Graduate Application Requirements

The general requirement for admission for a U.S. student is a Bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited institution, comparable in standard and content to a bachelor’s degree from the University of California. Applicants should have the necessary academic preparation to complete graduate level courses in Electrical & Computer Engineering.

An international student whose post-secondary education is completed outside of the U.S. is expected to hold a degree representing completion of at least four years of study from a university or university-level institution.

An international student whose post-secondary education is completed outside of the U.S. is expected to hold a degree representing completion of at least four years of study from a university or university-level institution.

The University requires that applicants have a minimum cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale for consideration. The department reviews all applicants who have earned a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0. The most competitive applicants have an undergraduate cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 (on a 4.0 scale).

Staff in the Electrical & Computer Engineering Graduate Student Affairs Office review and convert, as necessary, the marks or grades of all applicants. The Graduate Division online application asks applicants to submit their grade point average on the scale used by their institutions.

The department does not provide “pre-application” reviews. Prospective applicants should review the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) to determine their admission competitiveness, and academic and research fit with the university.

International applicants must meet the university’s minimum requirement for the TOEFL or IELTS. Please visit this page for detailed information. Conditional admission is not offered and a transitional or pre-masters program is not available. This requirement may be waived for applicants who have earned a degree in a country where English is the sole language of instruction, as recognized by the World Higher Education Database.

All applicants are required to upload ONE (1) transcript from each post-secondary institution attended. Transcripts should be uploaded to your online application only. Unofficial transcripts are acceptable for review purposes. Only if you are officially offered admissions into our program will you send us your final official transcript/degree certificate/diplomas.

Transcripts must: have been generated by your institution’s Registrar’s Office, be clearly legible, include the word transcript, the name of the institution, the institution address, your name, program of study, and the major field of study. It should also include a complete list of courses/terms/corresponding grades/units, and the cumulative GPA calculations. Degree audit reports, advising/progress plans, academic summaries, web pages, screenshots, and degree plans cannot be accepted.

International applicants must upload copies of both English and native/original international transcripts per country- or educational system-specific guidelines. International applicants should refer to the Graduate Division’s “Required Academic Records for International Students” webpage to determine the correct official documents to submit based on the institution’s country of origin. UCLA does not accept World Education Services (WES) evaluations.

APPLICANTS WITH A CONFERRED DEGREE:

• If the student has completed their degree, the uploaded transcript must have the “degree awarded” or “degree conferred” date listed.
• International students who have completed their degree, must also upload their diploma and degree certificate.

APPLICANTS WITHOUT A CONFERRED DEGREE (DEGREE WORK IN PROGRESS):

• If you have work in progress, we can evaluate your application based on your unofficial transcripts.

Most applicants are in the process of completing a degree. If offered admission, the final transcript indicating the date of the degree conferral may be submitted during the summer directly to our office.

UCLA students and alumni please note: You do not have to submit an official UCLA transcript. You may upload your MyUCLA degree audit report in the online application.

A Resume/Curriculum Vitae (CV) is required from all applicants.

Please note: No updates of the Resume/CV or any other aspects of the application are accepted after submission. All applicants are encouraged to double-check all aspects of their application before submitting.

All ECE applicants must submit a Statement of Purpose (2-page maximum) in their online application. The Statement of Purpose (SOP) should be precise and brief. It should contain only those personal details that would aid the admissions review process. The SOP prompts may be found on the Division of Graduate Education website.

The SOP is considered to be the writing sample. No additional writing sample is requested.

The Personal Statement is part of the University application. However, it is not required by the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. If a personal statement is submitted, it will be available for the review committee’s consideration and may be used as part of the evaluation.

Applicants for the 2026-2027 academic year are not required to take the GRE or submit GRE scores as part of their application package. Applications with GRE scores included will not be given greater weight than those that do not include scores. The GRE exemption will be reviewed for the cohort beginning Fall 2027.
Students applying for fall who wish to take the GRE test should check the testing schedule and registration information on the GRE homepage. GRE scores are valid for five years from the test date.

Institution Code = 4837
ECE Department Code = 1203

Meanwhile, applicants are encouraged to submit unofficial student score reports on the Supporting Documents Upload section of the UCLA Graduate Division online application.

Please review the Division of Graduate Education’s English requirements website for English language proficiency requirements for UCLA admission.
Applicants who have studied outside of the USA in a country in which English is not both the official spoken language of the country AND the sole medium of instruction are required to provide TOEFL or IELTS test scores. TOEFL & IELTS scores are valid two years prior to application. If you took the examination multiple times, only the most recent score is considered. Additional details on this requirement are outlined on the UCLA Graduate Division website.
The minimum scores required are:

TOEFL (Total) minimum: 87
IELTS (Total) minimum: 7.0

Official scores should be sent by December 15. Meanwhile, applicants are also highly encouraged to upload unofficial copies of their student score reports in the Supporting Documents section of their online application.

UCLA Electrical and Computer Engineering
Office of Graduate Student Affairs
420 Westwood Plaza
57-127 Engineering IV
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1594

Applicants who hold a bachelor’s degree or higher from a university within the United States or in another country in which English is BOTH the primary spoken language of daily life (for the country) AND the sole medium of instruction, as recognized by the World Higher Education Database (WHED), are exempted from the TOEFL/IELTS requirement. Applicants who have completed two years in-person/on-campus of full-time study at such institutions (i.e. accredited US university or accredited university where English is both the primary spoken language of daily life (for the country) and the sole medium of instruction as recognized by the WHED) prior to our admission committee reviewing applications in January are exempted from the TOEFL/IELTS requirement. Your eligibility for an exemption will be verified by the information you provide in the academic history section of your online application and the official transcripts that you upload in your graduate admissions application.

If your academic history does not fit this criteria then you are not exempt from the TOEFL/IELTS requirement (no exceptions) and please do not email us asking for an exception/waiver.
Applicants must take the exam on or before the December 15 deadline. Reports on exams taken in November will be received in time for review. TOEFL reports may be sent to UCLA before online applications are submitted.

If you plan to take or have already taken an additional exam, please make sure that ETS has already sent your first exam report to UCLA before December 15.

In order to ensure your scores sync up with your online application make sure your last name, first name, middle name (if any) and email address match exactly on your ETS registration/IELTS and on your online graduate admissions application. If you leave out your middle name or use a different email address the scores might not sync up to your graduate admissions application and we cannot guarantee your scores will be received by the deadline.

Duolingo will not be accepted.

International applicants are highly encouraged to upload unofficial copies of their TOEFL/IELTS student score reports in the Supporting Documents section of their online application.

At least THREE (3) letters of recommendation must be submitted through the UCLA Application for Graduate Admission. You will be asked to enter the names and emails of your recommenders in the application. They will then receive a link to submit their recommendations.

For M.S. applicants: We recommend that you provide letters of reference from professors who have taught you in your junior and senior years. Applicants who have graduated two or more years from their undergraduate studies can submit professional references in lieu of academic references.

If you are an ESAP applicant to the ECE MS program, you will need two letters of recommendation from ECE faculty/instructors or instructors from outside the department that have a joint appointment with the UCLA ECE Dept (i.e. Professors Omid Abari and Jason Cong are CS faculty with joint appointments with the ECE Dept). If the faculty member does not have a joint appointment with the UCLA ECE Department they cannot serve as one of your two letters of rec for the ECE MS program as an ESAP applicant.

For Ph.D. applicants: We urge that all your letters be from academic or professional references as recent as possible and from people who can comment on your recent professional accomplishments and your qualifications for graduate study in Electrical and Computer Engineering. If you have an M.S. degree, letters from professors who you have interacted with frequently during your graduate studies are particularly helpful.

Letters are due December 15. We will make every effort to review late letters received by December 15, but we cannot guarantee that they will be included in the review.

If you do not meet the criteria for a Fee Waiver as specifically stated on the Fee Waiver requirement page then unfortunately, you do not qualify for a fee waiver (no exceptions). If you do meet the criteria as stated on the Fee Waiver requirement page, it is the applicant’s responsibility to upload all the required documents (including redacting SSN) in their graduate admissions application. The graduate admissions application itself is due December 15th and you cannot modify/edit your application after you have submitted it.

Please do not mail official transcripts during the application process. Official transcripts are only required if you are accepted in the program and receive an admission letter. If you are offered admissions into our program, please arrange to have official final transcripts sent to our office during the summer:

An official final transcript is defined as:

• A transcript enclosed in a sealed envelope, sent directly from the institution and mailed to UCLA.
• An electronic (PDF) transcript, ordered directly from the institution and sent to: eerequest@seas.ucla.edu
• The transcript must include the degree conferral/degree awarded date
• Once official final transcripts are received, they become the property of UCLA and cannot be returned to the applicant.
• For international applicants, please review the UCLA Graduate Admissions International Requirements based on the institutions country of origin to determine the correct official documents to submit.

Electronic delivery:
eerequest@seas.ucla.edu
(Must be sent from the institution, not by the student.)

Mailing address:
UCLA Electrical and Computer Engineering
Office of Graduate Student Affairs
420 Westwood Plaza
57-127 Engineering IV
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1601

The UCLA institution code is 4837.

In order to ensure your GRE/IELTS/TOEFL scores sync up with your online application, make sure your last name, first name, middle name (if any) and email address match exactly on your ETS registration and on your online graduate application. If you leave out your middle name or use a different email address the scores might not sync up to your graduate admissions application, and we cannot guarantee your scores will be received by the deadline. As long as you ordered the scores to be sent to the correct school and department by the deadline you’re fine. You will be contacted if any document or application material is missing or needed. Please do not email or call to inquire about receipt of documents as it will delay our efforts to process application material. Our office is able to match test reports and transcripts for nearly all applicants; however, it takes time due to the volume of applicants. An applicant is denied admission consideration due to an incomplete file only if they do not respond to our request to submit missing material.