A. bachelor's degree from an accredited institution,

An applicant must have a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.00 on a 4.00 point scale.
B. Some knowledge of the history of philosophy and of contemporary modes of thought is highly desirable, but not required, Deficiencies in these areas may require the student to undertake special work,

C. One official transcript of undergraduate record and of any work completed at the graduate level,

D. Letters of recommendation from three previous or current instructors,

E. Submission of a philosophical essay (which may be a paper written for a previous course),

F. Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Test scores and TOEFL scores for applicants whose native language is not English, and,

G. Acceptance by both the Department of Philosophy and the Graduate School.

Note that only GRE and TOEFL scores (F) that were officially submitted by ETS will be accepted. Stony Brook University's code for score reporting for both tests is 2548. The department follows the Graduate School standards setting the acceptable score on the standard TOEFL test for international students at 550 and above, or, a minimum score on the Internet-based TOEFL (IBT) of 90 with a minimum score on each subsection of 22 respectively.

All letters of recommendation (D) and the writing sample (E) are to be submitted electronically.

An applicant must have a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.00 on a 4.00 point scale.