Admission Requirements: Ph.D. Program
Admission requires that the applicant have a bachelor’s degree from a fully accredited four-year college or university. Applicants to the Ph.D. program must submit a completed application form, a personal statement describing interest in the program, 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.
Degree Requirements: Ph.D. Program
Degree candidates must complete a preliminary qualifying exam, 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 of hours required is 76.
