Chemistry & Biochemistry (M.S., Ph.D.)

The Chemistry & Biochemistry 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
A Statement of purpose is required:
- Details for the Master of Science (MS) application
- Details for the Doctoral (PhD) application
A Personal History Statement is also required:
- A Personal History statement that is 1-2 pages in length is required. This statement will be assessed using a combination of the following criteria that is appropriate for each individual applicant. We appreciate that each potential student has a unique path towards achieving their education goals:
  1. Please describe your prior research experience(s) including the importance of the research and your role in carrying out experiments that supported a hypothesis or research objectives.
    1. Identifying research publications, presentations, or conference proceedings that were a direct result of your participation in prior research is encouraged.
  2. Take the opportunity to describe any potential obstacles you encountered on your research path, and/or in the research lab itself, and how you overcame those obstacles to accomplish your research goals. This may include providing context into how you grew as a scientist or what you learned about yourself from these experiences.
  3. UC Santa Cruz values the variety of lived experiences that contribute to our students’ deciding to pursue higher education. Please describe any educational, familial, cultural, economic, or social experiences, challenges, or opportunities that may be relevant to your academic journey or that contribute to your overall career goals as a scientist.
  4. We appreciate that some students may have limited prior research experience. We encourage applicants who participated in summer research experiences (REU), internships, course-based undergraduate research experiences (CURE), or industry experiences, or those who have had meaningful class-based laboratory or TA experiences, to describe those experiences as well.