I am planning to bring graduate students with me when I am hired at UC Santa Cruz. Why is it important for me to have a plan in-place for them?

We have seen several cases where a new faculty member attempts to bring their current graduate students with them to UCSC, only to find that the deadlines for new student admission have already passed. This challenge may be especially difficult and require more lead time in cases involving international students who might need a visa appointment with their home consulates before arriving to our campus. 

Our divisional staff is very concerned about the impact of these challenges on the incoming graduate students, and the complex work involved for both our staff, program and departmental staff, and the new faculty hire. 

The good news is that many of these challenges will be avoided if important admission deadlines are kept in-mind, and if the hiring department keeps the Division of Graduate Studies informed. In turn, the division can coordinate with Current Student Services, Registrar, and International Student Services as needed, to ensure that accurate information is being shared with everyone involved. 

We’re hopeful that by planning ahead and being aware of deadlines and communication needs, we can avoid confusion and frustration for our new faculty members and their student(s).

What timelines do I need to be aware of? 

If a prospective hire does plan to bring their graduate student(s) with them to our campus, we would advise that the students create an application for admission as soon as possible, so that they can be processed and admitted within the necessary timeframe. 

Direct admit graduate students accompanying their faculty advisor to UCSC should complete and submit their program application by June 1. Please keep in mind that after June 15, there will be very little time to appropriately handle a direct-admission for your graduate student(s). The entire admissions cycle process concludes on July 1, so applications and decisions have to be processed before this date. 

Normally, most admissions applications are completed in the winter quarter, with a deadline for fall admissions decisions in the second to last week of April. Housing lists are typically started in early May, and require a student ID number and UCSC email address - meaning that the lists are only open to admitted students. 

Are there special considerations I should be aware of for international graduate students admitted to UC Santa Cruz?

Yes, international students may require further processing depending on their visa needs. If a student needs a new entry visa, they will need to get started right away so that trips to consulates and interviews can take place during the summer months. However, if a student is transferring a visa over from one US school to UC Santa Cruz, their timeline will be much shorter. Please be aware that not every student will be able to transfer their visa over (in some cases where a faculty member has separated from the student’s school before being hired at UC Santa Cruz, for example). Consult with your student’s original school’s International Services office for guidance.

If your international student will work as a GSR during the summer before their first fall term, they will need to be admitted for summer (not fall) term and enroll in Summer Session classes. You will want to work closely with your hiring department if this is the case; it may, in some situations, not be possible to do this depending on the time frame of the hiring process and the admissions timeline.

The graduate students I want to bring to UCSC need health insurance in the summer before they start classes. How can they get UC health insurance?

As campus grad student health insurance is a student benefit, new students are only eligible in the summer if they are admitted to summer term and enroll in Summer Session. Again, in some situations, it may not be possible for them to start in summer depending on the time frame of the hiring process and the admissions timeline.

Will these graduate students have to complete every part of the application?

Most parts of the application can be waived for your direct-admitted students; this should be discussed with your hiring department’s graduate advising staff. 

• The hiring department staff can issue a placeholder document to be used for the statement of purpose, personal history statement, essays, etc. 
• The staff member should also be registered as their three recommenders, as this registration is required to submit the application, (no letter of recommendation need be submitted).

Some parts will need to be completed, such as:

• Bio/demographic questions, California residency questions, and educational history and background questions.
• An unofficial transcript should be uploaded by the graduate student to the application, however an official transcript is required to verify any degrees the student lists as having earned on the application, and your student should be notified that this will be required. 
  • They may wish to be reimbursed by the faculty member for the price of ordering a transcript or international transcript verification.
  • Read about degree verifications on our website. 

Finally, language test scores for admission purposes may be waived, and this is initiated by the hiring department writing to the Division of Graduate Studies. However, the department or the Division may require the student to take additional testing or coursework to qualify for teaching assistant positions at UC Santa Cruz.

All admission requirements are outlined in the Graduate Admissions website.

Do these graduate students have to pay the application fee?

The application can be submitted by the student without immediately paying, so that the student can complete this part of the process as soon as possible. A payment for processing and handling the application will be required in order for the department to request the student’s admission to UC Santa Cruz. In almost every situation, the hiring department or graduate program can pay for the application fee from their funds. The student should not have to pay the fee directly themselves, unless they plan to be reimbursed by their faculty supervisor. 

The Graduate Division does not manage reimbursements for graduate application fees; this would be handled either between the student and faculty member directly or, if using startup funding, with the hiring department’s financial staff and UC Santa Cruz Financial Affairs. Please keep in mind for your student’s sake that a reimbursement initiated on campus can take several weeks to be completed.

My graduate students have already advanced to candidacy at the institution we are transfering from; will they need to advance again at UC Santa Cruz?

A student who has already advanced to candidacy at their previous institution will need to complete all the programmatic milestones (i.e. QE, ATC, etc) in their new department in order to be awarded a degree from UCSC. 

When will the hiring committee need to know about the graduate students I want to bring with me?

If you would like to confer with the committee as you negotiate your hiring offer, please be aware of the timeline as explained in the above section “What timelines do I need to be aware of.” If the hiring process is happening later in the timeline (April or May), you may want to make the committee aware of your student’s needs earlier than in the offer-stage of the process. 

Can the graduate students talk to someone about the application process?