Graduate Program Overview
Graduate education is a great way of attaining your future career goals. Our graduate program, ranked among the best in the country, leads to the Masters or the Ph.D. in Earth Science degrees in a variety of areas of specialization, plus three optional doctoral emphases and an optional certificate in university teaching. We offer study in geochemistry, geomorphology and Quaternary geology, geophysics, paleobiology, paleoclimate, petrology, sedimentology and stratigraphy, structural geology and crustal evolution, and tectonics.
Our goal as a graduate program is to provide students with an unparalleled academic experience, and prepare them for their future roles as independent researchers, teachers, and scholars by participation in key innovative research alongside our distinguished faculty. Many of our students get to travel the world with us, from Iceland to Antarctica, and Oman to Vanuatu.
Affordability
If you truly are passionate about helping us better understand our home planet, don't let worries about funding prevent you from joining our program. Admitted students are typically fully supported throughout the duration of their degree program (2 years for MS, 5 years for PhD). Our typical 9-month TA employment package can provide you with a starting salary of $34,000 and coverage of your tuition, most fees, and year-round health insurance.
Academic Excellence
Our campus is experiencing phenomenal growth in research activity and academic excellence. Although our Department is smaller than many of its competitors, US News and World Report ranked our graduate program 13th in Geology, tied with Harvard and Columbia. In related fields, Materials Science was ranked 5th and Physics was ranked 9th in the nation. Our graduate students participate in cutting edge research and draw from the experience of a faculty that includes five members of the National Academy of Sciences. UC Santa Barbara excels at interdisciplinary research and takes great prides in its six Nobel laureates. UCSB was named the No. 1 public Green School in the Princeton Review, is the birth place of the practical electron microscope, and was one of the original four nodes of ARPANet, making it a co-creator of the Internet. See UCSB Facts and Figures.
Personal Attention
Our focus is on quality. With a lower graduate student/faculty ratio (2/1) than the other top-10 Earth science programs, we listen to each graduate student and provide a remarkable level of individual support and guidance.
Students determine their individual program of study in consultation with their primary advisor and thesis committee, in accordance with their special interests and needs. The Faculty Graduate Advisor is available to all students for consultation on all other matters. The Graduate Program Coordinator (grad@geol.ucsb.edu) can help with all questions regarding degree requirements and general administrative matters.
Quality of Life
We are a warm community of people who love to work and play together. You'll see what we mean when you visit.
And then there is Santa Barbara where you will enjoy an unrivaled quality of life. Sitting near an active plate margin, with immediate access to islands, ocean, beaches, deserts, and mountains, Santa Barbara is characterized by the active geology and mild climate that enables you to work and recreate comfortably in the field year-round. Santa Barbara: hike, bike, boulder, dive, paddle, swim, sail, study, research, discover.
