Graduate Admissions

UC Davis is 15 miles West of Sacramento and 72 miles Northeast of San Francisco. The campus is among the most popular in the UC system because of its outstanding academic reputation and congenial atmosphere for living and studying. The Department of Political Science offers a PhD program and a JD/MA joint degree program that can only be done in conjunction with the UC Davis School of Law. For more information please click on the link below.

Graduate Program Brochure

Admission Procedures

The admission application (required) and fellowship application (encouraged, but not required) must be completed through the online application system. The admission application and fellowship application, along with instructions, will be available through the Office of Graduate Studies website (http://gradstudies.ucdavis.edu) beginning in early September.

The Department of Political Science accepts PhD applications and MA/JD joint program applications.  Please note that we do not offer a stand-alone MA program. Applicants for the MA/JD program must also apply directly to the UC Davis Law School if not already a law student.

For full consideration and review of your application, your online admission application must be completed by December 15^th and any transcripts must be post-marked by December 15^th.

The following information is required and will need to be submitted online as part of your admission application:

• Initial application (online).
• Application fee of $80 for the domestic application and $100 for the international application.  The fee may be paid by credit card or e-check.  The fee must be paid before the application will be considered as complete, and the fee must be paid for each application submitted.
• Three "Letters of Recommendation" must be submitted electronically by your letter writer through the online admission program (instructions will be provided on the Office of Graduate Studies website as to how to do this).
• GRE (Graduate Record Examination) scores.  These scores must be current (taken within the last 5 years) and should be sent electronically directly from ETS to UC Davis.  The ETS code for UC Davis is 4834, the code for Political Science is 1902.
• TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) scores if you have not studied at an institution and received a degree where the language of instruction is English.  These scores must be current (taken with the last 2 years) and should be sent electronically directly from ETS to UC Davis.
• Writing sample must be submitted electronically through the online admission program (instructions will be provided on the Office of Graduate Studies website as to how to do this).

Please also mail 1 original copy of your transcript from each higher education institution that you have attended or are currently attending directly to the department.  The transcript must arrive in the original sealed envelope as provided by the Office of the Registrar.

The address that you should send it to is below:

Graduate Program Coordinator
Department of Political Science
University of California, Davis
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616-8682