Also see Prospective Student Info

Applicants for admission must hold a Bachelor's degree or its equivalent from an accredited institution of higher learning. While many of our applicants majored in Art History or Film Studies as undergraduates, we have also admitted students with majors ranging from Studio Art to Economics. In short, we are interested in students with a rich educational background, who have demonstrated an engagement with issues of vision and visuality as cultural processes.

We also entertain applications from students holding Master's degrees, again from a variety of disciplines. When the application dossiers are evaluated, the faculty will consider the relevance of the Master's degree to the student's proposed course of study at UC Irvine, and determine whether to recognize that degree as satisfying certain requirements.

While the Program in Visual Studies does grant a Master's degree (see below) we only admit students who intend to complete the Ph.D. through our Program at UC Irvine. Students seeking a terminal Master's degree should not apply.

Applicants need to complete the standard application form for the university, which may be accessed electronically at the Office of Graduate Admissions webpage. The university requires that all applicants take the general GRE (we require no specialized field test), and that applicants whose native language is not English sit for the TOEFL. Beyond the requirements of the university's application, the Program in Visual Studies expects all applicants to supply us with a sample of academic writing. For applicants who hold the B.A., this sample typically will take the form of a polished undergraduate research paper or senior thesis; for those with an M.A., a copy of the Master's thesis is expected. For a complete list of application requirements please visit the Graduate Admissions website.

All applicants are automatically considered for financial aid, which we award according to merit rather than need. Currently, we attempt to fund most of our enrolled students with the exception of foreign students, as explained below. In order to avoid needless competition within our intellectual community, we work to maintain funding at least through the Qualifying Examinations, after which alternative sources of support become available to students. Generally, funding from the Program comes through block grants, typically reserved for first-year students, or as Teaching Assistantships, which are typically granted to students already in residence or to applicants who hold a Master's degree.

Foreign applicants should be aware that the particularities of the university's fee schedule and of the immigration laws of the United States place special financial burdens on non-residents. As a consequence, students who are not American citizens or who do not hold the status of permanent residents should in most cases not apply to the Program unless they have sufficient personal means or governmental support to finance the full cost of their tuition, fees, and living expenses while enrolled in the United States.

All applicants who are not citizens of countries where English is either the primary or dominant language, as approved by the Graduate Council, and who wish to be considered for a Teaching Assistantship (TA) appointment must take and pass either the Test of Spoken English (TSE) with a score of 50 or above or the SPEAK (Speaking Proficiency English Assessment Kit) examination with a score of 50 or above.

ATTENTION

Please send all application materials to:
The Visual Studies Ph.D. Program
85 HIB
Irvine, CA 92697-2785