About the Program

The Department of Demography offers an interdisciplinary training program leading to the MA and PhD in demography. Demography is the systematic study of human populations, a topic central to many pressing policy issues such as the economic development of Third World countries, population aging, the environment, health and mortality, family and household change, immigration, and ethnicity. Demography also has strong intellectual and institutional ties to other fields such as sociology, economics, social history, anthropology, biology, public health, and statistics. The program at UC Berkeley is one of the few in the United States granting graduate degrees in demography, rather than offering demography only as a field of specialization within some other department. This training strategy permits greater concentration and depth in demography, as well as program flexibility and breadth in related subjects. The program stresses both quantitative aspects of demography and demography in the context of social science theory.

The master's degree in demography is designed both as a final degree for those who wish to pursue a professional career at that level of training, and as a second degree for students earning a doctorate in demography or a related discipline. The basic coursework for the master's program is required for the doctoral degree as well.

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Admissions

Admission to the University

Uniform minimum requirements for admission

The following minimum requirements apply to all programs and will be verified by the Graduate Division:

1. A bachelor’s degree or recognized equivalent from an accredited institution;
2. A minimum grade-point average of B or better (3.0);
3. If the applicant comes from a country or political entity (e.g. Quebec) where English is not the official language, adequate proficiency in English to do graduate work, as evidenced by a TOEFL score of at least 570 on the paper-and-pencil test, 230 on the computer-based test, 90 on the iBT test, or an IELTS Band score of at least 7 (note that individual programs may set higher levels for any of these); and
4. Enough undergraduate training to do graduate work in the given field.

Applicants who already hold a graduate degree

The Graduate Council views academic degrees as evidence of broad research training, not as vocational training certificates; therefore, applicants who already have academic graduate degrees should be able to take up new subject matter on a serious level without undertaking a graduate program, unless the fields are completely dissimilar.

Programs may consider students for an additional academic master’s or professional master’s degree if the additional degree is in a distinctly different field.

Applicants admitted to a doctoral program that requires a master’s degree to be earned at Berkeley as a prerequisite (even though the applicant already has a master’s degree from another institution in the same or a closely allied field of study) will be permitted to undertake the second master’s degree, despite the overlap in field.

The Graduate Division will admit students for a second doctoral degree only if they meet the following guidelines:

1. Applicants with doctoral degrees may be admitted for an additional doctoral degree only if that degree program is in a general area of knowledge distinctly different from the field in which they earned their original degree. For example, a physics PhD could be admitted to a doctoral degree program in music or history; however, a student with a doctoral degree in mathematics would not be permitted to add a PhD in statistics.
2. Applicants who hold the PhD degree may be admitted to a professional doctorate or professional master’s degree program if there is no duplication of training involved.

Applicants may only apply to one single degree program or one concurrent degree program per admission cycle.

Any applicant who was previously registered at Berkeley as a graduate student, no matter how briefly, must apply for readmission, not admission, even if the new application is to a different program.

Required documents for admissions applications

1. Transcripts:  Upload unofficial transcripts with the application for the departmental initial review. Official transcripts of all college-level work will be required if admitted. Official transcripts must be in sealed envelopes as issued by the school(s) you have attended. Request a current transcript from every post-secondary school that you have attended, including community colleges, summer sessions, and extension programs.
   If you have attended Berkeley, upload unofficial transcript with the application for the departmental initial review. Official transcript with evidence of degree conferral will not be required if admitted.
2. Letters of recommendation: Applicants can request online letters of recommendation through the online application system. Hard copies of recommendation letters must be sent directly to the program, not the Graduate Division.
3. Evidence of English language proficiency: All applicants from countries in which the official language is not English are required to submit official evidence of English language proficiency. This requirement applies to applicants from Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Latin America, the Middle East, the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, and most European countries. However, applicants who, at the time of application, have already completed at least one year of full-time academic course work with grades of B or better at a U.S. university may submit an official transcript from the U.S. university to fulfill this requirement. The following courses will not fulfill this requirement: 1) courses in English as a Second Language, 2) courses conducted in a language other than English, 3) courses that will be completed after the application is submitted, and 4) courses of a non-academic nature. If applicants have previously been denied admission to Berkeley on the basis of their English language proficiency, they must submit new test scores that meet the current minimum from one of the standardized tests.

Admission to the Program

The Department of Demography requires all applicants to take the general portion of the Graduate Record Examination. Applicants may apply for the Masters in Demography, PhD in Demography or the PhD in Sociology and Demography. 

Doctoral Degree Requirements

Normative Time Requirements

Normative Time to Advancement

Normative time to advancement to doctoral candidacy for the Demography PhD is six semesters from the time the student entered the program.

Demography students are to complete all required coursework for the Demography Master’s degree, whether or not they choose to earn the MA degree. Required courses (i.e., 110, 126, 175, 210) must be taken on a letter-grade basis. At the end of the first year, all students must pass a comprehensive final examination on demographic methods and substance. MA candidates receive their degree upon successful completion of this examination and all necessary coursework. PhD students advance to the second and third years of study, which consists of obtaining the ancillary Master’s degree (if the student doesn’t already have a Master’s degree relevant to their doctoral studies), taking a foreign language exam, writing a dissertation prospectus, taking required CITI training courses and passing the Oral Qualifying Exam.

Normative Time time Candidacy

Normative time in doctoral candidacy for the Demography PhD degree is four semesters.

Total Normative Time

Total normative time is ten semesters.

Time to Advancement

Curriculum

Coursework and Preliminary Examination

During the first year of study students in all Demography and Sociology and Demography degree programs complete the required coursework (24 units) and then take the Preliminary Examination at the end of the spring semester.

Ancillary Master's degree

Those working for a doctoral degree are expected to enter with, or obtain concurrently at Berkeley, a Master's degree in a different but related subject (e.g., Sociology , Economics , Anthropology , Statistics , Public Policy , Public Health , Biostatistics , Regional Planning , Geography ). This ancillary Master’s degree must be earned before the dissertation stage. We recognize that some students may enter the doctoral program with a Master's degree in Demography, or with a one in a subject not clearly related to their demographic work. The applicability of such degrees to the doctoral program is determined on an individual basis.

Language Examination

Each student is expected to demonstrate reasonable reading competence in at least one other than English language that is relevant to demographic studies. Students must pass a language exam before advancing to doctoral candidacy.

Dissertation Prospectus

The dissertation prospectus is developed in the context of a research seminar, Demography 295. Doctoral students are expected to enroll in 295 every semester until the prospectus is complete, which should occur within three years after matriculation.

Oral Qualifying Examination

The oral qualifying examination for admission to doctoral candidacy should be taken during the second or third year (depending on the time needed for the completion of the student's ancillary Master's program).

CITI Human Subjects Training.

Students are required to take CITI Human Subjects training as specified by the Office for the Protection of Human Subjects before advancing to doctoral candidacy. For more information please see the OPHS website

Time in Candidacy

Dissertation

Upon successful completion of the foreign language requirement, the oral qualifying exam, and the prospectus, students enter into the final phase of the program, doctoral candidacy. During this period, students are expected to take another research seminar, Demography 296, every semester until the completion of the dissertation. The department does not require a formal defense of the completed dissertation. 

Required Professional Development

The department does not formally require professional development but all students are encouraged to attend the weekly Demography Brown Bag Presentation Series as well as the monthly Bay Area Colloquium on Population. Students are also encouraged to attend and present papers at the annual Population Association of America Meeting or other demographic conferences.

Master's Degree Requirements

Unit Requirements

Plan II requires at least 24 semester units of upper division and graduate courses, followed by a comprehensive examination. At least 12 units must in the 200 series Demography courses. Courses in the 300 series do not count in the unit requirements. A MAXIMUM of 6 units of 298/299 course work can be used toward the degree. The same course work cannot be used toward two different master’s degrees unless it is part of an approved concurrent master’s program. Two-thirds of all course work (not only those courses required for the master’s program) must be letter-graded and only courses graded C- or better, or Satisfactory may be counted towards degree requirements.

Curriculum

Advancement to Candidacy

Students making adequate progress in the MA coursework are advanced to MA candidacy during the second semester.

Preliminary/Comprehensive Exam

Students take a Comprehensive Exam at the end of the second semester. No Master’s thesis is required.

Courses

Demography

Faculty

Professors

Joshua Robert Goldstein, Professor.

Ronald D. Lee, Professor. Economics, evolutionary theory, mathematical demography, population aging, intergenerational transfers, economic demography, life history theory, population forecasting, national transfer accounts.
Research Profile

Kenneth Wachter, Professor. Mathematical demography stochastic models, simulation, biodemography, federal statistical system.
Research Profile

John R. Wilmoth, Professor. Demography, sociology, methodological research, longevity, life expectancy, mortality differentials, familial resemblance, mortality and life expectancy forcasting, historical population trends, world population growth, international migration forecasting.
Research Profile

Associate Professors

Jennifer Johnson-Hanks, PhD, Associate Professor. West Africa, marriage, childbearing, demography and culture.
Research Profile