All applicants must meet Idaho State University Graduate School admission requirements for doctoral programs. Additionally, applicants must have attained a master's degree in engineering, physics, chemistry, geosciences, mathematics, or a closely related field. Applicants must submit a one-page statement of research interests, a one-page statement of career interests, a resume, and at least 3 letters of reference along with their application. The approval of the chair of major department is required for admission. In some special cases, a student with an exceptional undergraduate academic record and aptitude for research but without an M.S. degree may be directly admitted to the Ph.D. program with the approval of the Department Chair of the student's parent department.

International students who have not graduated from an accredited college or university in the United States and whose native language is not English normally must achieve satisfactory scores on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the International English Language Testing System test (IELTS). In recognition of the fact that COVID-19 has made it significantly difficult for many students to register for and take these tests, we are allowing students to take the Duolingo English Test in lieu of the TOEFL or IELTS test for applicants applying for admittance. Minimum of a 3.0 GPA required for newly admitted or current/former ISU Graduate Students. GPA required may be higher based on availability.

Toefl Internet-based test (iBT): a total score of 80 with a score of at least 20 on each Section, Computer-based test: a total score of 213 with a score of at least 21 on Section 1 (Listening Comprehension) on the computer test, Toefl Paper-based test: a total score of 550 with a score of at least 55 on Section l (Listening Comprehension) on the paper test. Satisfactory IELTS performance for Classified admission includes scoring 6.5 or higher on the total band score. Photocopies of TOEFL and/or IELTS scores will not be accepted.