Admissions

The Department of Plant and Microbial Biology offers two doctoral programs in Plant Biology and Microbiology, admitting students once a year for the fall semester. We do not offer a master’s degree program, and applicants may apply to only one UC Berkeley program per admission cycle. Students are admitted to the program as a whole rather than to a specific faculty lab, allowing them time to explore research directions before selecting an advisor. During the first semester, students participate in lab rotations to help identify the best research fit, with lab placement finalized by the start of the second semester. Applicants with interests in microbial ecology and evolution, fungal diversity, or mycology are encouraged to apply to the Microbiology program.

All applications are reviewed holistically by an admissions committee of faculty, graduate students, and staff. We value the diverse academic backgrounds, research experiences, and life journeys applicants bring to our programs. To help ensure fairness, applications are evaluated using rubrics designed to minimize bias, and committee members receive training on recognizing implicit bias.

Applications for Fall 2026 admission open on September 10, 2025, with a deadline of November 17, 2025 (11:59pm Eastern Time).

Apply via the Graduate Division website

You’re invited to UC Berkeley’s Graduate Diversity Admissions Fair for an inside look at the Ph.D. application process. Join the live session with a graduate admissions officer to get step-by-step guidance, application tips, and insights into what we look for in candidates. Learn about the admissions timeline and get your questions answered in real time.

What We Look For


The admissions committees evaluate applications based on several criteria:

  • Academic potential, taking into consideration any barriers that may have impacted the applicant’s prior achievements

  • Depth of research experience and other work experience

  • Motivation for graduate work, intellectual curiosity, persistence, and leadership experiences

  • Awareness of and contributions to wider communities; includes outreach activities, multicultural experiences, and effective engagement with those with different experiences and/or perspectives


The committee bases admissions recommendations on the statement of purpose and personal history statement written by the candidate, research experiences, prior coursework and grades, and letters of recommendation. Applicants should have a solid foundation in general chemistry (with lab), introductory biology (with lab), physics, and mathematics (calculus and/or statistics), comparable to the lower-division requirements of UC Berkeley’s undergraduate Genetics and Plant Biology and Microbiology major. In addition, applicants will be best prepared if they have also completed either upper-division plant biology courses such as plant physiology, plant biochemistry, plant genetics, or plant cell and developmental biology or upper-division microbiology courses such as microbial physiology, microbial genetics/genomics, virology, immunology, or microbial diversity and ecology.


The minimum graduate admissions requirements are:

  • A bachelor’s degree or recognized equivalent from an accredited institution

  • A satisfactory scholastic average, usually a minimum grade-point average (GPA) of 3.0 (B) on a 4.0 scale

  • Enough undergraduate training to do graduate work in your chosen field.

Should you have any questions or concerns about the graduate admissions application or graduate admissions process, please contact the Graduate Advisor at pmbgrad@berkeley.edu.

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The deadline to apply for the 2026-2027 academic year is: November 17, 2025, 11:59pm (Eastern Standard Time)

UC Berkeley’s Graduate Diversity Admissions Fair

Plant and Microbiology Session October 7th, 2025, 1:00pm-2:00pm Click to register