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| Application and Admission Process |
| Applicants from India often ask if a 3-year undergraduate degree from India is sufficient to be considered for graduate school. |
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The general BA in India is a 3-year degree and is not considered sufficient for admission to graduate school. In order to be considered, the student must have the 4-year B-Tech degree, or the 3-year degree plus the 1-year honors certificate, or the 3-year degree plus the 2-year Masters degree. |
| Are applicants who have already earned an M.A. degree favored for admission over applicants who have only a bachelor’s degree? |
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Not necessarily. What matters is how well the applicant’s application materials meet the admission requirements. |
| Are computer-based GRE scores acceptable? |
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Yes. |
| Are there minimum GRE scores required for admission consideration? |
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Yes. Applicants with GRE verbal scores below the 60th percentile (30th percentile for non-native speakers of English), GRE quantitative scores below the 70th percentile, or TOEFL scores below 600 (or below 250 if computer based exam; or below 68 if iBT TOEFL exam) will not be considered for admission. |
| Can GMAT Scores be submitted instead of GRE scores? |
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No, GMAT scores are not acceptable as a substitute for the GRE exam. |
| Can I apply for a waiver of the application fee? |
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The application fee is firmly required and can not be waived or deferred for international students. Applications will not be processed or reviewed for admission until after the application fee has been paid.
Exception: Only U.S. Citizens or Permanent Residents with demonstrated financial need can request a waiver. To do so, contact the Graduate Admissions Office to request a fee waiver application (contact Shelly Archer at slarcher@ucdavis.edu and include your name and mailing address).
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| Do the letters have to be from professors? |
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It would probably be best if the letters are from professors who have taught you economics. However, if you have been out of school for a long time or do not think professors would remember you well enough to provide good letters, you can provide letters from employers instead. It is up to you to decide which three people would give you the best recommendations. |
| Does work experience count in the admission process? |
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Typically not since it is not relevant to the pursuit of the PhD in Economics. |
| How can I get information about taking the GRE exam? |
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The GRE exam is administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), CN 6000, Princeton, NJ 08541-6000; phone: (609) 771-7670. You can contact the ETS directly by email at gre-info@ets.org or see information on the web, at: www.gre.org |
| How can I get information about taking the TOEFL exam? |
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The TOEFL exam is administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), P.O. Box 6151, Princeton, NJ 08541-6151; phone: (609) 771-7100. You can request information by email at toefl@ets.org or see information on the web, at www.toefl.org.
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| How many applicants are admitted to the graduate program each year? |
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As an example, for Fall 2008, there were 196 applicants, 93 were admitted and of those admitted, 23 plan to enroll at UC Davis, of which 15 are international students. Fall 2007, there were 207 applicants, 113 were admitted and of those admitted, 26 enrolled at UC Davis, of which 13 were international students. The previous year, for Fall 2006, there were 191 applicants, 85 were admitted and of those admitted, 24 enrolled at UC Davis, of which 7 were international students. |
| How many letters of recommendation are required? |
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Three. |
| I’m an international student and the grading system at my university is different than the U.S. grading system. Do I need to try to figure out a GPA on a 4.00 scale? |
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No. Just leave the GPA space on the admission application blank. Many applicants are international students from universities with different grading systems than the U.S. When we review your transcripts, we will see and consider the grading scale noted on them. |
| If admitted to the Graduate Program at UC Davis for Fall 2008 but unable to come to UC Davis, can the admission be deferred to the next year? |
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Admission is not deferred to the next year, but you can apply for admission again for the next year in competition with other applicants. |
| If an applicant was denied admission to the graduate program for Fall 2008, can he / she apply again for the following Fall 2009? |
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Yes. If you applied for admission for Fall 2008 and were denied admission, you should find out what the reasons for denial were and improve those areas of your academic record, sending evidence of improvement when you apply again. For instance, if you plan to apply again for Fall 2009, and you were denied admission Fall 2008 due to low GRE scores, you should retake the GRE exam and submit better GRE scores when you apply for Fall 2009. If your grades were not competitive for Fall 2008 you should take further course work and achieve better grades, so you can submit a newer transcript with evidence of better grades when you apply for Fall 2009. To apply again, you would need to submit a new online admission application and all materials over again, using the same application process as any new applicant. |
| If GRE or TOEFL scores, recommendation letters, or transcripts are not able to be submitted by the deadline, can I still be considered for admission? |
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Yes, you can still be considered for admission. Just do the best you can about arranging to have items submitted as soon as possible.
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| If GRE scores are several years old, are they still acceptable? |
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If your GRE scores are less than 5 years old, they are still acceptable. If your GRE scores are 5 years old or older, you must retake the GRE. |
| If I have taken the GRE exam more than once, how do you consider the scores? |
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All of the scores will be looked at and considered. We will be able to consider your best scores of each section of the exam. |
| If I haven’t had the required math or economics courses listed in the Admission Requirements, above, do I have a chance for admission? |
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No. |
| If I want to submit four recommendation letters instead of three, is there a way to do that? |
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No. The online system can only accept three letters and letters must be submitted online only. It is not acceptable to submit any recommendation letters by mail or by any other means than online. |
| If one of my recommenders will not submit a letter online, can I have a different recommender submit an online letter instead? |
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If a recommender has not yet submitted an online recommendation letter and you want to have a different recommender submit an online letter instead, you can change the recommender name on your admission application. This will only work if the recommender you want to change has not yet submitted an online letter. |
| Is a specific form required for submitting recommendation letters? |
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No. Remember to direct your recommenders to submit their letters ON-LINE ONLY, as directed on the on-line application. Paper letters are not acceptable and there are no exceptions. |
| Is it possible to take prerequisite courses (listed under admission requirements, above) when beginning the graduate program instead of before applying? |
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No. These courses must be completed and the grades for them should be included on your transcripts, when you apply for admission. There is no “conditional admission”. |
| Is the GRE Exam required? |
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The GRE exam is firmly required (the general GRE exam is required; the subject GRE exam is not required). It is firmly required of all applicants, even those who have already earned an M.A. Degree. |
| Is the TOEFL Exam required? |
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The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is required if English is not your native language unless: 1)you have received a degree from a university whose primary language of instruction (of the entire school) is English or 2) you have studied at least two years at a U.S. institution or 3) you have studied for at least one year at a UC (University of California). The minimum TOEFL score for admission consideration for the graduate program in Economics at UC Davis is 600 (or 250 if computer based TOEFL); (or total score of at least 68 out of a possible 120, counting all 4 sections of the iBT TOEFL (internet based TOEFL).
Arrange for ETS to send official paper TOEFL scores. As an alternative to the TOEFL, you may submit scores from the Academic Modules of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) designed by the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate and administered by the British Council worldwide. You are responsible for submitting an official Test Report Form (TRF) of your IELTS (a paper version TRF is acceptable of the IELTS because it is not yet possible to submit electronically to UC Davis). Remember to order the TRF when you register to take the test. Tests taken before June 1999 will not be accepted by Graduate Admissions. Your most recent overall BAND score must be at least 7 on a 9-point scale. To register for the IELTS, consult the IELTS Web site http://www.ielts.org/ or contact the IELTS Subject Officer, University of Cambridge, Local Examinations Syndicate, 1 Hills Road, Cambridge, CB1 2EU, United Kingdom.
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| Is the TSE Exam required? |
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The TSE exam is not required. However, international students admitted to the graduate program at UC Davis are required to take an English Exam after arrival at UC Davis, before the Fall Quarter begins. Students who do not do well on the exam may be required to take one or more English courses at UC Davis. |
| Is there a minimum GPA requirement? |
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Yes. The minimum overall GPA required for admission is 3.25 (on a 4-point scale). |
| Must applicants have an M.A. degree before applying to the Ph.D. program? |
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No, applicants can apply to the PhD program if they have a bachelor’s degree and if they meet the other admission requirements. |
| My recommenders do not want to submit recommendation letters online. Can I send the letters with my transcripts instead? |
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No. Recommendation letters must be submitted online only. Paper letters are not acceptable and there are no exceptions. If any recommender does not want to submit a letter online, you can instead ask a different recommender who is willing to submit one online. It might be easier to submit an online letter than your recommender thinks it will be. After you have registered your recommenders on your online application, they should each receive an automatic email directing them to submit a recommendation letter online. If any of your recommenders have trouble submitting an online letter, they can visit the Applicant / Recommender support site at http://support.embark.com |
| My TOEFL score is several years old. Is it still acceptable? |
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TOEFL scores must be less than 2 years old. |
| What are my chances for admission and/or financial aid? |
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It will depend on how each applicant’s records compare with those of a great many other applicants. It is therefore impossible to estimate an individual’s chances until all applications have been received and examined. |
| What are the Admission Requirements? |
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A bachelor’s degree, preferably in economics, is required. Students who did not major in economics should have taken at least intermediate microeconomics, intermediate macroeconomics, and two additional upper-division economics courses. Because of the quantitative nature of the first-year theory sequence, prior completion of at least one year of calculus is essential, and a course in linear algebra is highly desirable. Similarly, at least two courses in statistics, including an upper-division course, are very important as preparation for the econometrics courses. Also see GRE requirements, farther below. |
| What are the institution and department codes for arranging for ETS to send GRE scores to the Economics Dept. at UC Davis? |
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The GRE institution code for UC Davis is 4834 and the Dept. code for the Economics Dept. is 1801. Be sure to specifically request that ETS send the GRE scores to UC Davis ELECTRONICALLY, as Electronic scores are preferred. In addition, we will consider either official paper scores or a photo copy of them for admission review purposes. |
| Where can I find more information about application and admission to the PhD program? |
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See our website at: http://www.econ.ucdavis.edu/graduates_admission.cfm |
| Financial Aid |
| Are Research Assistantships available for newly admitted grad students? |
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No, Research Assistantships are not offered to newly admitted graduate students but they are available for students who are farther along in the graduate program. |
| As an international student, do I need to apply for a Nonresident Tuition Fellowship? |
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International students are automatically considered for Nonresident Tuition Fellowships, meaning that they are considered “as if they had all applied for a Nonresident Tuition Fellowship”, because we know that most international students need financial aid. So, it is not necessary for international students to submit a fellowship application. However, actual offers of Nonresident Tuition Fellowships are rare and if offered, they do not provide full financial support. |
| Do I need to apply for a Teaching Assistant position? |
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No – all applicants are considered for these positions. Typically half of the incoming class (i.e. around 12 students) are offered TA positions each year. Of these, a few are multi-year TA offers. |
| Does contacting individual faculty increase chances for admission or chances for receiving financial aid? |
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No, contacting individual faculty does not result in financial aid offers or better chances for admission or aid. |
| How many continuing graduate students receive financial aid, each year? |
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We cant predict in advance whether or not anyone is likely to receive future aid or not. However, most grad students in the program have plenty of TA and / or RA experience by the time they finish the program. We do not provide information about past aid offers to continuing students because it would not provide an accurate indicator for future financial aid. |
| How many newly admitted grad students are offered financial aid, each year? |
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Details about past financial aid offers are not provided because offers can vary each year as to how many are given, and how much aid per student, so that kind of information does not help predict future aid. Full financial aid is not available for international students. When offered, financial aid usually consists of a Teaching Assistantship or a Teaching Assistantship plus some partial funding towards Nonresident Tuition (such as perhaps about $14,500 as a possible example of a Nonresident Tuition Fellowship). Sometimes TA offers are two-year offers. |
| If a newly admitted grad student does not receive a Nonresident Tuition Fellowship at first, is there any chance one might be available later, before Fall Quarter begins? |
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After financial aid decisions have been made, the department informs new grad students by email about whether or not they will receive an aid offer. If a student receives an email saying that the department is unable to offer financial aid, that is really the case and the situation is not likely to change later. New students who are not offered a Nonresident Tuition Fellowship before arrival at UC Davis are not likely to receive one later during the first year, either. (Usually, if further funding for Nonresident Tuition Fellowships becomes available later in the year it would be offered instead to grad students who entered the program previous years). |
| If a newly admitted grad student does not receive a TA Offer at first, is there any chance one might be available later? |
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All new graduate students who didn’t receive a TA offer will be put on the department’s TA waiting list after arrival at UC Davis. If a TAship becomes available later during the year (usually in the Winter or Spring quarters), some new students can receive TA offers at that time. Also, new graduate students can apply for TAships in other departments on campus, such as at the Math, Statistics, or Agricultural & Resource Economics Dept. (students need to inquire at the other departments about TA application procedures, deadlines, etc.). If another department requires letters of recommendation along with a TA application, students can ask Marilyn Dexter of the Economics Department to send the other department copies of the recommendation letters that were submitted earlier with the admission application. |
| If I get admitted to the PhD program in Economics at UC Davis but do not receive a financial aid offer, are there any other financial aid options for the first year? |
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All new graduate students who didn’t receive a TA offer (Teaching Assistantship offer) will be put on the department’s TA waiting list after arrival at UC Davis. If a TAship becomes available later during the year (usually in the Winter or Spring quarters), some new students might receive TA offers at that time. Also, new graduate students can apply for TAships in other departments on campus, such as at the Math, Statistics, Agricultural & Resource Economics Dept., Sociology, Political Science, Graduate School of Management, etc. Students need to inquire at the other departments about TA application procedures, deadlines, etc. These positions are probably not likely to be obtained as early as April 15 and it might be better to wait to inquire about them until Summer or closer to the beginning of the fall quarter. In the past, new students have sometimes been able to get hired in positions like this after arrival here. If another department requires letters of recommendation along with a TA application, students can ask the Graduate Program Coordinator to send the other department copies of the recommendation letters that were submitted earlier with the admission application.
New non-resident students who are not offered a Nonresident Tuition Fellowship before arrival at U.C. Davis are not likely to receive one later during the first year, either. But for the second or later years, Nonresident Tuition Fellowships are offered annually, to international students, on a competitive basis.
See also the answer to the question about financial aid in future years (about aid after the first year in the graduate program). |
| What about financial aid for future years, after the first year in the graduate program? |
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Continuing graduate students can apply for financial aid each year, in advance, for the following year (Nonresident Tuition Fellowships and TAships). Nonresident Tuition Fellowships are offered annually, to international students, on a competitive basis. The department has a point ranking system that considers each students progress in the program, grades, performance on prelim exams and the quality of recent past TA evaluations, for those who have worked as TAs for our department. Continuing student financial aid for the following year is usually offered by early June each year. Our best students generally receive Fellowships for close to full Nonresident Tuition and almost all international students receive at least partial Nonresident Tuition funding. Additional aid is also offered in the form of TAships and, in later years, Research Assistant (RA) positions. RAs are entitled to have full in-state fees and nonresident tuition paid by the university, for RA quarters. Students can also apply for TAships or RAships in other departments on campus, such as for the Math, Statistics and / or the Ag. & Resource Economics Department.
International students become eligible for a "Reduced Nonresident Tuition Fee", after * “advancement to candidacy”. The “Reduced Nonresident Tuition Fee” is $0 for a period of up to three years beyond the advancement date. Students can become eligible for this by the time the fourth year begins.
We are well aware of the financial burden that tuition fees represent, and to date, we have been quite successful in providing assistance. If you have any further questions, do not hesitate to contact Marilyn Dexter (mldexter@ucdavis.edu) or Professor Stevens(annstevens@ucdavis.edu).
*(the Graduate Handbook at http://www.econ.ucdavis.edu/graduates_handbook.cfm provides further information about advancement to candidacy).
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| What are my chances for receiving financial aid? |
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It will depend on how each applicant’s records compare with those of a great many other applicants. It is therefore impossible to estimate an individual’s chances until all applications have been received and examined. |
| When will I find out if I will receive a financial aid offer from the Economics Department? |
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Newly admitted students will be informed by email, by approximately mid-March or later, about whether or not they will be offered financial aid. |
| Graduate Program |
| Does the Economics Department offer an MBA? |
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No. If interested in earning an MBA Degree, you should instead contact the Graduate School of Management. Information about the Graduate School of Management is on the web at http://www.gsm.ucdavis.edu/. |
| How does the department assist graduates who are searching for jobs? |
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The Economics Department has a professor who serves as a placement director, who provides information to students about applying for jobs. Graduate student resumes are posted on the web and students are notified about job opportunities. The department has "practice job interviews" and “job seminars” for graduate students, to help them practice and prepare for the job market. Placement information about jobs of recent graduates is available on the web. |
| How long does it take to complete the PhD program? |
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The normal time to completion is a bit over 5 years. |
| If I have already earned an MA degree in Economics, will it take me less time to earn a PhD degree at UC Davis than a student who has not yet completed an MA degree? |
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That depends on whether or not you would be allowed to skip requirements at UC Davis (see the answer to the question above this one, which includes information about that). |
| If I transfer to UC Davis after completing some graduate course work at a different university, would I be able to skip some requirements at UC Davis? |
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If you get admitted to the PhD program here, you can then request to have some requirements here waived if you feel that you have already fulfilled some of them in your current program. The procedure would be, after admission, to look over the Graduate Handbook carefully (the web address for it is included in the information farther below) to see which courses or requirements you would be asking about, and then you could email the Graduate Program Chair, Professor Ann Stevens, at annstevens@ucdavis.edu to ask if specific courses could be waived. You might be asked to send the syllabus of the requested course(s) so that she can compare your earlier course(s) with the similar course(s) here. Then she would respond to you. |
| Is it possible to pursue a PhD in Economics at UC Davis on a part-time basis? |
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No. |
| My degree objective is an MA in Economics. Is the Economics Department at UC Davis a good program for me? |
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No. The graduate program at UCD is focused almost exclusively on the PhD degree; hence only PhD applications will be accepted. While it is possible to obtain an MA while pursuing a PhD degree (see the Graduate Handbook for more details on this), all students must take the first year PhD sequence of courses in macroeconomic and microeconomic theory. You would not be able to specialize in fields of your choice in Economics for the MA Degree. If your interest is only in the MA degree, it is best to apply instead to a more applied program. For instance, the Agricultural and Resource Economics Department at UC Davis has a MS program (see: http://www.agecon.ucdavis.edu/)
If you want to earn an MA Degree from the Economics Department, you would have to apply only to the Ph.D. program. If admitted to the Ph.D. program, you could choose to leave the program after having completed MA Requirements.
If you already earned an MA Degree in Economics at another university, you are not eligible to also earn an MA Degree in Economics at UC Davis (UC Davis does not grant “duplicate” degrees). |
| Where can I find details about the graduate program in Economics at UC Davis? |
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Please see the Graduate Handbook for further details: http://www.econ.ucdavis.edu/graduates_handbook.cfm |
| Miscellaneous |
| How can I get a UC Davis General Catalog? |
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You can view an online version of the UC Davis General Catalog at:
http://registrar.ucdavis.edu/UCDWebCatalog/index.html
The General Catalog is also for sale at the UC Davis Bookstore for $5.00.
UC Davis Bookstore
University of California, Davis
2828 Cowell Blvd.
Davis, CA 95616-4902
Telephone: (530) 752-2944 |
