Admissions:
Fall Quarter Start - Application
Elements - Application Screening
- Full Time Study - Support
- Deadlines
Fall
Quarter Start
Applications are accepted beginning in the Winter Quarter for
admission in the Fall. The DASA program begins only Fall
Quarter. Students are not admitted for any other starting
time.
Application Elements
Applications must include four elements: (1) The UCI Graduate
Studies application form including a 'Why DASA?' personal statement; (2) Transcripts for all college-level
course work; (3) Graduate Record Exam (GRE) scores earned
within the last five years; and (4) Three letters of recommendation.
Applicants originating in countries where English is not
the primary spoken language must, in addition, submit scores
for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). Finally,
applicants may optionally submit a writing sample or other
comparable evidence that demonstrates their potential for
successful completion of the DASA program.
Application Screening
Applications are reviewed by a faculty committee in consultation
with the Graduate Advisor. The committee attempts a balanced
evaluation of undergraduate record (GPA, trajectory, and
performance in quantitatively intensive courses), letters
of recommendation, test scores, personal statement, and
(where applicable) writing sample or professional experience.
Candidates should at least meet UCI minimum standards for
graduate admission: college grade point average (GPA) =
3.0 (on a scale 0-4) and combined GRE Verbal and Quantitative
scores (V+Q) = 1,000; applicants falling below the minimum
on either standard must show exceptional strength in other
areas.
Full-time Study and Professional/Returning
Students
Applications from returning students and working professionals
are encouraged. Such admissions constitute a good part of
DASA success. Nonetheless, the intensive curriculum necessitates
full-time enrollment throughout an entire academic year
(nine months). Even with simultaneous work obligations,
students must be able to attend all DASA classes which,
with few exceptions, are offered during daytime hours, two
days a week. DASA is most emphatically not an evening- or
weekend-oriented "executive" or "distance-learning"
program!
Financial Support
DASA awards a few very modest grants to recognize extraordinary qualifications on admission
or exceptional achievement after enrollment. Subject to limited availability, DASA
students may also apply for part-time Teaching Assistant positions. For the academic year
2007-08, a 20-hour per week TA fellowship paid $1734 monthly in salary plus in state tuition remission
and health insurance per quarterly (12 week) appointment.
Financial support for all master-level programs is generally limited, but this serves to
underscore one real advantage of DASA's single-year program of intensive study --
an abbreviated period of investment.
Rolling Admissions Deadline
Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis with first
consideration accorded to those received by January 15th.
Applications received as late as June 30th may still receive
consideration, but only if a qualified class has not already
been admitted. Thus, to ensure maximum consideration, prospective
students should submit their applications, and complete
the GRE exam, as early during the applications window as
possible.
