We are a highly ranked program in the southeastern part of the United States and we are located in a beautiful, safe, and affordable college town less than a two hour drive from Atlanta, Georgia.  The Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) has been granting degrees since 1931 and has over 4,000 living alumni. All degree programs are ranked within the top 25 percent nationally. Both Masters and PhD degrees are offered and are accredited. We also offer a Master of Engineering Management (MEM). Auburn University is a public land, sea, and space-grant university with strong academic and research programs in engineering, agriculture, natural resources, and the life and physical sciences, as well as additional doctoral and professional programs in architecture, business, education, forestry & wildlife sciences, human sciences, the liberal arts, nursery, pharmacy, mathematics, and veterinary medicine. As of Fall 2023, the department has about 233 graduate students, with about 71 of those being PhD students. Recent graduate students have been employed by companies such as Intel, Delta Airlines, General Motors, Honda, Accenture, Harris, Siemens, Hyundai and NASA and by universities such as Penn State, Old Dominion University, University of Louisville and University of San Diego. See what some of our most recent alumni are up to.

Look at these links for more information about the ISE graduate degrees, the Graduate School, and the city of Auburn and surrounding area. If you are an international student, look here for additional information.

Many (probably one-half) of our students do not have industrial engineering undergraduate degrees.  We have students from other engineering disciplines such as mechanical engineering, as well as students from other technical/science programs such as math degrees. This topic is addressed under required background on our website. 

In general, the department does not require applicants take the GRE. However, students with lower GPAs may want to include the GRE. The Graduate School has a minimum GPA of 2.75 requirement. For international students, the minimum TOEFL/IELTS score is 79/6.5. Official transcripts for all higher education coursework must be provided.

Letters of recommendation (LOR) are not required but may be included. Please use the LOR feature in the application system. Please do not send LORs or any other information directly to the department. 

The department does not do any pre-evaluation of applicants by email or other means. The only way to be considered is by filling out the application and paying the application fee.

All accepted PhD students are offered an assistanship for the first two years, which includes a tuition waiver plus financial assistance.