Admissions - How to Apply

Application Deadline

The Population Biology (PBG) Graduate Group accepts applications for fall quarter admission only. PBG accepts applications for the Ph.D. program only (as we normally offer only the doctoral degree). Program application deadline is December 1.

  • Apply early! Don't wait until the last day. Once the deadline passes and the application closes, it can't be reopened.
  • Program application deadline is midnight December 1 (PST). All supporting materials (transcripts, test scores, letters of recommendation, etc) must be received by this date.  Incomplete applications as of this date will not be considered.
  • Under special circumstances only - a Master's in Population Biology is only earned by current students in the program who wish to earn their Master's on the way to their Ph.D.

Apply here

Admission Prerequisites

The following prerequisite courses are required* for admission (with UC Davis course equivalents noted in parenthesis):

  • Biology:  A one year course in introductory biology for biology majors (e.g. BIS 2 series or equivalent)
  • Calculus:  A one year course in calculus (e.g. MAT 17 series or equivalent)
  • Statistics:  A course in statistics (e.g. STA 13 or STA 100 or equivalent)
  • Ecology or Population Biology:  An upper division course in general ecology or population biology (e.g. EVE 101 or equivalent)
  • Genetics:  An upper division course in genetics (e.g. EVE 102 or equivalent)
  • Evolution:  An upper division course in evolution (e.g. EVE 100 or equivalent)

 

  • *Must I complete all preparatory coursework prior to admission?
  • Applicants who are offered admission with missing entrance requirements will be notified prior to matriculation.  Once enrolled in the program, students will be required to complete missing entrance requirements in the first year of residence in the program.  First year students will meet with their First-Year Guidance Committee to determine how the missing entrance requirements will be completed.  Entrance deficiencies in upper division courses must be taken for a letter grade; lower division courses may be taken for a satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade.  (We may recommend taking courses on campus, a community college, being a teaching assistant in a specific course, or other arrangements as deemed appropriate.)  Please email our Chair, sschreiber@ucdavis.edu, or our graduate group coordinator, smmann@ucdavis.edu, if you need further information.

Application Elements

  • Application
  • The application for admission is exclusively available through the online application system.  The application must be completed by the stated December 1 deadline.  
    Application Link
  • Application Fee
  • The application fee may only be paid via credit card. The appropriate fee must be paid before the application will be considered complete, and a fee must be paid for each individual graduate program application submitted.  
    CBS Application Fee Fellowship
  • CV
  • We require that applicants upload a current CV.
  • Faculty
  • Enter the names of faculty you have contacted and are interested in working with in the appropriate field. It’s okay if this is just one or two - only enter faculty whose lab you would like to join. PBGG requires that applicants have a major professor willing to accept them into their lab, so we strongly encourage you to reach out to faculty. Advance communication with potential advisors is a critical component of the application process. 
    Population Biology Faculty List
    Below are some resources with information about contacting faculty:
  • Fellowship Application
  • All applicants are very strongly encouraged to submit a fellowship application with their application for admission. Once you submit the online admissions application, you will be prompted to complete a fellowship application.
  • GRE Scores
  • Population Biology does not require the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) general aptitude test (effective for applicants for admissions to the 2021-2022 academic year and beyond). 
  • Letters of Recommendation
  • Letters of recommendation must be submitted electronically through the online application system.  Hard copy letters will not be reviewed.  You will need to provide the contact information for your recommenders to complete the application.  Once this information is entered, the application system will send your recommenders an email invitation to upload your letters.  Of course, you are welcome to also send a notice to your recommenders outside the online system.  It takes a few business days to load recommender letters into the application review database after they have been received.  We will accept letters of recommendation from employers where your service is directly related to your academic pursuits.  The remaining letters of reference should come from your major professor(s)/college instructor(s) who can speak directly to your scholarship and graduate-school potential.  Many letter writers are very busy as Fall semesters/quarters end during the holiday season.  As the application deadline approaches, follow up with any letter writers to ensure that they are received in time.
  • Personal History and Statement of Purpose
  • Include your personal history and full statement of purpose in the appropriate fields in the online application.  Our UC Davis Graduate Studies site has further information on both the personal history and statement of purpose elements.
    More Information on Personal History and Statement of Purpose
  • TOEFL / IELTS Scores
  • English language testing is required for all applicants whose native language and primary language of instruction is not English; TOEFL or IELTS scores are required for international students. UC Davis Graduate Studies will not accept TOEFL MyBest™ scores.  For all information regarding TOEFL and IELTS tests, please go to the TOEFL and IELTS requirement details here. Likewise there is important information in UC Davis Graduate Council Policy GS-2018-02 is available. The UC Davis Institution code is 4834.
  • Transcripts
  • 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. UC Davis will accept images of original paper transcripts, unofficial advising transcripts, or even web portal transcripts. (Applicants who are admitted to a UC Davis graduate program will receive instructions for sending the required official copies of their transcripts or academic records to UC Davis Graduate Studies.)
    More Information on Submitting Transcript

More Information on Admissions Application Components

The graduate group cannot review an application until all of the above components are received.  Inquiries concerning application procedures or any other aspects of the program should be directed as below:

Population Biology Graduate Group
Sherri Mann, Graduate Group Coordinator
2320 Storer Hall
University of California Davis
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616
(530) 752-1274
smmann@ucdavis.edu

Application Review

The PBGG uses holistic review to evaluate prospective graduate students. This means we employ a rubric to evaluate several potential metrics of success. Your application is more likely to be successful if you address the criteria below in your essays:

  • Academic Preparation: The experience of the applicant has prepared them for graduate level coursework and research in ecology and evolution
  • Quantitative Preparation: The quantitative experience or coursework of the applicant has prepared them for the PBGG program
  • Research Experience and Potential: The applicant has taken advantage of research experiences available to them and demonstrates curiosity, independent thinking, and problem solving abilities. In addition the applicant clearly communicates future research interests that fit within the PBGG program
  • Resilience: The applicant demonstrates the ability to overcome challenges
  • Leadership/Service: The applicant demonstrates commitment to a community through mentorship, engagement, or outreach
  • Contributions to diversity: The applicant will likely contribute to diversity of the field either through awareness of or experience with barriers facing underrepresented groups in science
  • Mentor: The applicant has had communication with a prospective PBGG mentor and the mentor communicates enthusiasm for the applicant (see resources in above sections for information about contacting prospective mentors)

Application Process

Admission to the Population Biology Graduate Group is basically a three-part process. 

Part 1:  In the first part of the admissions process, the Admissions Committee reviews all parts of the written application materials (transcripts, statement of purpose, personal history statement, and letters of recommendation) to identify a pool of candidates with outstanding academic credentials and research experience.  The Admissions Committee creates a list of potentially admissible students.  Thus, the major responsibility for the first part of the admission process lies with the PBGG program. 

Part 2:  The second part of the admissions process is no less critical than the first, and is different because the major responsibility for its execution lies with YOU, the prospective graduate student (although we will certainly try to be as helpful as we possibly can).

The second part of the admission process is to find ideal ‘matches’ between prospective students and PBGG faculty who can serve as their First Year Mentors (and often subsequently as their major professors).  In some cases, students may choose to be co-advised by two faculty.  Finding the right match involves first and foremost identifying faculty who share research interests with the prospective student, but also who have space in their laboratory group and can contribute to the financial support of the prospective student.

It is essential that prospective students contact faculty whose laboratories are conducting research in the areas that the student wishes to pursue to introduce themselves and inquire about faculty willingness to accept a new student.  This process of communicating with potential faculty sponsors often begins well before the written application is completed.  (There is little time between the application deadline of December 1 and the date when invitations go out for the recruitment visit; thus, it is helpful to correspond with potential faculty sponsors relatively early in the admissions ‘season’ -- students often correspond with faculty between September and December. Please see the descriptions of faculty research programs under the section "People...Faculty".)

Part 3:  Having been deemed admissible by the Admissions Committee and successfully identified one or more potential faculty advisors (who have expressed to PBGG staff their serious interest in having the prospective student join their lab), the prospective student will be invited to campus during the recruitment weekend.  This in-person visit is an essential final step in determining if the hoped-for match between prospective student and sponsoring faculty member (the First Year Mentor) exists.  Offers of admission to the Population Biology Graduate Group are generally sent out a few weeks following the recruitment weekend visit.

We wish you every success!

FAQs

  • What is a graduate group?
  • At UC Davis, some graduate degrees are offered by interdepartmental "graduate groups," which unite faculty with common research interests from across the campus.  The Population Biology Graduate Group was formed in 1992 by faculty committed to the study and teaching of population biology as a broad discipline that blends ecology, evolution, population genetics, and systematics into a unified field.
  • Can I apply to more than one graduate program at UC Davis?
  • Yes.  The online admission application will allow you to identify the various programs you wish to apply to.  Follow the instructions accordingly.  Remember that you will be required to pay an application fee for each program selected.  Example: if you are applying to our program and to the Plant Biology Graduate Group, you will be required to pay an application fee for each application.
  • What happens to my application after the deadline?
  • Please refer to the Application Review section above.
  • What if my transcripts or letters of reference do not arrive at your office by the application deadline?
  • Applications will not be reviewed by the Admissions Committee until all required materials are received.  The key is to plan early.  Remember that you can use your online account to track the status of required materials. It is to your advantage to check frequently to insure compliance with our December deadline.  The admission committee begins reviewing applications immediately following our deadline.

    Learn how long it takes for your academic institutions to provide certified transcripts; don't wait until the last minute to order.  Sadly, the program receives late transcripts long after the committee has made its decisions on interviews.

    Provide early notice to your three referees that you will be asking for letters of recommendation.  This way, each referee will know to look for the online notice in their e-mail.  Inform them of when the letters are due and how each institution may require a different method of letter submittal.  Fall can be a busy time for your referees and advance notice is always appreciated.
  • What are the minimum GPA requirements for entrance into Pop Bio?
  • The Office of Graduate Studies has set a minimum requirement of a B grade average (3.00) in prior coursework. The Population Biology Graduate Group has not set any additional minimum GPA entrance requirements.
  • Is the GRE required?
  • The GRE (Graduate Record Examinations) is not required for Population Biology admissions (as of 7/2020 and thus not required for applicants to the 2021-2022 academic year and beyond).
  • What is the required preparatory coursework for admission?
  • The following courses are required* for admission:
    • a one-year course in introductory biology for biology majors (e.g. BIS 1 or BIS 2 series or equivalent)
    • a one-year course in calculus (e.g. MAT 17 series or equivalent)
    • a course in statistics (e.g. STA 13 or STA 100 or equivalent)
    • an upper-division course in general ecology or population biology (e.g. EVE 101 or equivalent)
    • an upper-division course in genetics (e.g. EVE 102 or equivalent)
    • an upper-division course in evolution (e.g. EVE 100 or equivalent)
  • *Must I complete all preparatory coursework prior to admission?
  • Applicants who are offered admission with missing entrance requirements will be notified prior to matriculation. Once enrolled in the program, students will be required to complete missing entrance requirements in the first year of residence in the program. First year students will meet with their First-Year Guidance Committee to determine how the missing entrance requirements will be completed. Entrance deficiencies in upper division courses must be taken for a letter grade; lower division courses may be taken for an S/U grade. (We may recommend taking courses on campus, a community college, being a teaching assistant in a specific course, or other arrangements as deemed appropriate.)
  • Do you have a recruitment weekend?
  • Yes. The recruitment weekend is by invitation only. Invitations will be sent via e-mail in mid to late January. The Population Biology Graduate Group Recruitment weekend for those invited is held in February.  Candidates will have one full day to interview with multiple faculty members and current graduate students (Friday).  During the visit, candidates will lodge with Pop Bio students, and on the second day (Saturday), candidates will visit one of the nearby nature reserves.
  • When will I know if I have been accepted or denied admission to the Pop Bio program?
  • Those students eliminated during the first round of reviews will be notified in the last week of February if not sooner. Students from the second round will be notified of either admission or denial approximately one week after the recruitment weekend.  Please track your status using the online application system.
  • Why do I have to apply for fellowship?
  • To be eligible for program support (grants and fellowship) and other UC Davis fellowships, you must complete both the internal fellowship application and a FAFSA (note separate deadlines).
    • You will be prompted to complete the "UC Davis Internal Fellowship Application for New Students" as you progress through the online admission application.
    • U.S. citizens, permanent residents or immigrants must submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) online NO LATER THAN MARCH 1 to meet the California State deadline . (Earlier is better.)  International students are exempt from filing a FAFSA as international students are not eligible for federal financial aid.
  • What is the normative time to degree completion for the Pop Bio Ph.D. program?
  • Four to six years.
  • What if I only want a Masters degree?
  • Our graduate group accepts Ph.D. students only.  Under special circumstances only - a Master's in Population Biology is only earned by current students in the program who wish to earn their Master's on the way to their Ph.D.
  • Do you provide funding to graduate students?
  • Yes, please refer to the admissions offer letter you will be provided.

A Message from Our Chair

Dear Prospective Students:

My colleagues and I are pleased that you are considering graduate study in Population Biology at the University of California, Davis. We realize that you will be weighing many factors when considering your choice of graduate schools, so it’s natural for you to ask: Why should I consider UC Davis?

The Population Biology Graduate Group trains students who are interested in research and teaching careers at the interface of ecology and evolution.  Our approach is as follows. All students are trained broadly in an intense first-year core course that provides in-depth coverage of population and molecular genetics and genomics; behavioral, population, community, and evolutionary ecology; and phylogenetics and macroevolution. We also provide students with rigorous training in quantitative techniques. The program encourages students to have a high degree of independence in their research projects. This can be more ambitious than choosing a project that is tightly integrated into the laboratory’s overall research program, but we feel that it produces scientists who are truly ready to take the helm of a research laboratory upon completing the program. Our program is designed to challenge the very best students, and we are extremely proud of the outstanding achievements of our students after leaving UC Davis.

Areas of specialization include population growth, structure and dynamics (basic and applied); population interactions (competition, predation, parasitism, and mutualism); community ecology; food webs; behavioral and physiological ecology; life-history strategies; systematics; evolution; population and quantitative genetics; molecular evolution; statistical phylogenetics and comparative phylogenetic methods.

UC Davis is consistently identified as one of the best campuses in our nation for training doctoral students in ecology and evolution. For example, the U.S. News and World Report survey, "America's Best Graduate Schools 2007", ranked UC Davis No. 1 in Ecology/Evolutionary Biology. While we don’t take these rankings too seriously, we do believe that Davis is an outstanding place to study ecology and evolution. Furthermore, UC Davis is exceptionally strong across the full gamut of biological sciences. In addition to the veterinary and medical schools, there are over fifty biological-science departments (ranging from nematology and plant pathology to epidemiology and enology) on campus, with more than half of all faculty in biological fields. This wealth of expertise greatly facilitates graduate education in biology. Students have access to a wide range of courses and can consult with experts in almost any area. There are currently 39 faculty members in the Population Biology Graduate Group, with specialties from molecular population genetics to community ecology and ant systematics.

All graduate students in the Population Biology Graduate Group are also members of the Center for Population Biology. The Center also includes students from other graduate groups on campus (e.g., Ecology; Animal Behavior; Genetics), a large group of postdoctoral researchers, and approximately 40 campus faculty. The Center for Population Biology is tremendously active. The most visible activities include a well-attended weekly seminar, two annual student-driven workshops, an annual international competition for the highly coveted Center for Population Biology Research Fellow position, and a series of small seed research grants that allow graduate students and postdoctoral affiliates to initiate research projects and generate initial datasets, which are often used to support requests for extramural funding. Most students affiliated with the center are participating in center activities every week of the year, and informal gatherings (reading groups, social gatherings) occur at least as frequently as the formal events.  Collaborative research projects regularly emerge from the interactions of researchers within the Center. The Center for Population Biology and the Population Biology Graduate Group work hand-in-hand to create an outstanding opportunity for training on our campus.

We think you will enjoy Davis; it’s a true college town with a thriving community where it is easy to be a student. The city of Davis feels like it was designed for students, where you will almost always see more bicycles than cars, with a twice-weekly Farmer’s Market that sells some of the best produce in the country. Davis is also close to San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, Sacramento, and Napa and Sonoma valleys. So whether you are looking for a community, a concert, a hike, an art exhibit or skiing, you will not have to travel far.

I invite you to explore the Population Biology Graduate Group more closely by visiting our web site; please also visit the affiliated web site for the Center for Population Biology.  For additional information please feel free to contact me directly at sschreiber@ucdavis.edu or (530) 754-9229. Also, I encourage you to directly contact any of our faculty or our Graduate Program Staff Adviser, Sherri Mann, smmann@ucdavis.edu. We look forward to learning more about your educational goals and receiving your completed application.

Best wishes,
Sebastian Schreiber
Chair, Population Biology Graduate Group

Diversity Resources

The University of California, Davis values the diversity of viewpoints, backgrounds, and experiences in its graduate student population. The Population Biology Graduate Group encourages diversity in the application and recruitment process by participating in programs to improve graduate diversity, such as the University of California Office of the President Historically Black Colleges and Universities Initiative. Our admission criteria also include each candidate's potential for leadership in the university mission for diversity. The Population Biology Graduate Group strongly values diversity in all forms (the field in itself is very much a study of diversity at multiple levels of biological organization). The selection of students is very much influenced by the desire to train a diverse group. An important fundamental principle for the Population Biology Graduate Group Program is that it is student focused with students encouraged to be as independent as possible with as much support from the faculty as needed.

To assist in achieving these goals, the Population Biology Student Diversity Committee exists to increase and support student diversity in the graduate group. Specifically, the Diversity Committee aims to:

  1. Identify and implement methods of increasing student diversity in the program.
  2. Create a positive culture of diversity within the program that highlights and supports student and faculty diversity.

If you have further questions about the application process, please feel free to contact any of the Population Biology Diversity Committee student mentors.

More Diversity Resources at PB