![[Dept. of Food Science]](http://njaes.rutgers.edu/_common/images/subheads/foodscience.gif "[Dept. of Food Science]"){kind=small}
Students are admitted to our graduate program, either with or without financial support, depending on their qualifications and availability of funding. Fellowships and assistantships are highly competitive and usually available to applicants of the fall semester.
Each year, one or two Excellence Fellowships are awarded to the most deserving applicants. To be eligible, all application materials must be received by January 15. There are also other fellowships available in the university (http://gsnb.rutgers.edu/support.php3). Below are the general criteria for admission with possible financial support. Please note that meeting these criteria does not automatically guarantee financial support since there are usually more qualified applicants than funding available.
- Excellent academic records from a science discipline such as food science, chemistry, chemical engineering, biology, or related disciplines (typically 3.8/4.0 GPA or above)
- Three very strong letters of recommendation from professors or other professionals
- Excellent GRE scores (630 verbal, 780 quantitative, or above)
- For international student who native languages are not English: Excellent TOFEL scores (590 written test, equivalent to 243 computer-based or 96 internet-based, or above).
- For international student who native languages are not English: Good TOFEL scores (minimum written test score of 600; minimum computer-based score of 245; minimum IBT internet-based scores of 25 for writing, 26 for speaking, 24 for reading, and 22 for listening).
- Strong personal statement (1 page description of why you want to obtain a graduate degree in Food Science at Rutgers)
- Publications (especially in peer-reviewed journals), professional activities, leadership skills and experiences are pluses
- Some scholarships requires US citizenship or permanent residency
Graduate assistantships are typically provided by professors with research funding. There are only one or two teaching assistant positions in the department, but our students may also apply for teaching assistant positions in other departments.
Usually, our graduate students have a better chance of getting full or partial financial support after being in the department for a semester or more, such as working as research graduate assistants, hourly paid graduate students, or paid interns in companies through the Curricular Practical Training (CPT). During the course of study, many of our graduate students also receive scholarships with financial awards ranging from $500 to thousands of dollars.