StudyQA — Master: Physics — University of California

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Description Contents Requirements Funding

The Department of Physics and Astronomy offers the Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) in Astronomy, the Master of Science (M.S.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees in Astronomy, the Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) in Physics, and the Master of Science (M.S.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees in Physics.

Entering students are assigned a faculty adviser to assist them in planning their academic schedule.

Ten courses (36 units) are required for the M.S. degree. The following six core courses must be included to satisfy this requirement: Physics 210A-210B, 220, 221A-221B, 215A. Other courses may be substituted in special cases with approval of the Faculty Graduate Adviser.

The material in these six core courses represents the body of knowledge tested on the written comprehensive examination. Core courses must be taken during the first year of graduate study and for a letter grade (a cumulative grade point average of 3.00 is required in core courses). All first-year students must enroll in Physics 293, a weekly colloquium meeting, and are required to participate in Physics 201Q, the survey of modern physics research areas, to be counted toward the ten required courses. The remaining two courses of the minimum ten courses required may be satisfied through upper division or graduate courses in physics or a related field, which are acceptable to the department for credit toward the M.S. degree, with the restriction that no more than eight units may be chosen from Physics 596 and/or seminar courses. Physics 597 and 598 may not be applied toward course requirements for the M.S. degree.

Capstone Plan

Students are required to pass the written comprehensive examination at the master's level. This level is determined by the Comprehensive Examination Committee for each examination session. If students fail to pass the examination at the master's level, they may take it a second time the next session it is given. For more detailed information, see Written and Oral Qualifying Examinations under Doctoral Degree.

Thesis Plan

Every master's degree thesis plan requires the completion of an approved thesis that demonstrates the student's ability to perform original, independent research.

Although the department operates under the comprehensive examination plan rather than the thesis plan, arrangements can usually be made for students to write a master's thesis, provided they have a particularly interesting subject and provided a professor is willing to undertake the guidance of their project. In this case, students must petition the committee of graduate advisers for permission to pursue the thesis plan. If the petition is approved, the comprehensive examination is waived.

Time-to-Degree

Upon admission to graduate status, full-time students who are taking a course load which is standard for the program should complete the program in approximately four quarters.

Requirements

An applicant for admission must hold a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university and must have the necessary academic preparation to participate successfully in graduate level courses.

The applicant must also be able to score competitively on the GRE Subject (advanced) test in Physics.

The Department only considers graduate applications for the fall quarter. Applications are evaluated only when all of the materials listed below are received. We require:

Online graduate admissions application.
A statement of purpose.
Three letters of recommendation: enter names & information of recommenders in the online application; they will receive an email with link to upload their letter. If letters have already been mailed, enter names of recommenders online or the application will not be considered complete for submission.
One set of official transcripts: although you may upload unofficial copies with the application (for application review purposes), official transcripts are also required. These should be sent to UCLA Department of Physics & Astronomy, Graduate Office, 430 Portola Plaza, Box 951547, Los Angeles CA 90095-1547.
GRE Physics and GRE general scores: request official report from ETS, UCLA institution code 4837, Physics Department/major code 0808 / Astro 0801. We will accept GRE scores from tests taken within the last 5 years. If the test was taken multiple times, enter the most recent scores on the online application.
TOEFL/IELTS scores (international). Request official report from ETS Physics Deptartment/major code: 76 / Astro 61. We will accept TOEFL scores from tests taken within the last 2 years. Acceptable scores include: TOEFL: 570 (paper), 230 (computer), TOEFL IBT: 88, IELTS: 7.0. Send TOEFL scores to the department and IELTS scores to both the Department & Grad Division:
- UCLA Department of Physics & Astronomy, Graduate Office, 430 Portola Plaza, Box 951547, Los Angeles CA 90095-1547
- UCLA Graduate Admissions Student & Academic Affairs, 1255 Murphy Hall Box 951428, Los Angeles CA 90095-1428.
Fellowship application: we encourage all U.S. citizens and permanent residents to submit the fellowship application.
Deadline to submit application is December 15. Scores and letters should reach us by the first week in January. Note: only the required application application items will be evaluated. Do not mail or upload any other supplemental documents or any duplicates of uploaded application items.