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Ad Hoc Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program

Students who have completed at least two semesters of graduate study in a doctoral program at Berkeley and who have shown superior academic performance in their graduate studies here are eligible to apply for an interdisciplinary program of study. If you have registered here in the past but are not now enrolled in a doctoral program, you must obtain a letter from a current departmental graduate adviser chair stating you have been formally approved for readmission to the Ph.D. program in that department. Such a letter carries the same weight as the formal approval on readmission application. Before making this decision, however, the Dean strongly encourages the graduate adviser chair to review a student's past record on file in the Graduate Division. New applicants for admission to the Graduate Division are not eligible.

Because of the flexibility that already exists within the established graduate majors, you should first explore thoroughly the possibility of pursuing your interests within your own department, school, or group, at least to the master's level. Admission to an existing departmental, school, or group program is to your advantage because access to space, financial support, and continuing supervision are much more difficult for interdisciplinary students. Please read the following sections for more information.

• Proposal guidelines for students
• Guidelines for faculty
• How proposals are reviewed
• Common proposal errors
• Deadlines

Proposal guidelines for students

When applying to the interdisciplinary doctoral program, you should present to a subcommittee of the Graduate Council an explicit proposal for your course of study, analyzed by five faculty members who have endorsed the quality of your proposed program. The proposal should include the following:

1. Evidence that the proposed program is truly interdisciplinary and cannot be carried out within the flexibility provided by existing departmental, school, or group programs;
2. An indication that you have worked out arrangements for supervision by the sponsoring professors acting both individually and as a committee;
3. Information showing you have the intellectual capacity for executing the proposed program; and
4. A detailed plan of study including:
   • The title of the proposed program;
   • The foreign language requirement;
   • The subjects which you will prepare for the Qualifying Examination;
   • The name of the proposed chair of the Qualifying Examination committee and the dissertation committee (cannot be the same person); and
   • A preliminary dissertation prospectus specifying procedures, methodology, historical development of knowledge on the subject, possible conclusions to be drawn from selected examples of data that may be obtained, and, finally, sources of error in the project.

A summary of undergraduate grades, GRE scores, etc., would also be helpful in providing evidence to enable the subcommittee to make a qualitative judgment of your capabilities.

Three copies of the proposal will be required for use by the subcommittee.

Guidelines for Faculty

The student must submit a copy of the proposal to five faculty members who have agreed to serve as a sponsoring committee and request that they write letters of support to the subcommittee containing a detailed analysis of the proposed program. Faculty members are reminded that they should not write letters of support unless they are totally convinced that the applicant is an outstanding student with a proposal of exceptional merit and uniqueness.

The letter from the proposed major professor should contain:

1. Evidence of consultation with other sponsors in which the role of each sponsor as a member of the supervising, qualifying, and dissertation committee is clarified;
2. The foreign language requirement; and
3. A normative time for completion of degree requirements.

The sponsoring faculty committee must be drawn exclusively from UC Berkeley Academic Senate members. Further, one member of the committee must undertake to provide, from his or her own departmental facilities, study space, laboratory facilities, or other special needs of the student. Assurance that the student will be eligible for a GSI appointment or other forms of support within the department, group, or school of a sponsoring faculty member, while not mandatory, greatly strengthens the student's case. It is also helpful for the subcommittee to receive additional letters of recommendation from faculty members who have worked with the student but who will not be associated with the interdisciplinary program.

How proposals are reviewed

The Graduate Council subcommittee makes a recommendation regarding each proposal to the Dean of the Graduate Division, who makes the final decision. If approved, your major will be changed to the new interdisciplinary title and you will be sponsored by the five faculty members, one of whom will be designated as Graduate Adviser for signature obligations on study lists, petitions, etc.

Qualifying Examinations will be carried out in accordance with the usual Graduate Division procedures. Foreign language requirements will conform to the Graduate Council policy. After successful completion of the Qualifying Examination(s), you will be advanced to candidacy under Plan A with five members (three signing the dissertation title page and all five participating in a final defense of the subject of the dissertation).

Common proposal errors

The most common weaknesses in students' applications for transfer to the Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program include:

1. Vagueness and lack of clear focus in the proposal;
2. Lack of evidence that the proposed program cannot be accommodated in an existing department or group program; and
3. Misuse of the application by students academically unqualified to gain admission to or continuance in an existing doctoral program.

The most common weaknesses in supporting statements by faculty members include:

1. Lack of evidence that the sponsor has consulted with the other sponsors and analyzed the roles of each member of the group, individually and as a whole;
2. Lack of indication as to which professor is the principal sponsor of the student and which will serves as chair of the Qualifying Examination; and
3. Lack of evidence that one of the sponsors can provide the space and logistic support commonly available to a doctoral candidate in a departmental or group program. Mere generalized approval of an applicant's proposal is not sufficient.

Deadlines

Proposals and faculty letters of evaluation must be filed with the Graduate Division no later than November 1 for notification of the decision by approximately January 10, or by March 15 for notification by approximately May 1st, These are firm deadlines and exceptions cannot be made.