Who should apply?
*** Interested students from Dr. Oscar Riera-Lizarazu, Associate Head for Graduate Studies, Texas A&M University Department of Horticultural Sciences.
If you have a passion to learn more about plants, their growth, their production, or their utilization, then you may be a good candidate for graduate study in Horticulture. Students with undergraduate majors in the plant sciences, including horticulture, crop science, plant pathology, environmental science, genetics, plant physiology, and biochemistry, may be well prepared for graduate work in Horticulture. If your undergraduate degree is not directly related to plants (for example, if you received a degree in business or English), you may still be eligible for our program; you may strengthen your preparation by taking additional courses before applying, or while pursuing your graduate degree. The flexibility of our program allows you to tailor your graduate studies to your individual background and needs.
Undergraduate students who are pursuing studies not related to plant science and who contemplate graduate work in horticulture should take as many courses in the basic physical and biological sciences as possible.
Application Materials
For a complete application for graduate study in Horticulture at TAMU, the following materials are required to complete your application. All materials should be received by the deadlines outlined below for priority fellowship consideration – including GRE and TOEFL. Applications are most competitive when these priority deadlines are met.
- An online completed application found at: https://www.applytexas.org/adappc/gen/c_start.WBX , on which the student should indicate horticulture as the major. More admissions information can be found at: http://admissions.tamu.edu/.
- An essay included in the application process that describes your area of interest.
- One complete set of official transcripts of all previously earned credits to be sent directly to Admissions from the institutions you attended. Applicants who attend school outside the United States or Canada must submit: transcripts, mark sheets, grade reports, or examination results, along with degree certificates from all higher education institutions attended outside the United States or Canada. When sending official transcripts from schools located in non-English-speaking countries, have each institution submit both the English translation plus an original language record. Please review the TAMU Admissions website: http://admissions.tamu.edu/ for further information on transcript requirements, as well as addresses to send your transcripts.
- Three letters of recommendation from professors or employers (to be sent directly to Admissions from the letter author). We can accept letters from the letter authors directly to the Horticulture Graduate Advising office, but admissions is the preferred submission route.
- Graduate Record Exam (GRE) scores (official copy to be sent directly from the testing agency to Admissions).
- Foreign applicants, for whom English is not their first language, must also submit TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) scores and meet minimum Graduate School requirements (sent directly from the testing agency to Admissions).
- A resume or CV (not required)
Admission Considerations
On the basis of the above data, the Admissions Office and the Department of Horticultural Sciences evaluate the prospective student’s qualifications. Recommendations for admission are made provided that:
- The student meets the University’s Admissions Office criteria. (http://admissions.tamu.edu/. )
- The student meets Departmental criteria;
- A member of the departmental faculty agrees to serve as that student’s major advisor, and
- There is a committed source of funding to support the student (an assistantship, outside funding or a commitment that the student will be self-supporting).
Successful applicants to the graduate programs typically have an undergraduate GPR of 3.000 or substantially better, GRE scores of approximately 153 in verbal and 144 in quantitative or greater, strong letters of support for admission to the graduate program from faculty mentors, a well written letter of application, and in the case of international students strongly demonstrated competency in English via TOEFL scores or other testing instruments. Applicants for the Ph.D. program who have successfully completed a prior M.S. degree usually have similar or greater qualifications than those outlined for admission to the Masters programs. Within the department, the decision for admission and recommendation to the Department of Horticultural Sciences is made by a graduate faculty committee selected according to your interests by the Associate Head for Graduate Programs. The decision will then be approved by the Associate Head for Graduate Programs. You will receive formal notice of acceptance into Texas A&M University as well as an official acceptance letter from the Department of Horticultural Sciences that you will be required to sign and return to complete your acceptance into the Department.
All applications once complete will be review by a committee to determine acceptability, but will be placed on hold until a faculty member agrees to accept the student into their program. It is critical that you communicate with the departmental faculty to express interest in working in their program and to determine whether they will have spot available in their research program.
English Language Proficiency
Foreign applicants for whom English is not their first language must also submit TOEFL scores, unless they have received a degree from an accredited university in the United States. Successful completion of the English proficiency examination will be required of foreign students before graduate teaching assistantship appointments will be approved by the Office of Graduate Studies. Special training in “English for Foreign Students” is available through the English Language Institute.
Transfer Credits
For information on transfer credits, contact Admissions http://admissions.tamu.edu/.
Deadlines
Applications are accepted at anytime and are reviewed as they are received. To be assured of consideration for admission to the graduate program in Horticulture, for a graduate assistantship, or fellowships the following deadlines should be met.
| Desired enrollment | Priority deadline for admission / University Fellowships |
| Fall semester | Prior to December 15 |
| Desired enrollment | Priority deadline for admission / College Fellowships |
| Fall semester | Prior to January 15 |
How To Apply:
To apply, visit the TAMU admissions web page at http://admissions.tamu.edu/.
Learn More
Request information to learn more about pursuing a degree in Horticulture.
Request Information
Other questions or inquiries may also be sent to:
Associate Head for Graduate Programs
Texas A&M University
Dept. of Horticultural Sciences
M.S. 2133
College Station, TX 77843-2133
HortGraduateStudies@tamu.edu