitated with the Heinz College. (Applicants to the master's degree programs offered by Heinz College should click here.) Undergraduate Degree Transcripts from institutions outside of the United States: If you completed your bachelor's degree from an institution located outside of the United States**, we would prefer you use an academic credential verification service to obtain a course-by-course report rather than submitting your transcript directly from your previous instiution to our office. This is not a requirement for applicants to our Ph.D. programs. If you choose not to do so, please follow the instructions below for schools within the United States. If you choose to submit your international transcript(s) via a credential verification service, they will then send the report directly to the Heinz College either electronically or by mail. If you decide to use a transcript service, do not mail another copy of your transcript to the Heinz College. We will accept evaluations from any member of NACES (http://www.naces.org/members.html). Three of the largest companies are: 1. Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE): At minimum, please select the Course-by-Course Report. To keep costs to a minimum, be sure to select: H John Heinz III College - Carnegie Mellon University. "No Rush Service" As of February 20, 2015, the cost is $195 for the course-by-course report. 2. SpanTran Evaluation Services: Please use the order form to request the required report ("Course Analysis"). As of February 20, 2015, the cost is $140 for this report. 3. World Education Service (WES): At minimum, please select the BASIC Package and the course-by-course evaluation. Please select the following options: Under "Your Evaluation", Type of recipient = Educational Institution Under Services and Fees, select Carnegie Mellon University, followed by: Department = H John Heinz III College – Office of Admissions. "Turnaround Time" = 7-Day service As of February 20, 2015, the total cost is $204. If you choose a credential verification service not listed above, you will need to provide them with our mailing or electronic address, depending upon how they choose to send your report to the Heinz Admissions Office. Our contact information is listed below: ELECTRONIC DELIVERY: heinz-transcripts@andrew.cmu.edu MAILING ADDRESS: Heinz College Admissions Carnegie Mellon University 5000 Forbes Avenue, HBH 1102 Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA ** Fulbright Staff: Please contact the Office of Admission for further details. Transcripts from institutions within the United States: If you list an institution on your application that is located within the United States (including Carnegie Mellon University transcripts), your transcripts must be sent to the Heinz College in an official form. If possible, we prefer electronic delivery of transcripts. The transcripts should be sent directly from the registrar of the institution (if your institution offers this service) to heinz-transcripts@andrew.cmu.edu. Those transcripts that are mailed to the Heinz College must be enclosed in a sealed envelope (unopened) and signed across the seal by the registrar's office and mailed to: Heinz College Admissions Carnegie Mellon University 5000 Forbes Avenue, HbH 1102 Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA When ordering a transcript for a school that utilizes the eSCRIP online process, PLEASE BE SURE TO SELECT THE FOLLOWING RECIPIENT: Carnegie Mellon University, Heinz College Graduate Admission