Admission Criteria
Criteria for Admission: The criteria governing recommendations for admission relate to academic promise. In forming its appraisal of academic promise, the Graduate Admissions Committee relies primarily on (1) the grade-point average in Upper Division courses and in previous graduate work (if applicant has an M.S. or M.A.), (2) an assessment of the applicant's formal course background as preparation to enter the program for which he/she is applying, (3) letters supporting the application, and (4) the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL).
All applicants are required to take the general GRE. All applicants from countries in which the official language is not English are required to take the TOEFL. Please see the Graduate Application forms for more complete information regarding the GRE and TOEFL.
Formal records are relied upon heavily. We generally will not consider a student with a grade point average (GPA) below 3.0, which is the University's minimum standard for graduate admission. Typically, we consider the overall GPA, the economics GPA, and the GPA in mathematics, statistics, and other quantitative methods, with particularly heavy weight on the economics and mathematics grades. Many of our applicants have a Master's degree in agricultural economics or economics from other institutions; when grades in graduate courses are available, we put greater weight on those than on undergraduate grades.
When students have attended colleges and universities with which we are not familiar, greater weight is placed on the GRE examinations. Particular weight is placed on the quantitative, but the analytical and verbal are also considered.
Letters of recommendation are given considerable attention. We put particular weight on letters from people who have previously recommended students who have done well in our program.
In some cases, an applicant may already have a paper accepted for publication in an economics journal. If so, this information may weigh heavily in the applicant's favor, and may offset less favorable GPA and/or GRE scores.
The essay by the applicant is also given substantial weight. We are looking for students who have clear and reasonable objectives. We want to know why the applicant wants to study agricultural and resource economics at Berkeley and how this training will be used.
We have rarely (if ever) admitted students who do not have training in economics and quantitative methods. Minimal preparation for admission to the graduate program includes knowledge of economics, mathematics and statistics. We require principles of economics, intermediate micro- and macroeconomics. For mathematics we require training equivalent to two years of undergraduate mathematics (calculus and multivariate calculus, and an introduction to linear algebra and differential equations. We strongly recommend a course in real analysis and an introductory statistics course. Additional preparation in economics and other fields of the social sciences is highly desirable.
Most admitted students have had several undergraduate economics courses at the intermediate level. Indeed, one half to three-quarters of each entering class has a Master's degree from another university.
We will make exceptions for students who do not meet these guidelines if they have other characteristics or experiences that we believe are important. Many applicants have had employment that will contribute to their study of agricultural economics. For example, many foreign applicants have important jobs in their country's government; some applicants have worked for international agencies in less-developed countries; and some applicants have worked for federal or state agencies in agriculture or natural resources. A few applicants have professional or graduate training in related fields such as biology, law, or business.
