Admissions Information

We invite applicants to watch this short video by the American Association of Geographers which provides an overview of what geography is and what geographers can do.

 

Students seeking admission to the Geography Graduate Group must have a Bachelors Degree and at least an overall GPA of 3.0 (B grade average) in relevant course work.

To Apply
For information about admission contact Carrie Armstrong-Ruport, Program Coordinator at caruport@ucdavis.edu. Interested students are invited to visit campus. Students may obtain application materials from the Web at: https://grad.ucdavis.edu/apply.

Students must submit the following with their applications:

  • Official transcripts
  • Personal statement including your biography and reasons for wanting to study Geography at UC Davis
  • Three letters of recommendation (including academic letters)
  • Application fee
  • TOEFL scores (for international students). 80 minimum score.

The application deadline is January 15. 

In mid September, you may apply using the admission application at https://apply.grad.ucdavis.edu/apply

  • The application fee is $135 (U.S.) or $155 ( international). 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.
  • Letters of Recommendation must be submitted electronically through the online application. Applicants should not have recommenders send letters in hard copy, but rather to submit all recommendations online.
  • UC Davis requires academic records from each college-level institution you have attended.  You will be instructed to upload scanned copies of your transcripts after you have submitted your online application.  For more details visit https://gradstudies.ucdavis.edu/submit-transcripts
  • Major Professor: Like many graduate programs, the GGG requires that students have a faculty member willing to serve as their Major Professor in order to be admitted to the program. Potential applicants should identify GGG faculty that they are interested to have as their major professor and contact these faculty in late summer or fall to discuss their interest in applying to the graduate program and the potential for supervision and mentorship by GGG faculty.  Applicants will be asked to list faculty who they are interested to have as their Major Professor. A firm commitment from potential Major Professors is not needed at the time of application, this will be finalized during the admissions process in consultation with both the applicant and the faculty.

     Here is a helpful resource provided by the UCD Animal Behavior graduate group with suggestions on how to approach a potential major professor (page 2). 

For questions about the application process or the Geography Graduate Group MA and PhD programs, please contact us.