Admission as an International Student

International students attend the University of California, Davis, from many countries around the world. There were over 100 different countries represented on the UC Davis campus in the 2011-2012 academic year, by an international student population of approximately 1,800 students, as well as approximately 2,500 international faculty and researchers.

International Freshman Applicants

Non-immigrants studying in the United States must meet the same requirements as domestic California and non-California residents. Students studying outside the United States must complete secondary school, earn superior marks in academic subjects, sit for the UC required exam and may be required to demonstrate English proficiency. For more information, see http://admissions.ucdavis.edu/international.

International Transfer Applicants

International students applying to transfer to UC Davis from California or U.S. colleges or universities are considered for admission using the same transfer admission criteria as domestic students. Applicants who have attended foreign only and/or a combination of foreign and domestic colleges and universities will be evaluated using courses and grades from both institutions.

Priority admission consideration is given to prospective California community college transfer students, including international students, who are prepared to begin their junior or third year of study. Coursework from other colleges and universities is considered UC-transferable if the applicant completed the course at an institution that is recognized by the University of California and when the coursework is comparable to courses offered within the University of California. For more information, see http://admissions.ucdavis.edu/international.

Required International Academic Records

International students are responsible for providing UC Davis with official academic transcripts and/or certificates beginning with secondary school records. College and university records should indicate subjects taken; grades or marks earned; rank in class; number of academic terms per year; number of weeks in each academic term; and number of hours per week devoted to lecture and laboratory. Certifications must be provided for any university or government examinations the student has undertaken. Note: It is not possible to disregard any college or university coursework undertaken within the United States or abroad.

English Proficiency

Applicants must demonstrate English proficiency if they have been studying in the United States for less than two years, English is not their native language, and/or the language of instruction prior to study in the United States was not English. Applicants may demonstrate proficiency in one of the following ways:

• Complete two UC-transferable college courses (3 semester or 4-5 quarter units each) in English composition with C grades or better at an accredited U.S. college or university.
• Achieve a minimum score of 550 on the paper-based Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or 213 on the computer-based TOEFL or 80 on the Internet-based TOEFL. For more information, see http://www.toefl.org.
• Achieve a minimum score of 7 (academic module) on the
  International English Language Testing System (IELTS).
• Achieve a minimum score of 560 on the Writing component of the SAT Reasoning Test.