Earth & Planetary Sciences (M.S., Ph.D.)

The Earth & Planetary Sciences program offers a Master of Science degree, and a Doctoral degree.

Important: Transcripts and Letters of Recommendation are required of all applicants.

Read the Application Instructions ​ page for full details.

See the test score requirements for this program.

Below are specific requirements also needed for this program:

• Résumé or Curriculum Vitae
• A Statement of Purpose is required:
  • Recommended length is 2-3 pages.
    1. Why are you pursuing graduate school and what you hope to get out of the experience?
    2. Please describe your plans for graduate study at the University of California, Santa Cruz, including an articulation of the scientific questions you are interested in addressing and how they fit into your overarching research vision and broader career goals.
    3. Discuss how your professional background has motivated your research interests and how it has prepared you to succeed in graduate school.
    4. What attracted you to our program at UCSC?
  • Recommended length is 2-3 pages.
  • We use information from the personal history statement to provide context for our assessment of your application and to help identify candidates for UCSC fellowships. If you have faced and overcome personal hardship during your academic journey, we invite you to share that information in your statement. We are also interested in learning about plans for contributing to diversity and inclusion within the Earth sciences.
  • We also use information from the personal history statement to learn about certain characteristics that we feel are important for success in graduate school. We recognize that applicants have had varying levels of opportunity, so please discuss these three prompts in your personal history statement to help us look beyond your academic record and gauge potential:
    1. Successful graduate students strive to meet a standard of excellence and take responsibility for personal performance and improvement. Describe a major project, either academic or outside of academics, where you went above expectations and set yourself high standards. How did you manage short-term and long-term goals and how did you ensure that the work was of high quality to achieve the goals?
    2. Successful graduate students are proactive, taking the initiative to act on opportunities when they arise. Describe a time when you identified an opportunity, either academic or outside of academics, and discuss how you acted on that opportunity to advance your personal or professional goals.
    3. Completion of a research project requires persistence in pursuing goals despite obstacles or setbacks. Describe a time when you encountered challenges or personal hardships, either academic or outside of academics, and what you learned and how you grew as a result of those experiences.
    4. How would people who have worked with you describe you? (optional)
    5. What are you most proud of accomplishing (academic or nonacademic)? (optional)

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