Please read all pertinent information on the program and application requirements before you start the application process. Most questions are answered in these online materials.
Letters of recommendation are a critical part of the application. Faculty recommenders are usually busy and have requests from many students. It is imperative to ask for recommendation letters early and to clearly communicate the application deadline.
Convey all you want the committee to know about you in a compelling, concise application. We review several hundred applications, so avoid sending excess materials that are not required.
You must choose a primary and secondary area of emphasis of neuroscience from the dropdown menu in the online application. While your choice does not obligate you to follow any specific path once enrolled, failure to do so delays the review process.
All applications are submitted electronically through the UC Berkeley Graduate Application portal. Below are required components of the application you must submit in order to be considered for admission into the Neuroscience PhD program. We accept applications beginning mid September through early December for the following year's fall start cohort.
Please review UC Berkeley's Graduate Admissions information and Graduate Admissions Requirements (link is external) for futher information and requirements for all graduate program applicants.
Strong undergraduate preparation for neuroscience includes at least one year of college level coursework in one of the following disciplines: biology, physics, chemistry, calculus, or engineering. Additional coursework in cognitive science, psychology, biophysics, or neurobiology is advisable. Applicants should describe their research experience in the Statement of Purpose.
A bachelor’s degree or equivalent from an accredited institution with a minimum GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale is required for admissions. In addition, the Neuroscience PhD Program requires applicants to have at least one year of laboratory research experience.
Upload unofficial transcripts (ie, scanned copies) to your application. International applicants sould also upload scanned copies of their degree certificate(s). If admitted to the program, you will be required to send official documents to UC Berkeley after accepting your admission offer.
Unofficial transcripts must include:
If your GPA is on a 4.0 scale, please complete fields in the "Grade Point Averages (GPA)" section of the application: cumulative (required), advanced (required), major (required), intended field of study (if differnt from major), and cumulative graduate GPA (if applicable). Your cumulative GPA should be displayed on the transcript you upload as part of your application. Please upload a calculation worksheet for your Advanced Undergraduate GPA. There are some on-line GPA calculators you can find with a Google search.
If your GPA is not based on a 4-point scale, please do not convert to this scale. Instead, complete the “Other Scale GPA” field on the application using the scale used at your institution and be sure to upload documentation of their grading system (usually this is part of your transcript, but upload a separate document if needed).
You are required to submit three letters of recommendation. Letters should be from individuals who have supervised work in a laboratory, research, or academic setting and can comment on intellectual ability, creativity, scientific leadership skills, and scholarly potential.
You will be asked to submit the names and email addresses of your three recommenders as part of the online application. Doing so will inititate a request to your recommender for a letter and they will submit their letters online directly to your application using a unique link sent to them. You do not have to wait until letters of recommendation are submitted in order to submit your online application - be sure to submit your application on time regardless of your letter status. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that recommenders submit their letters by the deadline.
More information about Letters of Recommendation can be found on Graduate Division's Admission FAQs page (link is external) .
You will be asked to enter your test scores into the online application and to submit official test scores directly to UC Berkeley for verification. Send your test score directly from ETS to the institution code for UC Berkeley: 4833 for Graduate Organizations.
Graduate Record Exam (GRE): GRE scores are optional.
Evidence of English language Proficiency: All applicants who have completed a basic degree in a country/region in which the official language is not English are required to submit official evidence of English language proficiency: the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). Additional information including allowable exemptions can be found on the Graduate Admissions website.
You will prepare and submit two essays as part of your application: the Statement of Purpose (SOP) and the Personal History Statement (PHS). Please see general information about the Statement of Purpose (link is external) and the Personal Statement (link is external) provided by the Graduate Division. Below is more specific information petaining to the Neuroscience PhD Program.
Statement of Purpose: In the SOP, you should describe your motivation, preparation, and aptitude for PhD study in neuroscience. Please include a description of your prior research experience and accomplishments, with enough detail (for at least one project) to illustrate how you think scientifically. You should also discuss your future research interests and career goals and why you think Berkeley is a good fit for your PhD training. The SOP should be 2-3 double-spaced pages.
Personal History Statement: In the Personal History Statement (PHS), you should describe how your personal background and experiences influenced your decision to pursue a graduate degree. The PHS should not duplicate the SOP but should provide broader context on your personal story and goals. This may include how you overcame barriers to access higher education, how you have come to understand the barriers faced by others, your service to advance equitable access to education for under-represented groups, research you may have done that focuses on underserved populations or related issues of inequality, your leadership roles in such groups, and/or your plans in graduate school and your future career to address societal issues. The PHS should be 1-3 double-spaced pages.
The Neuroscience program page will be added to your application after you select "Neuroscience PhD" from the dropdown on the Instructions page of the graduate application. The fields on this program page are required and contain the following sections.
Study Emphasis/Research Concentration Section: Select the primary and secondary areas of neuroscience that best describe the research you intend to pursue within our program should you be admitted. Please see area of neuroscience descriptions.
Faculty Advisor Section: From the list of faculty provided in the application, select the names of at least 6 and up to 8 faculty members with whom you are interested in conducting research within the Neuroscience PhD Program. Please select faculty in rank order from most interested (#1) to least interested (#8). See list of program faculty with links to their websites.
Research Experience Section: Add information for up to 3 experiences in research: institution/employer, mentor/supervisor, postiion title, employment dates, hours per week. Leave blank if no prior research experience.
Total Number of Months of Full-Time Research: Please calculate the total number of MONTHS of full-time reseach experience you have had. Do not include lab classes in the tally. For each experience, convert part-time hours into months by dividing the total number of monthsts (M) by 40 and multiplying by the number of hours worked per week (hrs/wk).
Formula: (M/40)*hrs/wk = months of full-time research
Sum this across all your research expereinces to calculate the total months of full-time research and enter this sum into the appropriate field in the application.
Survey: Let us know how you heard about our program and if you have participated in any summer internship programs (internship name, institution, and start-end dates).
Potential Review by MCB, Psychology, or Vision Science Graduate Programs
In this section you may indicate if you are interested in having your application transferred to one or more of these programs if the Neuroscience PhD Program is not able to offer you admission. Please note that application transfer is not guaranteed and will only occur for select applicants.
The employment history section of the online application is optional. However, please upload your Resume/CV in the Supporting Materials section of the application. In addition to your work history, you may like to list any awards, fellowships, summer research opportunities, traineeships, prizes, participation in student organizations etc.
The application fee must be paid in order for your application to be reviewed. The application fee is $135 if you are a U.S. citizen or U.S. permanent resident, and $155 otherwise.
U.S. citizen and permanent residents may qualify for application fee waivers. Please visit the the fee waiver website (link is external) (link is external) for more information. Fee waivers are administered by UC Berkeley Graduate Admissions and not by the Neuroscience PhD Program. Please direct all fee waiver questions to gradadm@berkeley.edu.
You will submit the application fee through your status page after you have submitted your application. If you applied for a fee waiver, fee waiver decisions will be posted on your status page after submission of the application. Do not submit your application late.
The application payment system requires that you enter the exact billing address information on the credit card statement (no abbreviations, extra spaces, etc.) including the name, address, and security code. Please see below if your payment status is "pending" and/or your credit card is being declined:
Additional payment question or payment issues should be directed to gradadm@berkeley.edu.