Graduate Program

The program in Biostatistics provides students with, first, solid training in the biostatistical core disciplines and theory; second, with state-of-the art knowledge and skills for biostatistical data analysis; third, substantial exposure to the biological and epidemiological sciences; and fourth, with a strong background in theoretical modeling, statistical techniques and quantitative as well as computational methods. The program prepares students for interdisciplinary careers ranging from bioinformatics, environmental toxicology, stochastic modeling in biology and medicine to clinical trials, drug development, epidemiological and medical statistics. Biostatistics program faculty are committed to high quality mentoring of the graduate students. As such, we have adopted the following mentoring guidelines.

Ph.D. in Biostatistics

This training is intended to enable students to form an understanding of the interface between problems of the life sciences, data, and biostatistical models and methods. Students will be enabled to contribute to the solution of critical problems in genomics and the medical, biological, agricultural and environmental health sciences, to propose innovative quantitative models for biological phenomena, to develop appropriate methodology for advanced data analysis, and to create new algorithms and bioinformatics tools. Read a complete description of the Ph.D. program.

M.S. in Biostatistics

The M.S. students will be primarily prepared to carry out state-of-the-art data analyses appropriate for dealing with data arising in life sciences problems. The first year of study is very similar to the Ph.D. program, and both programs share courses STA 232AB in the second year. The pre-qualifying Basic Exam is the same for both programs. An M.S. student can easily transfer into the Ph.D. program in the second year. Read a complete description of the M.S. program or the guidelines for the MS Qualifying Exam.

Community and Location

Davis, a "city of bicycles" is a progressive, energy-conscious community of about 62,000 located in Northern California's Central Valley. It lies within 15 miles of the state capital of Sacramento, and 74 miles from the San Francisco Bay Area. Davis residents are ideally located for participating in the recreational opportunities of Lake Tahoe, the Napa Valley, and the Northern California coastline. Read more about our hometown from Davis Community Network or the official City of Davis website.

Application Deadlines
All application material, including fellowship and assistantship applications, must be received by January 15^th.

Financial Support

Financial support is available both for beginning and advanced graduate students in the form of employment within the department as a Teaching Assistant (TA). TA-ships currently carry a stipend of between $8,195 and $16,390 over 9 months, and involve a workload of between 10 and 20 hours per week. A limited number of research assistantships, financed from extramural grants held by division faculty, are also available. Several other departments offer assistantships to biostatistics graduate students in support of some of their specialized statistical offerings. Information on fellowships is available through Graduate Studies, 252 Mrak Hall, Davis, CA 95616. Financial support may not be available for all students. If you wish to be considered for admission regardless of support, please indicate so on your application. Domestic students should complete the FAFSA by California state deadline (March 2nd for 2008). Be sure to fill out and submit a teaching assistant application when you apply for admission.

Application for Admission

Applications should be submitted as early as possible. Be sure to note the application deadline of January 15. We only accept applicants for Fall entry, and we do not accept part-time students. Applications are made online at the Office of Graduate Studies; details of how to apply can be found on their website: (http://gradstudies.ucdavis.edu/prospective/apply_online.html).

• The application fee is $70 for domestic applicants and $90 for international applicants. The fee must be paid by credit card or e-check. Please do not send checks or cash to the department. The application fee is non-refundable.
• Three Letters of Recommendation must be submitted electronically through the online application; please do not have your recommenders send hard copies, as they will not be accepted.
• Transcripts must be submitted to the graduate program coordinator once you have completed your online application; please submit only one transcript for each university or college you have attended.
• GRE: Please request ETS to send all Graduate Record Examination scores electronically to UC Davis. We require the General GRE test only, with a minimum combined score of 1000, and you must have taken the test within the last five years. When requesting your official GRE score be sent to us, please use institutional code 4834, department code 0799, and list the department as Biostatistics.
• TOEFL: Applicants whose native language or language of instruction is not English must take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) exam; if your previous degree was taken in the United States you can waive this requirement. We require a minimum TOEFL score of 550 for the paper-based test, or 68 for the internet-based TOEFL (iBT), and scores must be no more than five years old. Our TOEFL department code is 95.