Biology, Ph.D.

Admission Requirements: Ph.D. Program

Applicants to the Ph.D. program must submit a completed application form, a personal statement describing interest in the program and professional goals, and three letters of recommendation from persons familiar with the applicant’s academic work. The Departmental admissions committee will base admission upon these materials and interviews with selected applicants.

Admission requires that the applicant have a bachelor’s degree from a fully accredited four-year college or university, a minimal score of 900 calculated from the GPA multiplied by 200 and added to the GRE combined verbal and quantitative scores. Students admitted to the program must take a Departmental diagnostic examination that will be used by the admissions committee to design a curriculum to eliminate any identified weaknesses. After passing the recommended courses with a grade of B or better in each, the student will begin the Ph.D. curriculum.

Degree Requirements: Ph.D. Program

Degree candidates must complete the core of required graduate courses (24 hours) with a grade of B or better in each course, pass the comprehensive examination, and gain approval of their dissertation proposal prior to obtaining admission to candidacy for the doctoral degree. Students may have a “C” grade in no more than two courses (6 credit hours), neither of which can be a core course. No “D” or “F” grades are acceptable. A student who receives a grade of “C” in excess of six credits must repeat this course and achieve at least a “B”.

After gaining admission to candidacy the student must complete an approved curriculum (24 hours minimum of electives set by the student’s research advisory committee), enroll in Graduate Seminar (BIOL 7010 , BIOL 7020 ), complete a dissertation (24 hours), and successfully defend the dissertation prior to gaining the Ph.D. degree (Please refer to Biological Sciences Graduate Student Handbook for specific dissertation requirements). A student entering with a Master’s degree may have applicable hours transferred toward the Ph.D. program, as determined by the Advisory Committee. The total number hours required is 76.

Required Courses: 24 Hours

To be completed prior to Admission to Candidacy

After Admission to Candidacy: 52 Hours

Electives (24)
BIOL 5010 - Graduate Seminar I (1)
BIOL 5020 - Graduate Seminar II (1)
BIOL 7010 - Seminar in Biology I (1)
BIOL 7020 - Seminar in Biology II (1)
BIOL 8110 - Dissertation Research (1-9) (24)
Total Required Hours (76)

Graduate Elective Courses

Admission to Candidacy: Ph.D. Program

The student must apply for admission to candidacy after completing the 24-hour core of required courses (See Degree Requirements: Ph.D. program, above.) with an average of B (3.0) or better, passing the comprehensive examination, and gaining approval of the dissertation proposal. The student’s advisory committee will recommend and approve a program of study which must be filed in the School of Graduate Studies upon admission to candidacy.