Students seeking admission to the Materials Ph.D. Program must hold a bachelor's degree or recognized equivalent (must be conferred prior to enrollment into our program) from an accredited institution in Engineering, Physical Sciences, or Mathematics. The Graduate Division will not admit applicants who already have Ph.D. degrees in science.

A minimum grade-point average (GPA) of 3.2 for Bachelors of Science degrees and and a minimum of 3.5 for Master of Science degrees.

There is no requirement of an M.S. degree to be admitted into the Ph.D. program. The department gives priority for admission to students who are interested in rigorous academic education and high quality research. Undergraduate preparation for the Materials Ph.D. Program includes a degree in Engineering, Physical Sciences, or Mathematics, with a minimum GPA of 3.2.

completed an undergraduate or graduate degree at an institution whose primary language of instruction is English. The minimum score for consideration is 550 when taking the paper-based TOEFL, or 80 when taking the internet-based test, some departments require a higher score. Applicants must make arrangements to take the TOEFL directly with ETS (www.ets.org). Scores should be reported to UCSB using institution code 4835. TOEFL scores must be no more than two years old at the time of application submission. UCSB also considers a minimal score of 7 on the IELTS as an alternative to the TOEFL. IELTS scores must be no more than two years old at the time of application submission