Each applicant must show proof of English language ability by providing valid certificate copies of either of the following:

• TOEFL iBT with a minimum total score of 90
• IELTS Academic with a minimum overall score of 6.5
• EmSAT English with a minimum score of 1550

TOEFL iBT and IELTS academic certificates are valid for two (2) years from the date of the exam while EmSAT results are valid for eighteen (18) months. Only standard versions (i.e. conducted at physical test centers) of the accepted English language proficiency exams will be considered.

Waiver requests from eligible applicants who are citizens (by passport or nationality) of UK, USA, Australia, and New Zealand who completed their studies from K-12 until bachelor’s degree and master’s degree (if applicable) from those same countries will be processed. They need to submit notarized copies of their documents during the application stage and attested documents upon admission. Waiver decisions will be given within seven days after receiving all requirements.

A valid and standard (i.e. exam was conducted at a physical test center) Graduate Record Examination (GRE) general test certificate with the following minimum scores is mandatory for applicants applying with only a bachelor’s degree:

• 150 in verbal reasoning
• 150 in quantitative reasoning
• 3.0 in analytical writing

In an 800-word essay, please explain why you would like to pursue a graduate degree at MBZUAI and include the following information:

• Motivation for applying to the university
• Personal and academic background and how it makes you suitable for the program you are applying for
• Stand-out achievements, e.g. awards, distinction, etc
• Goals as a prospective student
• Preferred career path and plans after graduation
• Any other details that will support the application

The research statement is a document summarizing the potential research project an applicant is interested in working on and clearly justify the research gap which the applicant would like to fill in during the course of his/her study. It must be presented in the context of currently existing literature and provide an overview of how the applicant aims to investigate the underlying research project as well as predict the expected outcomes. It should mention the relevance and suitability of the applicant’s background and experience to the project and highlight the project’s scientific and commercial significance. The research statement should include the following details:

• Title
• Problem definition
• Literature review
• Proposed research/methods/solution (optional)
• Study timeline (a table, figure or a small paragraph presenting your plans for the four years in the Ph.D. program)
• List of references

Applicants are expected to write the research statement independently. MBZUAI faculty will NOT help write it for the purpose of the application. The MBZUAI selection team will review the submitted document and use it as one of the measures to gauge and assess applicants’ skills.

Applicants will be required to nominate referees who can recommend their application. Ph.D. applicants should have a minimum of three (3) referees wherein two were previous course instructors or faculty/research advisors and the other a previous work supervisor.

To avoid issues and delays in the provision of the recommendation, applicants have to inform their referees of their nomination beforehand and provide the latter's accurate information in the online application portal. Automated notifications will be sent out to the referees upon application submission.

Selected applicants will be invited to participate in an entry exam that will include questions related to the following topics:

• Math: Basic math questions related to calculus, probability theory, linear algebra and optimization.

Ph.D. applicants are recommended to read about these topics especially on how they are related to machine learning. Online research is encouraged, for instance, searching for “linear algebra for machine learning” on YouTube for useful video lectures. In addition, they can find courses on sites like Coursera, Udemy, and many others. Applicants are encouraged to review as many resources as possible. The following website is recommended for mathematics for machine learning: https://mml-book.github.io

• Machine learning:

Ph.D. applicants are expected to have basic understanding of different machine learning algorithms and concepts such as linear regression, decision trees, loss functions, support vector machines, classification, regression, clustering, convolutional neural networks, etc is important. They don’t have to master these concepts, but they need to have basic knowledge. There are many online courses and tutorials to get Ph.D. applicants prepared. Useful video lectures are available on YouTube, Coursera, Udemy, and many others. Applicants are encouraged to review as many resources as possible. The following website is recommended for deep learning: https://www.deeplearningbook.org/

• Programming

Strong programming background is important for Ph.D. applicants. They will be asked programming questions. Most questions are in Python but the specific language is not a problem since the questions are algorithmic rather than language-specific. Therefore, it is important to read about different data structures such as Arrays, Stacks, Queues, etc. It is also important to read about different programming algorithms such as sorting and searching algorithms, and complexity. Ph.D. applicants will be asked questions which require finding the output of a piece of code, finding the problem/error in a short code, and finding the code which performs a specific task.

The exam instructions are available here.
A technical admission interview with MBZUAI faculty will follow.