PS A candidate statement of academic purpose should discuss your academic and career objectives in a concise, sharply focused, and well-crafted essay. This statement must be completed online as part of the Online Graduate Student Application. Admissions committees are particularly interested in this statement, so it is considered a vital part of your application. Therefore, you should be as specific as possible in discussing your academic objectives and research interest. There is a 2,500-word limit for the statement of purpose on our online application. The 2,500-word limit is division-wide. Please check the website of the program to which you are applying for more specific guidance. Fee The application-processing fee is $90* for all departments except Economics, which has a fee of $135. Your application fee payment may be made online by credit card (Visa or MasterCard only) at the time you electronically submit your application. If you make the application fee payment online using a credit card, it takes two business days for the payment to finalize. We do not process an application until that time. *The application fee will be waived for all applications to MA programs submitted before December 1, 2017. RL We require three letters of recommendation in support of each application. These letters will be submitted electronically through the online application. We do not accept letters of recommendation as attachments to an email or by fax. Special instructions for online letters of recommendation can be found in the “Recommendation” section of the online application. Transcript Please upload copies of your transcripts for all post-secondary schools that you have attended. If you transferred coursework from one school to another, and all course titles and grades are listed on the second school’s transcript, you do not need to upload the first school’s transcript. You should upload final transcripts from any schools from which you have received a degree, listing the degree name and date conferred. Please note: If you are admitted and accept our offer, we will require you to have an official transcript sent to our office from the Registrar’s offices at any schools you have attended. We will compare the official transcripts to the unofficial transcripts you submitted, and we reserve the right to revoke the offer of admission if there are any unexplained discrepancies. Applicants who did not attend an institution where the primary language of instruction was English must submit an official English translation in addition to the transcript issued in the language of instruction. Applicants may prepare the translation themselves and have it verified by a person whose position requires knowledge of both English and the pertinent language, such as a professor of English at a French university, or they may have the translation done by such a person. A signed statement or certificate of verification should be included with the translation. An official translation may also be obtained from a certified translation service, an embassy or consulate office, or other official entity requiring knowledge of both languages.