APPLICATION FEE

The nonrefundable application fee is $105.00 for U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents and $125.00 for all other applicants. UCLA accepts Visa, MasterCard, and Discover.

Cash, checks, or money orders cannot be accepted at UCLA.

The application fee must be paid before an application can be considered.

The application fee is devoted to the UCLA administrative cost of processing all applications received, and is not refundable under any circumstances, regardless of the outcome, the date of filing, time of review, or if, for whatever the reason, the application is withdrawn.

Shortly after receiving your application, Diversity, Inclusion and Admissions sends an acknowledgment via email. Applicants should expect to receive an email acknowledgment within 72 hours of submitting the online application.

If you do not receive an email acknowledgment within a reasonable amount of time (five to seven days), please review your online application to be sure the submission process was completed. Please also be sure to check your “junk” email box, in case UCLA’s email was diverted there by your spam filter. If you still have not received the acknowledgment email, please contact onlineapphelp@grad.ucla.edu in case there is a minor problem with your application data.

When a decision is made, applicants receive an email, directing them to the Graduate Division’s application site and the option Decision Status. Applicants sign in using the email address used to create their application account (not the User Name) and their application password to read the official decision letter.

If admitted, the conditions of admission and information and instructions concerning registration (via a link to the Statement of Intent to Register and a Statement of Legal Residence) will be included as part of the offer of admission letter, which can be printed out from the Graduate Division site. (International applicants: please read Visa Procedures/Financial Verification.)

Only official notification from the Dean of the Graduate Division constitutes approval of admission.

APPLICATION MATERIAL REQUIRED

Mailing Address for Application Documents

Student Services Office

University of California, Los Angeles

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department

420 Westwood Plaza, 48-121 Engineering IV Bldg.
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1597
maeapp@seas.ucla.edu
1 Official Transcript – upload online and send originals
3 Letters of Recommendation – online
Statement of Purpose – online
GRE test scores – electronically from ETS

TOEFL test scores (international students) – electronically from ETS

TRANSCRIPTS

In addition to uploading an unofficial transcript on the online Graduate Admissions website, one official transcript from all colleges and universities attended must be mailed to the department. International applicants, please submit one official transcript, degree certificate and/or diploma. All documents must bear the actual seal and/or signature of the Registrar. Photocopies are not accepted. Do not send the original of an academic record which cannot be replaced; obtain a properly certified copy instead. All transcripts and credentials are evaluated by the UCLA Graduate Admissions Office in terms of UCLA equivalency.

Entering students are expected to have completed the B.S. degree requirements with at least a 3.0/4.0 grade-point average for the last 60 semester units or last 90 quarter units of undergraduate study.

If you are a university/college senior, do not wait for senior-year grades before submitting your application and transcript.

Students entering the Ph.D. program are expected to have completed the requirements for the master’s degree with at least a 3.25/4.0 grade-point average. Normally the M.S. degree is required for admission to the Ph.D. program. Exceptional students, however, can be admitted to the Ph.D. program without having an M.S. degree but would be required to complete the M.S. degree along the way.

When filling out your application, fill out your grades in the scale that your institution uses. Do not attempt to translate your grades yourself, as we have a specialist in the department who will translate them. Meeting the above minimum requirements does not guarantee admission.

Applicants with existing MS or PhD degrees in Mechanical Engineering or Aerospace Engineering or closely related areas will not be admitted for a duplicate degree at the same level.

UCLA undergraduates please note: Although you are required to upload your UCLA transcript online, you do not have to submit an official copy of UCLA transcripts to the our office.

INTERNATIONAL REQUIREMENTS

All official academic records must show the dates of enrollment; the subjects or courses taken, together with the units of credit or time allotted to each subject and, if rank is determined, rank in the total class or group. The records must also include a complete description of the institution’s grading scale or other standard of evaluation. Maximum and minimum marks and the steps between them must be indicated.

Unless academic records and diplomas are routinely issued in English by the institution, submit the official records in the original language of instruction with an authorized, complete, and exact English translation.

Evidence of conferral of all degrees, diplomas, or professional titles must be submitted to the major department. This evidence may be in the form of officially certified copies of the actual diploma, or entries on official records or official statements from granting institutions. In all cases, the statement must include the exact, original title of the degree and the date of its formal conferral (month and year).

Certificates of completion of required courses, or of degree examinations, cannot be accepted as evidence that the degree was granted. Degree diplomas showing month and year of award should be issued prior to the beginning of the term applied for.

Students applying from countries where “Excellent, Very Good, Good, Pass” marks are given on examinations must present an academic record with at least a “Very Good” general rating.

LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION

Three letters of recommendation are required. When submitting your online application, you will be required to list one e-mail address for each recommender. Once these addresses have been submitted, each recommender will be notified electronically by UCLA, and they will then submit their letters of recommendation using a secure interface.
For the M.S. program:

We recommend that you provide letters of recommendation from professors who have taught you in your junior and senior years.

How the online recommendation process works:

Insert the name and contact information of each recommendation provider.

Recommendation Type: Graduate Division Recommendation.

Once the recommendation provider information is saved, an email will be sent to the online recommendation provider with an access code and instructions on how to proceed.

When the recommender submits the letter of recommendation it is posted on the online graduate admission application and will become a part of your application.

Applicants are able to remind faculty to submit their letters by having the system resend the email to those recommending the applicant. Applicants are urged to check it frequently.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

The online application includes a section in which you must upload your “Statement of Purpose”. You will be required to describe exactly what you wish to study. This statement should be precise and brief. Your statement is a mean of helping us match your academic and research interests with those of our faculty (this is very important if you are applying for financial support). It should not be a personal life history; it should contain only such personal details as will aid the Admissions Committee in evaluating your application. Describe exactly what you wish to study at UCLA. “Mechanical Engineering”, for example is not specific enough. State what branch of Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering interests you, i,e., structural and solid mechanics, systems and control, heat and mass transfer, etc. For more information regarding specific fields of study in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering, see Graduate Research Areas.

GRADUATE RECORD EXAM (GRE)

The General Graduate Record Exam test is required for admission to both the M.S. and Ph.D. programs. We recommend that students take the GRE test 3-4 weeks before admission deadline to ensure that test scores arrive by deadline. The test must be taken within the last five (5) years before the desired date of admission. Arrange to have ETS forward the scores to our office.

Institution Code = 4837

Mechanical Code = 1502

Aerospace Code = 1601

The preferred GRE results are: Verbal, above the 79th percentile; Quantitative, above the 92nd percentile; Analytical Writing score above 4.0.

For complete information about the GRE, including policies, procedures, test dates, and fees, see the GRE website.

TOEFL EXAMINATION

Students whose native language is not English are required to take and pass the TOEFL Examination.

A TOEFL score of at least 560 on the paper and pencil test or at least 87 on the internet-based test is the minimum required for applicants to graduate programs at UCLA. For the internet-based TOEFL (TOEFL iBT), the following are recommended minimum passing scores for each section: Writing:25, Speaking:24, Reading:21, Listening:17, but the required minimum total passing score:87. An IELTS overall band score of at least 7.0 is the minimum required.

Institution Code = 4837

Department Code = 68

Please note that TOEFL scores are considered valid for only two (2) years of the start of the intended application term, and that if several scores are submitted, only the most recent is considered.

Admitted applicants are required, upon arrival at UCLA, to take the UCLA English as a Second Language Placement Examination (ESLPE), an English diagnostic test, before being permitted to register. Depending on the results of the ESLPE, you may be required to complete English as a Second Language courses beginning in your first term at UCLA. If English courses are required, you should anticipate spending a longer period of time at the University. Admission is canceled for those who do not pass the ESLPE. Please note that you must sit for the ESLPE regardless of your score obtained on the TOEFL, IELTS or any other English proficiency test.

Applicants who hold a bachelor’s or higher degree from a university located in the United States or in another country in which English is both the primary spoken language of daily life (e.g., Australia, Barbados, Canada, Ireland, Jamaica, New Zealand, United Kingdom) and the medium of instruction, or who have completed at least two years of full-time study at such an institution, are exempted from both the TOEFL/IELTS requirement and the English as a Second Language Placement Examination (ESLPE). Please be sure to include such information in your application.