Admissions

Deadline: Saturday, December 1, 2012

The Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmacogenomics Graduate Program at UCSF provides a welcoming environment for a wide range of diversity in its student population, including students with disabilities. Typically, qualified applicants will have diverse backgrounds with an undergraduate degree in the biological sciences, genetics, chemistry, bioinformatics, pharmacology, engineering and pharmacy. We encourage applicants with a strong quantitative background and an interest in translation to the pharmaceutical sciences to apply. Read more about our six research areas.

Admission is based on:

• Academic excellence.
• Letters of recommendation.
• Research experience.
• Personal interview.
• Graduate record examination scores.

Dates

The application for fall 2013 opens in September 2012.

The deadline to apply and provide all supporting materials is December 1, 2012.

The Admissions Committee reviews all applications and extends invitations to interview. Our interview visit will be in early February 2013. If invited to interview, your basic travel expenses will be covered by the program.

Final admissions decisions will be made by March 2013.

Application requirements

Prospective students can apply to only one graduate program at UCSF, with the exception of the Joint Graduate Group in BioEngineering, whose application is administered through the University of California, Berkeley.

The minimum requirement for application is a bachelor’s degree.

General GRE

We urge you to take the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) during the summer and early fall administration dates in order for us to receive scores by December 1, 2012. Scores are reported electronically to UCSF Graduate Division.

Please have scores sent to institution code 4840; a department code is not required.

UCSF does not have a minimum GRE score requirement.

Transcripts

Official transcripts from all higher educational institutions attended should be sent to the PSPG Graduate Program office by December 1, 2012. Send transcripts to:

Debbie Acoba-Idlebi
PSPG Graduate Program Administrator
Byers Hall MC: 0775
1700 Fourth Street, Suite 216
San Francisco, CA 94158-2330

Email: debbie.acoba@ucsf.edu
Tel: 415-476-1947
Fax: 415-476-6022

Submit the following information through the UCSF Graduate Division application:

1. General and demographic information
2. 3 letters of recommendation
3. Statements

A non-refundable fee of $80 for U.S. citizens and permanent residents or $100 for international applicants is required to finalize your application.

International applicants

In addition to the information listed above, international applicants must submit TOEFL scores to institution code 4840. Exemptions to this requirement are available. Details: minimum scores and exemptions.

Due to funding restrictions, we're limited in our ability to accept international students—admission is extremely competitive.

Student funding

All students admitted to the Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmacogenomics Graduate Program are supported by funding that covers tuition and fees, as well as a stipend for living expenses.

UCSF commits this support for the entire period of a graduate student's PhD training, as long as he or she remains in good standing. Typically it takes five to six years to earn a PhD degree, at a total cost of approximately $250,000.

Of particular importance to students is the annual stipend they receive for living expenses, which is part of this total.

The graduate student stipend for 2012 is $30,000.

UCSF gathers support for graduate student funding in the basic sciences from the following sources, with the majority coming from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through faculty grants and training grants.

• National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) of the National Institutes of Health Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmacogenomics Training Grant

All matriculated students are encouraged to apply for pre-doctoral fellowships.

Deadline: Saturday, December 1, 2012