Welcome to the Prospective Grad Student Visit Info Page!
During your visit, you’ll have the chance to meet with students, faculty, staff, and postdocs in the Berkeley Astronomy Department and take a tour of campus.
Overall Visit Schedule
The visit dates will be March 6-8, 2025. The main departmental visit will be all-day on March 6th and 7th. On Saturday, March 8th, we will have several optional events including a housing tour in Berkeley.
Getting to know the Astronomy Department
Follow the links below to learn more about various aspects of department life. If you have questions, please email professor Ryan Chornock.
Virtual Tour of the Astronomy Department, UC Berkeley, and the Bay Area
- Campbell Hall (home to the Berkeley Astronomy Department)
- Video: UC Berkeley: Just Getting Started (video celebrating Berkeley’s 150th anniversary; excellent aerial shots of campus)
- Video: Welcome to Berkeley (student-led intro to UC Berkeley containing scenes of campus)
- Video: That’s Berkeley (another YouTube link containing scenes of campus)
- Berkeley Visitor Services
- Exploring the Bay Area
Graduate Program
- Description of Graduate Program
- Doctoral Degree Requirements
- Courses
- BadGrads Wiki (tons of information compiled by generations of Berkeley students!)
- General Resources for Berkeley Graduate Students
- General Resources for Graduate Student Instructors at Berkeley
Department Climate
- Statement on Diversity, Climate Advisors, Anonymous Drop Box, & Department Climate Surveys
- Counseling & Mental Health Services
- University Health Services
- Human Resources
Research Opportunities
- Facilities
- Organized Research Units
- Center for Integrative Planetary Science
- Theoretical Astrophysics Center
- Selected Projects
- Research Snapshots from Fall 2018
- Laboratories
Outreach Opportunities
- Astro Night
- Astronomy on Tap
- Outreach Group
- Video of UC Berkeley Astronomy Department’s Cal Day Open House
- Astro FAQ
- Local Resources
News & Events
New Telescope Time Domain survey headquartered at UC Berkeley!
The La Silla Schmidt Southern Survey (LS4, PI Peter Nugent -LBNL) will use the upgraded 20 square degree QUEST Camera on the ESO Schmidt Telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile to survey the dynamical transient sky in the southern hemisphere. This survey is designed to complement the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) being conducted at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in two ways. First, it will provide a higher cadence than LSST over several thousand square degrees of sky, allowing a more accurate characterisation of brighter and faster evolving transients to 21st magnitude. Second, it will open up a new phase-space for discovery when coupled with the LSST by probing the sky between 12–16th magnitude – a region where the Rubin Observatory saturates. Additionally, LS4 will also conduct focused searches for electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave sources found by LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA.
Projected start of science operations: 2024
Why I Love Berkeley Astronomy
Aliza Beverage, Class of ’25
“As a graduate student, it’s been incredible having access to world-class telescopes, instruments, and computing facilities! I also love how supportive and collaborative the atmosphere is here.”
Hannah Gulick, Class of ’26
“At Berkeley, I appreciate the broad range of research topics and access to world-class facilities in the Astronomy Department, Space Sciences Lab, and more, which allow me to pioneer new applications of instrumentation and analysis in my field. All while collaborating and networking with experts of many topics/backgrounds (even during a pandemic!).”
Massimo Pascale, Class of ’25
“Berkeley Astrophysics gives me a host of opportunities for success and the independence to explore those opportunities my own way. I have the freedom to pursue research goals I’m passionate about and the support to help me achieve them.”
Nick Choksi, Class of ’25
“One highlight of the Berkeley astronomy department is the dedication of the faculty to teaching. The courses in the first few years of grad school armed me with the tools I needed to launch into research. (The ping pong table on the roof of Campbell Hall, overlooking the Bay, doesn’t hurt either.)”