Grad School / Program:
- Contact:
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B84 Hildebrand Hall
Department of Chemistry
University of California-Berkeley
Berkeley, CA CA 94720-1
United States
Phone: 510-642-5882
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- Degrees Granted:
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Doctorate
- Programs offered:
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On-campus
- Description:
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The Ph.D. program is designed towards developing within each student the ability to do creative scientific research. A graduate student spends a good deal of time during the first week of the first semester at Berkeley talking to various faculty members about possible research projects, studying pertinent literature references, and choosing an individual project. New graduate students meet shortly after their arrival with a faculty adviser. From the faculty adviser the student obtains a list of faculty members whose research may interest the student. After visiting these and additional faculty, if necessary, the student chooses a research director, with the consent of the faculty member and the graduate adviser. By the end of the first semester most students have made a choice and are full-fledged members of research group. Students in the Chemical Biology Graduate Program will select their thesis advisor after completion of three-ten week rotations. Thereafter, all students become involved in library research on their projects and many begin actual experimental or theoretical work.
- Admission Information:
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2010 Graduate Application for Admission
Submittal of an application to the Department of Chemistry is electronic, and the application is available from the Graduate Division Admissions website http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/admissions/grad_app.shtml).
Shortly after submitting your application, you will be contacted via email by the department to select your research interest and to submit a research summary.
We do not require that you contact our faculty, but if you are interested in particular faculty, please list them on your application.
GRE (Graduate Record Exam)
Both the General Test and Subject Test (Chemistry test preferred, Physics or Biochemistry tests are acceptable substitutes) are required. There is no minimum score, and the requirement cannot be waived. The institution code is 4833, and the department code is 0301. For information about taking the GRE, call 1-800-GRE-CALL or visit the ETS website at http://www.gre.org. Current test scores are preferred, however, we will accept official scores from tests taken within the last five years.
Transcripts
Submit one official transcript for all college-level course work, including any post-secondary schools that you have attended such as community colleges, summer session, and extension programs, to:
University of California
Department of Chemistry
Graduate Affairs Office
419 Latimer Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-1460
Letters of Recommendation
Three (3) letters of recommendation are required. These should be from faculty you have worked with closely or supervisors from industry-related work experience. Your recommenders will be contacted via email to submit their letters on-line. (See online application for details.)
International applicants, please note the following additional admissions requirements
All applicants from countries in which the official language is not English are required to submit official evidence of English language proficiency.
If you have completed at least one year of full-time academic course work with grades of B or better in residence at a U.S. university, you do not need to take a standardized test. Instead, you must submit an official transcript from the U.S. university.
TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language)
The TOEFL is required of all international applicants from countries where English is not the official language. In Fall 2005, ETS began to phase in the Internet-based TOEFL. ETS will continue to administer the current computer-based (CBT) and paper-based versions of the TOEFL abroad until the phasing in of the new internet-based test is complete. The Graduate Division has established a minimum required score for admission purposes, of at least 68/ 120. The iBT emphasizes integrated skills, so its format and scoring is different from either the CBT or the paper versions of the TOEFL.The minimum score is 570 for the paper-based test, 230 for the computer-based test and 68 for the Internet-based test (iBT).
- Financial Aids:
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All students admitted to our graduate program receive a stipend for the duration of study in the form of teaching and research assistantships as long as they are in residence and demonstrate good progress toward the degree. Most funds for this support derive from research contracts and grants.
University fellowships are awarded in a campus-wide competition. The department nominates highly qualified applicants requesting admission for these fellowships.