Marine Affairs Ph.D.

Admission

A competitive applicant will provide the following:

  • Transcripts from their bachelor’s and master’s degrees
  • A personal/research statement describing:
    • Your professional goals
    • research experience
    • Your future research interests in terms of topics, disciplinary areas, methods, or other
    • Which specific faculty members in the department would make a good Major Advisor for you and why (please indicate if you have already had communications with these faculty members)
    • What you feel the PhD in Marine Affairs will help you achieve that you could not achieve without a PhD
    • See also: https://web.uri.edu/maf/maf-personal-statements/
  • Letters of recommendation from two references familiar with your potential for success in graduate study
  • A recent CV or resume
  • Applicants whose native language is not English must provide TOEFL, or IELTS scores

PhD applicants must identify one or more potential advisers in the department and provide a writing sample. After initial review of applications, PhD applicants will be invited for a remote or in-person interview with the admissions committee and other members of the MAF faculty.

Please review the information below before beginning the application process.

Deadlines for Fall Admission


M.A.M.A. program:
Dec. 15 – Applicants wishing to be considered for URI teaching or research assistantship funding
Feb. 1 – All other applications, including international student applicants
Apr. 15 – Fall admission   

M.M.A. program:
Jan. 15 – All applicants, including international student applicants
Apr. 15 – Fall admission

PhD program:
Dec. 1 – All applicants, including international student applicants

The department begins reviewing applications for admission to the M.A.M.A., M.M.A., and M.M.A./J.D. programs each year in January. Both domestic and international students who want to be considered for financial aid should submit completed applications by December 15.

You do not need a Marine Affairs faculty advisor when you are applying for admission, though you are encouraged to contact potential advisors before you apply–especially if you are applying to the Ph.D. program. You will meet many of the faculty active in the program in your first semester and will discover then who works on issues of interest to you.

Submit your application online through the URI Graduate School and be sure to note additional information for international applicants.

Online portion of the application

Apply

The URI Graduate School uses the Centralized Application System (C.A.S.) for all online applications. Detailed instructions are provided in the CAS system once you create an account.

To complete the online application, you will need to provide the following:

  • Personal contact and demographic information
  • Residency status (refer to Residency Guidelines if you are unsure of your status)
  • Intended start term
  • Plan of study to which you seek admission (M.M.A., M.A.M.A., Ph.D.)
  • Educational background (undergraduate institution, major, GPA, etc.)
  • Resume/CV – Showing education, work, volunteer, teaching, service experience, and publications (as appropriate). Add as an attachment to your application.
  • Personal statement

M.M.A. applicants must show three years of professional experience or an existing master’s degree. An explanatory note to this effect should be included in the personal statement.

Ph.D. applicants being considered for admission after initial review of their application will be invited for a zoom or in-person interview with the admissions committee.

Testing information – GRE scores are not considered in admissions decisions.

  • International students whose native language is not English are required to submit official results of the TOEFL or IELTS exam taken within the past 2 years.

Personal statement – you should prepare your 1-3 page statement in a word processing program and then copy and paste your statement directly into the space provided. Tell us about:

  • Your professional goals
  • What you might want to do once you complete the MAF program
  • What your passions are
  • What attracts you to the program
  • Who on the faculty you might like to work with (and why)
  • Why you are an exciting candidate for MAF
  • M.M.A. applicants who do not have a master’s degree should include a note about how they meet the requirement for three years of professional experience.
  • See additional guidelines to help you prepare your statement

Letters of Recommendation – two letters are required.
Enter the names, e-mail addresses and date of your request for each referee.
The referees will receive instructions for uploading their letters to the online system.
Referees will receive this message from the application system immediately after you save your application with their names and e-mails entered.
We recommend you notify your recommenders beforehand because the messages sometimes go to SPAM or Trash folders if security settings are high.
If for some reason your referees are unable to use the online system, they may mail a hard copy directly to the MAF department

Unofficial Transcripts – Please attach your unofficial transcripts as PDFs. Official transcripts will be required upon admission.
Writing Sample for Ph.D. Applicants only – Please attach PDF(s) of at least one example of your writing (e.g., masters thesis, published article)
Signature – type your name and the submission date to verify your application.
Application Fees – The Graduate School requires a nonrefundable application fee.

Supporting documents

If accepted, you will need to mail the following to the MAF program:

Official Transcripts – one copy of an official, sealed and stamped transcript from your undergraduate institution and graduate institution (if applicable)

Residency affidavit – if you are a Rhode Island resident seeking to be billed at the in-state tuition rate, you will need to provide documentation of your residency status as outlined in the Rhode Island Residency Guidelines.