Admissions Requirements

An undergraduate major in mathematics or statistics is typical for statistics graduate students, but is not required. However, because of the mathematical nature of some of the graduate coursework, students should be able to demonstrate good mathematical ability. Students without sufficient coursework in mathematics may be admitted with the expectation that sufficient mathematical background will be acquired during the first year of study. Applicants for the Ph.D. must have completed the course requirements (or their equivalents) for the M.S. degree in Statistics and at least one semester or two quarters of advanced calculus at a level equivalent to Mathematics 127AB and a quarter of linear algebra at a level equivalent to Mathematics 67.

The minimum requirements for the Statistics graduate program are as follows:

• Bachelor’s Degree with overall GPA of 3.0 or above
• One year of calculus
• One course of Linear Algebra
• Facility with a programming language
• Upper division coursework in Mathematics and/or Statistics
• GRE score of 1000 or greater (Quantitative and Verbal combined), scores must not be more than five years old prior to quarter of admission
• For international students, a TOEFL score of 550 for the paper exam, 213 for the computer-based exam, or 68 on the Internet-based test (iBT). Scores must be no more than five years old.

Please keep in mind that qualifying is not enough to be accepted. The process is very competitive and only a few of the very best are accepted, so if you lack a strong background in mathematics and statistics you may not be strong enough to be accepted. That having been said our program is one of the most outstanding and therefore definitely worth trying for.

Funding is available in the form of employment within the department as a Teaching Assistant; details of how to apply are found on the website. Teaching Assistants are eligible for fee remissions; details can be found here. There are also a limited number of fellowships available to help pay for non-resident tuition.

How to Apply

You should submit your application as early as possible. The deadline for all application materials is January 15th. Applications are made online at the Office of Graduate Studies; details of how to apply can be found on their website: (http://gradstudies.ucdavis.edu/prospective/apply_online.html).

The application fee is $70 for domestic applicants and $90 for international applicants. This fee is paid online at the time of application, and you can pay by credit card or by e-check. Please do not send checks or cash to the department. The application fee is non-refundable.

Three Letters of Recommendation must be submitted electronically along with your online application. Please do not have hard copies sent to the department. Transcripts must be submitted to the graduate program coordinator once you have completed your online application; please submit only one transcript for each university or college you have attended. Please submit all Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores to the graduate program coordinator. We require the General GRE test only, with a minimum combined score of 1000, and you must have taken the test within the last five years. If your scores are more than five years old, you will be required to take the test again before you can be admitted. When requesting your official GRE score be sent to us, please use institutional code 4834, department code 0704, and list the department as Statistics. Applicants whose native language or language of instruction is not English must take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) exam; if your previous degree was taken in the United States you can waive this requirement. We require a minimum TOEFL score of 550 for the paper-based test, or 68 for the internet-based TOEFL (iBT), and scores must be no more than three years old. Our TOEFL department code is 59.

If you wish to be considered for financial support, please include a Teaching Assistant Application, and be sure to submit an application for internal fellowships; please go to Graduate Studies (http://gradstudies.ucdavis.edu/ssupport/internal_fellowships.html) for more details.

The deadline for Fall 2009 applications is January 15th, 2009. Please note that we only accept entry in the Fall, and we do not admit part-time students. We look forward to hearing from you, and thank you for considering applying to our graduate program. If you have any further queries, please contact:

Graduate Programs Coordinator: Pete Scully (admissionswald.ucdavis.edu)

You can also contact directly:

Admissions Chair: Prof. Chris Drake (admissionswald.ucdavis.edu)

Graduate Adviser: Prof. Prabir Burman (burmanwald.ucdavis.edu)