Graduate Program in Sociology:
Application Process
Important Resources and Information:
Find out about our award winning faculty, the Sociology graduate admissions process and financial aid. This serves as the primary souce of information on our program. If you'd like to view our Graduate Course Listing, click here.
Please read before filling out your application or calling/emailing the Graduate Office with questions as most of them will be answered here. Be aware that UC Berkeley only offers a PhD program. No M.A. program is available.
The deadline for applications is December 14, 2007.
Currently, over 99% of applicants choose to apply online and if you have regular computer access, we encourage you to do this. If you would like a hardcopy, you may download the application in .pdf format. If neither of these options is possible for you, hardcopies are available upon request.
Be sure to read the Ph.D. Application Instructions below.
Information for Prospective Students and Online Application Instructions are both useful resources to read through as well.
If you are interested in programs or issues related to Diversity, contact Gloria Chun in the Social Sciences Diversity Office.
Find out more information about our new joint program.
Ph.D. Application Instructions
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY University of California BERKELEY CA 94720-1980
INSTRUCTIONS FOR APPLICANTS FOR GRADUATE ADMISSION - FALL 2008
DEADLINE DECEMBER 14, 2007
Read carefully this and all other materials with your online or hardcopy application before filling out any forms or submitting any materials.
Applicants must:
Graduate Office, Department of Sociology, 410 Barrows Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-1980
Please note that there is no other street address available for deliveries, so keep this in mind if using options other than the US Postal Service to send us mail.
Following is a list of all required Supporting Documents:
1. Three letters of recommendation, preferably from social science faculty familiar with your recent work and preferably written on the "Confidential Report on Graduate Applicant" forms provided in the Graduate Division application.
2. One sample of your written work in English (e.g. term paper, thesis, publication). Written work should be nonfiction and conducive to evaluation on its own merits. Thus, short stories and take-home examinations are poor choices. Admission committee members are especially impressed with writing samples that attempt to link theoretically informed arguments with empirical evidence.
3. An official Graduate Record Examination (GRE) score report (general test only) sent directly from ETS.
4. A complete set of official transcripts for all post-high school education (whether or not you got a degree) and a second set of transcripts for all schools from which you hold (or will hold) degrees (e.g. BA, MA).
5. Please compute GPA after 1st two years as indicated on Form B, if you went to a university in the U.S. If you attended a university outside of the U.S., the GPA calculation is not necessary.
The deadline for all applications is December 14, 2007.
That means that all documents required for your file should be here by then.
If you applied for admission for Fall 2006 or for Fall 2007, you may request that we use supporting materials from that application file for your current file. You must still submit a new Form A, and if you have done further academic work since your last application you must submit updated transcripts.
You are responsible for the completion of your application file. We cannot always notify applicants about missing documents. You may email us at socgrad_admit@berkeley.edu, or call the department's Graduate Assistant, Elsa Tranter, at (510) 642-1657, to find out if all your documents have arrived.
Applicants will be notified of department action by mid-March. Applicants for fellowships may hear from the department earlier about the outcome of the fellowship competition.
No application materials can be returned to the applicant nor can copies of materials submitted be provided to the applicants or other parties. Applicants do not have access to faculty evaluations of their application files and do not have access to letters of recommendation written for their applications.
Request for Information or Application
If you have more questions after reading the Handbook and the FAQs, please email the Sociology Department Graduate Office. Also if you don't have regular access to a computer to read these, and would like a hardcopy of the Handbook, please let us know and we can send one out. Include your full name and address in your request. We encourage applicants to apply online. You may also download the application yourself in .pdf format . If this is not possible for you, email us and we will send out a printed hardcopy.Download Forms
Using the links above in the Graduate Application for Sociology Ph.D. program section, you can download some part of the application or use the online application form.Downloadable documents are formatted in Adobe Acrobat PDF Format. Download requires Version 3.0 or higher. Click here to download current free version of Adobe Acrobat PDF reader.