Applying to UC Davis Graduate Programs
Before starting or submitting your UC Davis graduate admission, review the campus and program-specific admission requirements listed below and on your program page.
Once you are familiar with the necessary, you can apply to UC Davis using our convenient online admissions application system. You will be provided with instructions for providing your transcripts or academic records and for checking the status of your application after you have submitted your application for admission.
General Admission Requirements
UC Davis offers admission to applicants who have the highest potential for graduate study and who, with the benefit of graduate education, are most likely to contribute substantially to their academic or professional fields through teaching, research or professional practice. UC Davis views as a high priority the enrollment of graduate students from different backgrounds and demographic groups.
Eligibility Criteria
- A minimum 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale (or equivalent) from the institution where you have earned or will earn your bachelor's degree.
- By the time they enroll, successful applicants must hold a bachelor’s degree or the equivalent that is comparable to a degree from the University of California both in distribution of academic subject matter and in scholarship achievement. Regional accreditation for U.S. institutions and authorization by a national higher education authority for international institutions (at the time the degree was earned) are used as the eligibility standard.
- Applicants whose native language or language of instruction is not English must submit TOEFL or IELTS scores, unless they have earned or will be earning a bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degree from either a regionally accredited U.S. college or university or a foreign college or university which provides instruction solely in English. See the English Language Requirement section of the website for details.
Additional Information
- If you are an international applicant, consult the information for international students for special requirements pertaining to your admission.
- In addition to the above noted requirements, graduate programs may require entrance exams, such as the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), other relevant ability or achievement tests, letters of recommendation, a GPA and/or English language testing score higher than the university minimum, and/or other program-specific material as the program finds appropriate.
- Please note that satisfying these minimum standards does not guarantee admission since the number of qualified applicants far exceeds the number of spaces available. As a consequence, many well-qualified applicants cannot be accommodated.
Admission Review and Decisions
Admission decisions are based on the quality of the applicant's academic degrees and record, the personal history and diversity statement, statement of purpose, letters of recommendation from professors or others familiar with the applicant's academic work, performance in aptitude and achievement tests, relevant work experience, preparation in the proposed field of study, and on the appropriateness of the applicant's goals to the graduate program and of the applicant's research interests to those of its faculty.
Some graduate programs have additional admission criteria that applicants must meet. Please refer to the individual program listings and contact individual programs for full details.