Admissions
How to Apply
Thank you for your interest in the Goldman School of Public Policy. Students are admitted to GSPP in the fall term only, and on a full-time basis.
MPP Application Deadline for Fall 2010:
December 1, 2009December 1, 2009 is the postmark deadline for all applications, including fellowship consideration.
PhD Application Deadline for Fall 2010:
December 1, 2009 is the postmark deadline for all applications, including fellowship consideration. Please email all materials to or mail to Admissions & Student Affairs Advisor, Carla Vaccarezza, at GSPP.
The MPP Admission Process
The admissions application is available on-line. We strongly encourage you to use the on-line application. If you are unable to please contact the GSPP Admissions Office at gspp-admissions@berkeley.edu for alternate instructions.
The following items are required for admission:
- Completed on-line application: Graduate Division & MPP Supplemental applications.
The on-line application provides the opportunity to include the following:
- Resume.
- Statement of Purpose.
The Richard & Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy welcomes applicants from a wide variety of backgrounds and with a variety of career aspirations. Some of our students have had prior experience in the realm of public policy; others have not. It is helpful to us to know more about your background, your motivation, and your long-term goals than can be inferred from your records and references. We would appreciate your helping us by supplying a brief statement of 3-5 pages, double-spaced.
Please address some of these areas:
The present: Why do you want to take an educational program in the analysis and management of public policy?
The past: What experiences or activities bear on your qualifications for this program, e.g., research papers, study groups, job responsibilities, policy or political projects? How do these experiences relate to your decision to undertake the study of public policy analysis and management? If you have been out of school for a year or more, please indicate the positions you have held and your major activities.
The future: What kinds of work and activity would you like to engage in following graduation, and what are your long-range career objectives?
Please supply whatever information you think may help us to understand your candidacy more fully. - Personal History Statement.
Please describe how your personal background informs your decision to pursue a graduate degree. Please include information on how you have overcome barriers to access in higher education, evidence of how you have come to understand the barriers faced by others, evidence of your academic service to advance equitable access to higher education for women, racial minorities, and individuals from other groups that have been historically underrepresented in higher education, evidence of your research focusing on underserved populations or related issues of inequality, or evidence of your leadership among such groups.
- Three letters of recommendation.
The following should be mailed directly to GSPP:
- Two sets of transcripts from all universities or colleges attended. One set can be a photocopy. The other set must be an original copy. Transcripts may be included with other application materials as long as the transcripts are sealed in an official university or college envelope. If you studied abroad, either as part of an exchange program administered by your school or on your own, request official transcripts and include them with your application. If you are unable to obtain the records, please include a letter of explanation with your application.
- Graduate Record Exam (GRE) General Exam. Please have the scores sent to us directly. However to expedite the processing of your application, you may submit a photocopy of your GRE scores as soon as you receive them. GRE scores usually take 14 days to arrive at the department. To meet the application deadline, you would need to take the computer-based GRE no later than November 15th. Our institution code is 4833, and our department code is 1903.
Reservations for the GRE exam should be made in advance through:- The Education Testing Service (ETS), P.O. Box 6000, Princeton, NJ 08541-6000; Phone: 609-771-7670 or
- 1-800-GRE-CALL; Website: http://www.gre.org.
- Three letters of recommendation submitted through the on-line application or in individual envelopes, which the recommender has sealed and signed across the seal. GSPP does not require the form G from the Graduate Division Application as long as the letters are on official letterhead.
- TOEFL Scores (for international applicants).Scores before June 2007 are no longer valid. Use institution code 4833 and department code 94. You may sign up for the TOEFL through an agent in your country or through: TOEFL, CN6151, Princeton, NJ 08541-6151, Phone 609- 771-7500; Website: http://www.toefl.org.
- An application fee of $70 must be submitted when you apply. Checks should be payable to UC REGENTS.
- International students are required to pay a supplemental application fee of $20.
Where to Mail Your Application Materials
Both domestic and international applicants should send all their application materials to the following address:
Admissions Office
Goldman School of Public Policy
2607 Hearst Avenue #7320
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-7320
All items must be postmarked by: December 1, 2009.
Application Procedures for Reapplicants
If you applied to the university within the last two years, you may reactivate your application. To reactivate your application, the following documents are required:
- Graduate Application for Admission and Fellowships
- MPP Supplemental Application
- $70 application fee
- A brief cover letter of how you spent the year.
- Two official sealed transcripts of work for any new course work completed since you last applied.
You may request a replacement of other items in your file, such as, statement of purpose, letters of recommendation, or new GRE scores.
Application Procedures for Current or Former Berkeley Graduate Students
Submit everything required for new applicants except for the following:
- If you are a current UC Berkeley graduate student, substitute the Graduate Division application with a “Graduate Petition for Change of Major or Degree Goal” form. You must also submit the MPP supplemental application.
- If you have been previously registered at UC Berkeley as a graduate student, substitute the Graduate Division application with a "Application for Readmission" form. You must also submit the MPP supplemental application. You must pay the $60 application fee.
Last Updated: 9/3/2009
