What is the UCGSES?

The University of California Graduate Student Experience Survey (UCGSES) is an online survey administered at UC Davis and each of the other UC campuses. It asks students for their input around a broad range of academic and non-academic experiences. All UC Davis graduate and professional students are invited to participate. Spring 2025 will be the third biannual administration of the survey, following its launch in 2021. 

Survey Content

The survey asks questions in the following topic areas:

Accessing the Survey

All graduate and professional students will receive an email inviting them to participate in the UCGSES. Students will log in with their CAS/Kerberos credentials. This site will also have a link to the survey when the 2023 UCGSES opens in April.

Students can follow this link to complete the UCGSES: https://ucal.us/ucgsesucd

Voluntary Participation

Participation in this survey is entirely voluntary. Your decision whether to participate in the survey will not affect your relationship with UC Davis, your academic program, or benefits to which you may otherwise be entitled.

Benefits

UCGSES is an opportunity for graduate and professional students to share their opinions. Data from the survey about the quality of the education, student services, and other aspects of the graduate experience help the University evaluate and improve programs and services. Read about how campus and systemwide results were used in this November 2021 data summary.

Prizes

As an appreciation for your time and as an incentive for participation, UCGSES completers are automatically entered into drawings for gift cards ranging in value from $25 to $200. The earlier you complete the survey the more chances you’ll have to win! The exact odds of winning a prize depends on the number of students who complete and submit a survey. Winners will be notified via their UC Davis email address about how to claim their prize. If you want to be entered into the drawings without submitting the survey, please email gradsurvey@ucdavis.edu.

Students in the following programs won gift cards this year: Agricultural & Resource Economics, Chemistry, Computer Science, Design, Earth & Planetary Sciences, Ecology, Horticulture & Agronomy, Law, Materials Science & Engineering, Medicine, Physician Assistant Studies, and Veterinary Medicine. Congratulations! 

Asking Questions and Reporting Concerns

The UCGSES engages sensitive topics around campus climate, including sexual harassment, discrimination, and student mental health. We need this information to understand and improve the environment on campus, but responses to the survey may not be reviewed immediately. If you have experienced or witnessed incidents that concern you, or if you need to take immediate action or disclose dangerous situations, you should contact the appropriate campus resource: 

• Report Hate and Bias
• Report Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Incidents
• Mental Health and Counseling Resources
• Other resources for graduate students

Also, please keep in mind that University policy requires all reports of sexual harassment and sexual violence against students to be forwarded to the UC Davis Title IX office. Students who disclose that they experienced sexual harassment or sexual violence while students may be contacted by the Title IX office with information about reporting options and support services available to them. 

Protecting Your Privacy

The main purpose of this survey project is to gain a fuller understanding of the factors affecting the success of graduate and professional students and the campus climate. The design of the study requires that we also obtain background information about you from official campus records. This includes but is not limited to program, degree objective, whether you have advanced to candidacy, years of attendance, gender, race and ethnicity. With appropriate Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval, the data may also be used in anonymized form for academic research.

Survey responses will be matched against student background information for aggregation and reporting purposes. Data that can identify you individually is limited to student ID, name, and email address, which are used strictly for the purposes of emailing survey invitations and reminders and for authentication into the survey. Please be assured that your identity will not be connected to your survey responses, your responses will be confidential and the results of the study will be reported only as aggregated (group-level) data. Any identifiable information that is obtained in connection with this study will remain confidential and will be disclosed only with your permission or as required by law.

Other Links:

• University of California UCGSES Site (UC Office of the President / Institutional Research and Academic Planning)
• University of California Graduate Student Well-Being Survey (2016)