Online Application Instructions

The online application is due October 15, 2009, at 11:59:59 pm, Pacific Standard Time.

• Please fill the online application following the guidelines at http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Gradadm/RequiredData.htm.
  • Please follow the Letter of Recommendation Process below
  • We do not need the GRE exam at this time, but if you wish for your application to be rolled over to the general program, you will need to submit the GRE score by January 9th.
  • We do not need fellowship information
  • Apply for Fall 2010 regardless of when you actually plan to start the program.
    
    
• Letter of Recommendation Process:
  

Do not send hardcopies or have them sent. Please follow the online recommendation procedure below.

The online recommendation process begins once the online application has been submitted. Soon after you apply, applicants will be sent an email requesting the names and e-mail addresses of their recommenders. At this time applicants will check the information they provided on the online application, including waiver options. The Electronic Departmental Form is required and decisions cannot be changed after submission. Please note that recommenders will not be contacted at all until you fill out this information, even though you provided it when you applied online.

Upon receipt of their names and electronic addresses, recommenders will receive an e-mail informing them to submit their letters to a URL address. The URL will accept text and pdf documents. Because our letter process accepts text and pdf documents, your recommenders can write their letters in advance of your application and load them when our e-mail arrives. Applicants will receive an e-mail acknowledgement for every letter submitted electronically.

Recommendation letters should arrive no later than October 20, 2009, at 11:59:59 pm, Pacific Standard Time

Required Departmental Form (Recommenders Will Not Be Contacted Without This Form)

The email you will receive after you apply will ask you for:

• Recommender Contact Information (please be sure to double check all email addressess...if the email address is incorrect, there is no way our system will be able to contact your recommender)
• Your waiver decisions. (Please keep in mind that letters you have waived access to are generally thought to be more reliable than those for which you have not waived access. A few recommenders also refuse to write letters if access to them has not been waived. Given this, this may be something you should discuss with your recommenders before hand.)
• A Resume, publications, home page URLs, etc. that you would like to submit as part of your application. If you mention any publications or papers in your application you will need to upload them, or include links for them, at this time. Once you have submitted the waiver information, you will not be able to change it. If it is necessary for you submit letters in another format, please contact us directly at gradadmissions@eecs.berkeley.edu.
  
  

Recommendation Letter Tips:

• Having more than 3 letters, though we allow it, is not recommended. Due to the volume of applications we receive every year, there is no guarantee that more than 3 letters will be read.
• Having more letters is not necessarily better. Three strong letters is much better than 3 strong letters and one mediocre or bad letter.
• It can be a good idea to ask your recommenders if they can write you a good, detailed letter. You would be suprised at the number of mediocre or nondescriptive letters we receive every year. A one-two sentence letter is probably not going to help your cause. The best letters gauge your ability and potential for research and graduate study, often citing examples from the recommenders own experiences with you.

 

• When you reach the Proposed Degree Program section

• Indicate that you would like to apply to Fall 2010, regardless of when you would like to start the program
• Under Proposed Department and Degree Program, choose either Computer Science (M.S.) if your area of interest lies under Computer Science or EE & Computer Science (M.S.) if your area of interest lies under Electrical Engineering.
• For your First Emphasis choose 5th Yr MS-Current UCB EECS & LSCS UGrads only
• For your Second Emphasis, choose your area of emphasis (for more information on each of the areas and their subareas, please see http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Research/Areas/
• Under Other Emphasis, indicate your Breadth Area