Apply to the PhD Program

To be accepted into the program, you must have received a BA or BS degree or its equivalent prior to matriculation. A master’s degree is not required for admission to our program.

We look for candidates who demonstrate strong preparation and depth of understanding in the following areas:

• Research. Applicants should have research, technical, or scholarly experience equivalent to at least one academic year or two summers, with some evidence of your contributions to the project. This may include one or more posters, oral presentations, abstract submissions, publications, and/or letters of recommendation from a research advisor describing your research ability, productivity, and motivation.
• Mathematics. Applicants should have sufficient mathematical training, including Calculus I-III, differential equations, linear algebra, or equivalent courses.
• Biology. Applicants should have at least one year of college-level biology, which may include physiology or quantitative biology.
• Computer or data science.

Depending on your research focus area, other common expectations include:

• One semester of organic chemistry for the Immunoengineering and Translational Cell & Tissue Engineering focus areas
• Training in computational modeling, machine learning, and advanced programming for the Biomedical Data Science and Computational Medicine focus areas
• Training in instrumentation and signals and systems for the Imaging & Medical Devices and Neuroengineering focus areas

If you have questions about these expectations, please contact your faculty mentor of interest. In limited circumstances, exceptions to these expectations can be made depending on your background and training. If an exception is needed, please include the rationale for this, and any plans for fulfilling the expectations prior to matriculation, in your statement of interest as part of your application.

The application deadline for Fall 2026 is December 3, 2025, 11:59:59 pm ET.

Please complete your application using the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine online application system. Applications should be complete when submitted. In order to be considered complete, your application must have:

• Transcripts from each college or university attended. You may upload unofficial transcripts to the online application for review. Applicants who receive and accept an offer of admission are required to submit official transcripts to [email protected] prior to matriculation.  
• Three letters of recommendation from faculty, industry professionals, or others who are familiar with you and your research and/or academic work. These letters should comment on your aptitude, motivation, and potential for independent research, ideally with observed examples of your research, scholarly, or technical skills.
• A statement of interest. This one-page statement (Arial, 11-pt font) should indicate the basis of your interest in the BME PhD program. As part of your statement, please briefly address the following topics: (1) why you chose the Hopkins BME PhD program, (2) your prior research experience, including the overall field, any unique or specialized skills you developed, and your major contribution(s) to the project, (3) your research goals and interests for graduate school, including the type of research you want to do and courses you are interested in taking, (4) which faculty you would most want to work with for your thesis and why, including how you envision yourself contributing to their lab(s), and (5) your goals or career plans following graduate school.
• A current C.V. summarizing your academic, professional, and research experience.
• TOEFL or IELTS scores (for international students only; official copy). The TOEFL/IELTS requirement is waived if you completed or will complete your degree at a university within the U.S., or at an institution where English is the primary language of instruction.
• Application fee. More information about the application fee and application fee waivers, which are available to prospective students who meet certain eligibility requirements, can be found on the School of Medicine Graduate Admissions website. The BME PhD program is unable to offer fee waivers to prospective students who do not meet the criteria described by the School of Medicine.

Choosing Faculty and Research Areas of Interest on Your Application

The online application will ask you to indicate potential faculty mentors, research areas, and research key words of interest. Your application will be assigned to an admissions committee for review based on the faculty members and core research areas that you select on your application (Additional BME Information section). To ensure that your application is reviewed by the appropriate committee, please choose your faculty of interest and core research areas carefully. We strongly encourage you to contact faculty of interest in advance to confirm whether they are recruiting this year and to discuss whether their research is a good fit for you.

Please read these tips for choosing your research areas and learn more about our application review committees below:

Selecting a research area on my application

GRE Exam

Application

To apply to the PhD program, you must complete the online application by December 3, 2025 at 11:59:59 pm ET. Please review the required materials on the Preparing Your Application tab on this page, and tips for completing your application here. The PhD program admissions committee will not consider any application until it is complete. You may check the status of your application by logging into your online account.

Application Review

Applications are reviewed by admissions committees that are made up of participating PhD program faculty and organized by research area. The committee (and faculty) that reviews your application will be determined by the potential faculty mentors and research areas that you indicate on your application. We encourage you to select your faculty, research areas, and research keywords carefully to maximize your chances of finding a good match for your future interests and goals. To ensure that your application is reviewed by the most appropriate committee, please review the information found here.

Interview

The admissions committee will review completed applications and invite selected applicants to interview with our faculty by phone, Zoom, or similar virtual platforms. You must complete the interview process to be considered for admission, and final admissions decisions will be made from the pool of interviewed applicants. We will send interview invitations via email in mid-January, and faculty will conduct virtual interviews over a three week period starting in mid- to late-January. Selected applicants will be invited to an in-person campus visit in early- to mid-March to meet current faculty and graduate students, as well as learn more about the program and the Hopkins BME environment.

Acceptance

Most applicants will be notified via email by mid-February with the outcome of their application. A full offer of admission to the program will include a yearly stipend, full tuition, matriculation fee, and individual medical and dental insurance. This applies to every accepted applicant, regardless of citizenship or national origin. The deadline to accept an offer of admission is April 15.

Most admitted students will receive an offer to join a specific research lab directly from day one of the program (“direct match”). The PI of this lab will serve as your mentor and support your thesis research for the duration of your time in the program. Some offers allow you to choose from a small number of labs. In these cases, you may have the opportunity to rotate within this subset of labs.

Fellowships

We have a limited number of fellowships supported by NIH-funded training grants (available to U.S. citizens and permanent residents only) and other funding mechanisms (availability may vary by research focus area). These fellowships enable students to explore research in participating labs during the first year of the program through a series of rotations. Students who receive a rotation offer typically complete 1-3 rotations before choosing a thesis lab by the end of their first year.

For matriculation in Fall 2026, non-NIH fellowships are only available to students in the Neuroengineering focus area.

The Vivien Thomas Scholars Initiative (VTSI) establishes and strengthens pathways so that students from a broad range of academic backgrounds can pursue and receive PhDs in STEM fields at Johns Hopkins. Since its founding in 2021 through a $150 million effort backed by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the VTSI has welcomed 54 students – from more than 40 institutions across the United States – into PhD programs in 21 different disciplines across four Hopkins divisions.

Vivien Thomas Scholars must be accepted into a Johns Hopkins PhD STEM program through the regular rigorous and competitive application process and also go through an interview and selection process for the VTSI program. Scholars who have been accepted into both a PhD STEM program and the VTSI receive the financial support needed to ensure their success, including up to six years of full tuition support, a generous stipend, health insurance and other benefits, along with significant mentorship, research, professional development and community-building opportunities.