Application materials are available online from the UC Santa Cruz Graduate Division. Applications are due January 5.

Applicants may check the status of their application on-line or by calling the department office: (831) 459-2844 (11:00 am - 3:00 pm).

Each year we receive over 100 applications. Of these, we accept 10-15 into our program with offers of financial support. The department guarantees 100% support for its students. The majority of successful applicants have an undergraduate degree in physics with a good GPA. Most applicants have general GRE scores in the 85th percentile or above. We also give quite a bit of weight to the Physics GRE scores. A research background in astrophysics is very helpful, but research experience in any field is also valuable. We look for strong letters of recommendation and read the "statement of purpose" carefully. Our goal is to identify enthusiastic students who are well-prepared to thrive in an exciting research environment, making the best use of the particular strengths and opportunities in our department.

We encourage prospective students to visit. Students accepted with support can be reimbursed for some travel expenses. During the visit, the prospectives are (graciously) hosted by current graduate students, at no expense to the visitors. If prospectives combine visits (and travel reimbursements) with other west-coast schools, they can usually cover the full travel costs of their fact-finding mission.

Nothing replaces a visit, but there are lots of beautiful photos available on the home page of our website. The UCSC Photo Gallery has some images of our campus and additional photos of Lick Observatory are available at the Lick Picture Gallery. Finally, some photos taken by Ansel Adams during his late-1960s chronicle of the University of California are available at Ansel Adams.