1. There is no fixed number of vacancies and all candidates who meet the admission requirements will be accepted into our program. Find below the requirements:
a) Master's and Ph.D candidates must obtain a grade of 4 or higher on the "EUF" (the "Exame Unificado de Física", an entrance examination for Physics graduate programs in Brazil), or yet a 55 percentile on the "GRE Subject Test" ("Graduate Record Examination"); Direct Ph.D applicants must achieve a grade of 6 or higher on the EUF or a 65 percentile in GRE Subject Test.
b) filling out the admission form with all documents required so they can be reviewed by the Graduate Committee.
2. Will be considered eligible students those who have graduated from college or are enrolled in the last semester of the undergraduate course, therefore, those about to graduate.
3. Applicants can apply for scholarships provided by Brazilian funding institutions and administered by IFUSP Graduate Program. In order to rank the candidates, the Graduate Committee takes into account the grade obtained on the EUF/GRE and a score given based on a global evaluation of school records, curriculum and recommendation letters attached to the application form. See the menu Scholarships for more information regarding student aid and check our Calendars to know all key dates and deadlines of the admission process.
4. To enter the IFUSP Graduate Program it's mandatory to have the approval on the EUF or GRE. EUF occurs once every semester, normally around the months of April (1st semester) and October (2nd semester), and it should be taken on the semester prior to the registration. Registration for the EUF is done online and its calls can be found, both in portuguese and in english, in this platform. The result obtained on the exam can also be verified in the platform by the student themselves, who will then be able to know if he/she’s been approved. GRE follows a calendar of its own; see more information here: ETS platform.
To enter the IFUSP Graduate Program, the Graduate Committee takes into consideration the normalized average grade of the candidate in EUF, calculated through the following formula:
(Grade X 5,0) / Average
In which “Grade” is the final result obtained by the candidate in the exam and the “Average” is the average grade of all candidates who have submitted to the same edition of EUF.
All information regarding grades and average grades are available in the candidate’s individual newsletter, in the EUF platform.
5. After EUF or GRE, candidates must fill out the online application form. Be aware of dates and deadlines listed in the Calendars - you will notice that the applications usually happen before the EUF results are released.
In the form, students must upload the following digital documents (in PDF format):
a. Updated undergraduate transcript.
b. Updated graduate transcript for candidates who are enrolled or have already concluded the Mastership.
c. Curriculum Vitae.
d. Undergraduate diploma, or certificate of course completion, if the student is already graduated; statement of probable conclusion to those who have not yet graduated.
e. Graduate diploma, or certificate of course completion, if the student is already graduated; statement of probable conclusion to those who have not yet graduated.
f. Passport or other identification documents.
g. Indication of the EUF grade that you intend to use to enter the program. The Graduate Committee will only accept grades from the current EUF or from up to 4 previous exams. Example: student took the EUF on the 1st semester of 2023 planning to initiate his/her studies in the 2nd semester of 2023. He/she can use the result obtained in this edition or the following:
2nd semester of 2022 (to enter the program in the 1st semester of 2023);
1st semester of 2022 (to enter the program in the 2nd semester of 2022);
2nd semester of 2021 (to enter the program in the 1st semester of 2022);
1st semester of 2021 (to enter the program in the 2nd semester of 2021).
In exceptional cases, properly justified, the students can use results from even older EUF editions (up to the exam from the 1st semester of 2019 - to enter the program in the 2nd semester of 2019).
For GRE Subject Test, which retains the same expiration period stablished by ETS, the candidate must select the recent edition of the EUF in the online application and declare that he/she took the GRE in the field "Outras informações que considerar relevantes". Then, he/she needs to email the GRE results to alunospgif@usp.br.
h. A personal statement written bt the candidate, informing how his/her personal history led him/her to pursue a graduate education in Physics and how his/her particular experience and education provided him/her with the means and skills to do research, as well as any other information considered relevant for an evaluation on potential for working in research. The candidate should also bring attention to the most significant portions of his/her CV and mention his/her expectations towards our program. The letter must be written in Portuguese, Spanish or English (4000 characters maximum).
i. Acceptance letter from the advisor - mandatory only for candidates applying for Direct PhD. Students willing to enter the Master's program or the PhD courses don’t need a supervisor when filling the application form, but should try to find one until the enrollment period.
j. Research project signed by both the advisor and the student - optional for candidates to the Mastership and PhD, but mandatory for Direct Ph.D students. In case there is no project, Direct Ph.D candidates must attach to the form a project that has been successfully developed and concluded earlier, equivalent to a Master’s thesis.
k. Candidates must also provide a minimum of 2 recommendation letters for the application. We ask the students to inform the institutional emails of the recommenders who will then receive an automatic message containing instructions to submit the letters.
IMPORTANT: applications sent without the presentation letter and the 2 recommendation letters will lose points in the scholarship standings.
6. When applying to the PhD course, candidates who have earned their Master’s degree abroad must request a degree recognition, if possible, before the application period. By that purpose, please fill out the Formulário de requerimento de EQUIVALÊNCIA de título de Mestre, print all required documents and bring them to the Graduate Studies Office in person or send them through the post office service.
For further information regarding enrollments or any doubts, please write to us (alunospgif@usp.br) and don’t forget to check the Calendars for important dates and deadlines.
