Admission

By a selective admissions policy, the student body has been kept small so that the advantages of close acquaintance and interaction among the students can be obtained along with the advantages of a great university center. (The University’s enrollment target for the Group program is generally set at fourteen; actual enrollment tends to range between that figure and twenty.) The student body is very cosmopolitan. At the beginning of the academic year 2007-2008 students in the Group were from Canada, England, Italy, India, Armenia, and the U.S.A.

Applications are normally accepted for the Fall semester only. Information on deadlines for applying and all other matters related to applications is given on the Graduate Division’s web page for prospective students. Note that the deadlines for this program are quite early, especially when one applies for a fellowship or other financial aid. Applicants should take special care that transcripts of their academic records are received here on time. Application procedures differ to some extent for U.S. applicants (i.e., those receiving a bachelors degree from a U.S. institution) and for international applicants (i.e., those, including U.S. citizens, receiving degrees from institutions outside the U.S.).

Preparation

For admission to the graduate program it is desirable that the student shall have completed an undergraduate major in philosophy or in mathematics or a joint major in both, including at least one full-year upper division course in logic. In addition, it is desirable that the student shall have completed (a) at least one upper division course in some science, and (b) at least one upper division course in mathematics (other than logic) if the undergraduate major was in philosophy, or in philosophy (other than logic) if the undergraduate major was in mathematics.

Application Requirements

The Group in Logic and the Methodology of Science requires three letters of recommendation from the student’s instructors, commenting on the student’s potential for successful completion of the Ph.D. requirements. These recommendations will also serve in support of an application for a University of California fellowship. Letters, and all other application materials, should be submitted via the university’s online application system for graduate programs.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the GRE exams will be optional for the Fall 2023 graduate admissions application. You may still submit GRE scores; however, an absence of GRE scores will not negatively impact your application.

Applicants from countries in which English is not the official language must also take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL).

General Catalog

The graduate application packet contains much valuable information, including details about fees and expenses and about how one can order a copy of the General Catalog, which describes departmental course offerings and programs in detail and gives much other information that is useful for prospective students. (Some public or university libraries and some U.S. agencies abroad have copies available for consultation.) The General Catalog is also available online at http://www.berkeley.edu/catalog/.

Financial Support

Financial support for graduate study in the Group is available from a number of sources both outside and inside the University of California. Applicants are strongly urged to apply for all forms of extramural support for which they are eligible. A list of possibilities should be available from sources at their current university. For U.S. citizens and permanent residents particular attention is called to U.S. National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowships, Hertz Foundation Graduate Fellowships, Mellon Fellowships in the Humanities, National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowships, Office of Naval Research Graduate Fellowships, U.S. Air Force Laboratory Graduate Fellowships, Ford Foundation Minority Doctoral Fellowships, and American Association of University Women Fellowships.

Applicants who are citizens of foreign countries are especially urged to inquire about possible fellowships or other financial aid from their government, from private foundations in their home countries, and from their home universities. In the past some foreign students in the Group have received support, for example, from Fulbright Student Grants for Foreign Nationals or from Organization of American States Regular Training Program Fellowships.

The University of California itself provides a large number of possibilities for financial assistance, both merit-based and need-based. Detailed information about these is included in the application booklet. Need-based financial aid is restricted to U.S. citizens or permanent residents: applicants for admission can obtain an application for University Financial Aid by checking a box on the Application for Graduate Admission form. Students completing the Application for Graduate Fellowships will be considered for a number of merit-based awards, including Berkeley Fellowships and Nonresident Tuition Scholarships. A number of special opportunities for financial support outlined in the application booklet are available to U.S. citizens and permanent residents belonging to groups which have been traditionally underrepresented in graduate education. Legal residents of the State of California may be eligible for California State Graduate Fellowships.

While the Group in Logic and the Methodology of Science has no Graduate Student Instructorships of its own, students in the Group are eligible to be Graduate Student Instructors (GSIs) in Mathematics and Philosophy. In order to avoid unnecessary duplication of records, applicants for admission to the Group who wish to hold a GSI in Mathematics position should simply sign and return the pink Application for Graduate Student Instructorship in Mathematics slip (included in the application packet) to the Administrative Assistant of the Group. The Administrative Assistant will take the necessary steps to see that all such applicants who are approved for admission to the Group receive full consideration by the Department of Mathematics for a GSI position.

A small number of positions as Graduate Student Researcher (GSR), normally reserved for persons who have passed the Qualifying Examination, are sometimes available. Some students supplement their income by serving as Readers in Mathematics or in Philosophy; Readers are paid, normally by the hour, to grade student homework exercises. Some students earn money as tutors; tutors make their own individual arrangements with students, but many departments maintain registries of tutors, which are available to students desiring help. A few students obtain part-time employment in the Bay Area to help cover their educational expenses and a number also take out educational loans.