Direct Admit PHD programs in the UC system . .

[sdscoutmom]

Hello, I am looking to get opinions, experiences, and recommendations around the direct admit PHD programs within the UC system. My daughter is looking to go direct admit into a Plant Science/Genetics, Environmental Engineering, or Global Studies programs. There are a few to choose from in the UC system.

First, for those of you who skipped a Masters degree and went into any of the life or social sciences direct admit PHD programs in UC:

• Do you like the program?
• Would you do it again?
• Do you feel you have support to get through the program having skipped a Master?
• How did you find the competition level, were you surprised as to who did and did not get in?

Secondly, do you feel my daughter has the right experience? We think she is on the right track, but if you have a recommendation of what to add, she still has time to complete more projects. She is a rising junior with the following qualifications:

Attending: Cal Poly SLO

Double Major (Two different colleges within Cal Poly):

1. Anthropology/Geography joint major with concentration in International Development
2. Agricultural and Environmental Plant Science with concentration in Crop Science

Research:

1. Nationally published and conference presented paper in Anthropology research around family food relationships. Included formal research, data, documentation, and authoring. Over 35 one on one interviews completed.
2. Completed privately funded research/internship project where she produced folios on three separate recommendation patterns for planting three thousand trees on a environmentally conscious farm. Over 100 pages of unique research created. She was hand chosen by her Pomology professor as the tree specialist on the research team.

Work Experience:

1. Garden Center Associate at Lowe’s.
2. She will likely be hired to oversee the tree installation on the farm site over the next two years in a consulting capacity.

Grades:
Dean’s List 4 of 6 quarters
3.6 GPA

Recommendation Letters: She already has two professors ready to recommend that she has directly worked with on her research projects.

Note: She would prefer to not take the GRE.

Thank you for all who read this lengthy post and take the time to give advice.

[KBTDPT]

I have no info, but hello sdscoutmom! I’m so interested to see how your daughter’s interests have morphed since HS. Sounds like she found her niche and she is happy and thriving! Congrats!

[eyemgh]

For students that intend to do a PhD, a MS is not an intended part of the equation.

Students read the literature in areas that interest them, find out who is doing what and where, meet them, make sure they’re compatible and apply for a position as a funded doctoral candidate.

The only time the MS comes into play is if they candidate washes out academically, or they don’t see eye to eye with their advisor and voluntarily end early.

@sdscoutmom

My daughter is looking to go direct admit into a Plant Science/Genetics, Environmental Engineering, or Global Studies programs.

These are distinctly different. Narrowing just within Agronomy/Plant Science would still leave a giant list of potential topics and thus advisors to consider. I know well, because that’s what I did in a former life.

Looking at her research, it seems as if she likes big picture, systems types of problems, and might not be suited to a classic Agronomy/Plant Science, micro problem focused PhD. Sitting at a bench and working on things like nitrogen fixation or plant growth regulators isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. She needs to decide what hers is.

[juillet]

What do you mean by “direct admit” PhD programs? Are you talking about PhD programs that don’t require master’s degrees? “Direct admit” is not a term that is used in PhD admissions, as most PhD programs don’t require a master’s for admission (although this varies by field).

Also, I’m not sure the answers to this question will get you what you need. There are 10 UC campuses (including UCSF); all of them likely have dozens of PhD programs, and the dynamics and experience are going to vary a lot program to program. One person’s experience in psychology at UC Berkeley will have no bearing or relation to another person’s experience in marine biology at UC Irvine, or whatever.

I went straight from undergrad into a PhD program (not at a UC). I was the only person in my program who did so. I felt that I had the support I needed, but that’s because I had done a lot of research and preparation and was fairly solid in my choice of research area and department. I wouldn’t recommend it, as I think getting outside of academia for a year or two helps broaden people’s horizons; it’s hard to decide whether you really want the academia route when you haven’t experienced any alternatives.

Research is not measured in number of pages, but in quality. Presenting at conferences and doing independent research, though, is promising. Her work experience is irrelevant. It’s difficult to tell from the post how much experience in research she has, but social and natural science programs are typically looking for students with about ~2 years of experience assisting a professor with research in their research group (i.e., starting to spend 10-15 hrs/week in the lab as a junior). Does she have that? If so, then I’d say she’s a promising candidate, although it depends a lot on her research interests and fit with the department she selects.

Also, she should wrap her mind around taking the GRE. There are not many GRE-optional PhD programs (or rather, there weren’t pre-pandemic - we’ll see how things turn out after). Assuming that PhD admissions go back to the way they were before the pandemic, your daughter won’t want to count herself out of good fit PhD programs simply because she doesn’t want to take the GRE, especially if she has interest in an academic career. I say this as someone who thinks the GRE is rather pointless.

Also, she shouldn’t focus only on the UCs, especially with an interest in agriculture and crop science. The best program for her may not be at a UC; in her second field, many of the best programs are in the Midwest.

Oh, and yes, I agree - her focus areas are too broad. Global Studies is verrrry different from plant science, and the wide spread suggests that she hasn’t narrowed down her interests enough to be ready for a PhD. That’s totally OK! It’s normal to be interested in many things! It’s just that for her PhD specifically, she’ll need to focus (although I will say in my program I got the opportunity to mess about with a bunch of interests - but they were still a little more narrowly focused.)