UC Berkeley PhD Programs 2027: Deadlines by Department (November to December 2026)

Deadlines: 16 November to 15 December 2026, depending on the department | Location: Berkeley, California, USA | Fields: Sciences, Engineering, Humanities, Social Sciences

UC Berkeley offers over 200 graduate programmes, and 94 of them are doctoral programmes. Unlike some universities, Berkeley sets deadlines by department, so the date you need depends entirely on your field. This guide groups the PhD programmes with deadlines in the next two months by date, with each department’s GRE policy as listed by the Graduate Division.

The earliest deadlines are close

Several life-science and psychology programmes close in mid-to-late November, so they need attention within days or weeks.

16 November 2026: Microbiology (no GRE), Plant Biology (no GRE) and Psychology (GRE optional).

19 November 2026: Integrative Biology (no GRE), Molecular and Cell Biology (GRE optional) and Neuroscience (GRE optional).

30 November 2026: Biophysics (no GRE) and Computational Biology (no GRE).

1 December 2026: the largest group

Most programmes close on this date. Grouped by what the Graduate Division lists for GRE:

GRE not required: African Diaspora Studies, Anthropology, Buddhist Studies, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Computational Precision Health (joint UCSF), East Asian Languages and Cultures, Education, EECS (Computer Science), EECS (Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences), Energy and Resources, Environmental Science Policy and Management, Ethnic Studies, Film and Media, History, Infectious Diseases and Immunity, Information Science, Jurisprudence and Social Policy, Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, Linguistics, Medical Anthropology (joint UCSF), Metabolic Biology, Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures, Performance Studies, Rhetoric, Science and Mathematics Education, Social Welfare and Statistics.

GRE optional: Applied Science and Technology, Bioengineering (joint UCSF), Comparative Literature, Earth and Planetary Science, Environmental Health Sciences, Epidemiology, Geography, Health Policy, History of Art, Logic and the Methodology of Science, Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Sociology.

GRE general test required: Agricultural and Resource Economics, Biostatistics, Chemistry, Demography, Economics, Public Policy and Sociology-Demography.

GRE subject test required: Applied Mathematics and Mathematics.

3 to 8 December 2026

• 3 December: Business Administration (GRE general test) and Political Science (GRE general test).

• 4 December: Astrophysics (GRE subject test).

• 7 December: Vision Science (GRE optional).

• 8 December: Nuclear Engineering (GRE general test).

15 December 2026

GRE not required: Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Classical Archaeology, Classics, English, German, Hispanic Languages and Literatures, Italian Studies, Music, Scandinavian Languages and Literatures, Slavic Languages and Literatures, and South and Southeast Asian Studies.

GRE required: City and Regional Planning (general test), Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (general test) and Physics (subject test).

Programmes closing in January

Also on your radar if you’re planning ahead: Architecture and French (5 January 2027), Philosophy (6 January), Romance Languages and Literatures (8 January), and Comparative Biochemistry and Endocrinology (11 January).

How to apply

Each department runs its own admissions details on top of the Graduate Division’s central application. The Graduate Division’s programme list links to every department’s admissions page, and applicants can filter programmes by degree type, GRE requirement and other criteria to find details and deadlines. Contact details for each department are on that list too.

Browse and apply: grad.berkeley.edu/admissions/our-programs

Tips for applying to Berkeley

• Find your department’s exact date first. The same university can have a 16 November deadline and a 15 December deadline, so don’t plan around a single date.

• Treat the GRE column as a starting point. Several departments have moved between required and optional in recent years, so confirm on the department page before booking a test.

• Start with the departments that close earliest. If you’re applying to several, work backwards from the earliest date, since recommendation letters take the longest.

• Be specific about faculty fit. Berkeley departments typically look for a match with faculty research interests, so name the researchers you want to work with and why.

Want help with your application?

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