Applicant FAQ

Application Deadline and Requirements

Will late applications be accepted?
No. All applications are due by 11:59 Pacific time on Tuesday, December 1st, 2026.
Will late application materials (letter of recommendation, transcripts, etc.) be accepted?
Yes, there is a 48-hour grace period. Applicants have until Thursday, December 3rd at 11:59pm to upload all final application materials, including letters of recommendation. After this date, no new materials will be reviewed.
Will you still review my application if a letter of recommendation is missing?
Yes. We understand that sometimes, extenuating circumstances apply to one of your letter writers and they are not able to submit their materials on time. However, applicants who are missing letters are seldom invited to interview. We cannot review applications with two or more letters of recommendation missing.

We encourage you to check in with your recommenders regularly, and monitor your email for confirmation that they have sent us their letters. If one of your recommenders is incapacitated (e.g., by illness) and cannot submit your letter by the December 3rd deadline for late materials, please email the Graduate Program Coordinator and CC your recommender. After December 3rd, we cannot accommodate changes.
I have questions about my recommenders, letters of recommendation, etc. Who do I reach out to?
Check UC Davis Graduate Studies' FAQs before reaching out to them with questions.
Are application fee waivers available?
UC Davis Graduate Studies offers fee waivers to participants in a select number of graduate preparatory programs. To see a list of those programs, click this link.

Unfortunately, we are not able to offer any other fee waivers, regardless of financial need.
Is it possible to accommodate an exception to the above policies?
No.
My undergraduate GPA is low. Should I apply?
Yes! We take a holistic application review which means GPA is just one aspect of how we view applications. Please explain any circumstances that led to your "low" GPA in your personal history statement. If you have research experience, highlight that in your statement of purpose and CV. This will help your application shine!
If I don't have the exact prerequisites satisfied, will that be a problem?
Nope! If you are offered admission, your academic advisor will help you sign up for undergraduate coursework that will complete your prerequisites.
Do I need to contact faculty prior to applying?
No! MCIP students will rotate in various faculty laboratories at the start of their academic program. Students will select a mentor after rotations have concluded. This means you do not need to contact any faculty prior to applying.

Master's or PhD?

I only have a Bachelor's degree. Can I apply for the PhD?
Yes! We do not require PhD applicants to have a Master's degree. If you have limited research experience or are unsure if you are ready for a 5+ year degree, the Master's degree may be the better track for you right now.
I want to apply for the Master's degree now but may want a PhD later. Can I transfer?
Yes! MCIP allows our Master's students to apply for the MCIP PhD program after the end of their first year. Students are approved for this transfer if they have performed well in their Master's coursework and have a supportive major professor.

Our Admission Practices

How many offers of admission are you planning to make?
This will depend on how many students we are aiming to have in our 2027 cohort, which we're not certain about yet. We base that decision for the PhD on two things: how much money we have to allocate to rotation students, and how many faculty are expressing a willingness to take on rotation students. The latter has limited us in recent years.

Historically, our cohorts have averaged about ten students for the past few years. We tentatively anticipate recruiting a cohort of a similar size.
Are you offering admission to international students?
This question has become much more difficult to answer in recent years. We take pride in our history of training exceptional international students, but changes to both federal and campus policy have made it much harder for our international trainees to find rotations and thesis labs.

The best answer we can provide at this time is that we are still accepting applications from prospective international students, but international applicants' chances of being offered admission are significantly less than they were a few years ago. We almost certainly will not be able to give you a more specific answer based on your individual circumstances, but if you have further questions, please contact Services for International Students and Scholars.

Financial Support

Does MCIP provide financial support for students?
MCIP provides fellowships for all incoming PhD students. MCIP does not offer fellowships for incoming MS students. All students are able to apply for Teaching Assistant positions and Graduate Student Researcher positions. Historically, MCIP PhD students have been able to fully support themselves for the duration of their degree through a combination of fellowships, teaching positions, and research positions. The average MCIP PhD student stipend for 2025-26 was ~$40,000.
I am interested in an MS degree. What funding is available?
M.S. students should plan to self-fund part or all of their degree. Funding opportunities are available, although they are limited and very competitive. Some financial aid, including loans, may be available. While MS students are considered for campus-wide fellowships at the time of application, it is very rare for MS students to receive fellowships.
Once enrolled, all MS students may apply for Teaching Assistant (TA) positions. TA positions at 25% or higher cover full in-state fees (students must pay out-of-state fees). TA positions are highly competitive, and students must apply for them early. Learn more here.
MS Plan I (thesis) students may apply for Graduate Student Researcher (GRS) positions through their thesis advisor. Like all MS funding, these positions are limited and competitive. GSR positions at 25% or higher cover all fees (in-state and out-of-state).
What fellowships are available?
The MCIP program application also serve as a fellowship applications for first year funding. After joining the program, students are able to apply for a variety of annual fellowships including T32s, campus stipend awards, travel fellowships, and research supply fellowships.

Interviews

When will I know if I've been asked to interview?
We generally spend the first two to three weeks of December evaluating applications; the members of our admission committee work hard to read each and every application with the care it deserves, which takes time.

It is our intention to notify you as soon as possible if you have been asked to visit the campus and interview with our faculty. You may be asked to interview later in December, or in January, if we are able to fund more visitors to the campus.

Inquiries asking when we will have news of our admission decision to you will not be answered.

If we are certain that we do not intend to invite you for an interview, we will strive to let you know as soon as possible in mid-late December.
I was not invited to interview and would like to know more about the reasons for that decision.
Unfortunately, we do not have the administrative bandwidth to accommodate requests for feedback. While we receive applications from extraordinarily brilliant scientists, financial constraints limit our capacity to take in large cohorts of students. Emails to the Graduate Program Coordinator or Admissions Chair asking about the the program's denial of your application will not be answered.

If you are seeking to improve your prospects for future applications, you are strongly encouraged to utilize your networks of professional support. If you are still interested in the program, we encourage you to reapply in the future; many of our current students were offered admission into the program on the basis of their second application.