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Academic Research PhD Programmes

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  3. General Admissions Requirements

Applications

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  • When to apply?
  • What are the admission requirements?
  • What are your tuition fees?
  • How to apply?
  • What happens after submission?

When to Apply?

All the PhD programmes are full-time. Most programmes accept only one intake per year, in August. The PhD in Computer Science/Information Systems accepts two intakes per year, in January and August.

The University’s application windows are listed below.

IntakeProgrammesOpening Date
for Application
Closing Date
for Application

August

  • PhD in Accounting
  • PhD in Asian Urbanisms
  • PhD in Business
  • PhD in Economics
  • PhD in Psychology

1 August
(of prior year)

31 December
(of prior year)

August

  • PhD in Computer Science
  • PhD in Information Systems
  • PhD in Law, Commerce and Technology

1 August
(of prior year)

31 January
(of intake year)

January
  • PhD in Computer Science
  • PhD in Information Systems

1 February
(of prior year)

30 June
(of prior year)

* A successful candidate who applies early may be provided with an early offer.


What are the admission requirements?

You can find out more about each programme's admission requirements here.


What are your tuition fees?

You can find out more about each programme's tuition fees here.


How to apply?

All applications would have to be submitted online. In each of the programmes’ websites, you will find detailed instructions on the application procedure. If you have already created an account with SMU (that is, you are an ‘existing user’), you can simply login and put in your application. If you are a ‘new user’, you would have to ‘create an account’ before you can apply. Once you have applied online, you will have to submit your hard copies either through post or personally to the respective Programme Administrators.

With particular reference to the compulsory tests (GMAT or GRE / TOEFL or IELTS), you may first submit your online application without the respective test score(s). You should fax or email the unofficial score(s) as soon as possible while requesting for Education Testing Services (ETS) to send the official score(s) to the respective Programme Administrators.

The application links for the respective programmes are below.

  • PhD in Accounting
  • PhD in Business Programmes
    • Finance
    • Marketing
    • Operations Management
    • Organisational Behaviour & Human Resources
    • Strategy & Entrepreneurship

      * On the respective PhD in Business programmes’ webpages, please scroll down to the ‘How to apply’ sections.
  • PhD in Economics
  • PhD in Psychology
  • PhD in Computer Science
    PhD in Information Systems
  • PhD in Law, Commerce and Technology
  • PhD in Asian Urbanisms

What happens after the PhD application is submitted?

In each of the Schools there will be a selection committee which will assess your full application package. A shortlisted candidate may be interviewed in one of these ways – face-to-face, or via telephone or web-conferencing.

Once the selection of candidates is made by the Schools, the admission offer letters will be sent to successful candidates. An estimated timeline of the application process is listed below.

IntakeMonth in which successful candidates could expect to receive the admission offer lettersPeriod by which successful candidates would accept the admission offer letters

August

[For all programmes]

March
(of intake year)
Latest by mid-April
(of intake year)

January

[For PhD in Computer Science/PhD in Information Systems only]

August
(of prior year)
Latest by mid-September
(of prior year)
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