Preferred Admissions Standards

Preferred Admission Standards

  • A Bachelor's degree or equivalent from an accredited college or university in the biological or physical sciences or a related field.
  • GPA 3.0 or higher (4.0 scale)
  • GRE General Examination test scores of 60th percentile or above - optional, not mandatory. Applicants are not required to submit GRE scores as part of their application, but may submit GRE scores if they feel that the scores will enhance their application. If GRE scores are submitted, they will be considered as part of your overall application. Note: Official (not copies) of the GRE results must not be more than 5 years old if you are including them in your application. 
  • Official TOEFL, MELAB, IELTS test scores for international students who have NOT completed their undergraduate education at an institution where English is the primary language spoken.

Recommended Prior Coursework

Recommended undergraduate coursework for admission to the M.S. and Ph.D. degree program in Integrated Biosciences is outlined below. However, please note that all applications are evaluated in their entirety, and no single deficiency automatically disqualifies an application from being considered.

For those seeking the MS Degree:

  • 1 year each of biology, chemistry AND physics
  • 1 semester of calculus
  • Other advanced courses in chemistry, biology, additional calculus, and introductory statistics are highly recommended.

For those seeking the Ph.D. Degree:

  • 1 year each of biology, chemistry AND physics
  • 1 year of calculus
  • 1 year of advanced chemistry - examples include, but are not limited to: organic, analytical, inorganic, biological or physical chemistry.
  • 1 semester (minimum) of statistics is recommended

Additional course recommendations

Ecology Organismal Population (EOP) emphasis:

  • 1 semester each of statistics, ecology AND evolutionary biology
  • 1 course in two of the following subjects: Genetics, Cell biology, Biochemistry

Cell Molecular Physiological (CMP) emphasis:

  • 1 year of organic chemistry
  • 1 course of genetics
  • 1 course of cell biology
  • 1 course of biochemistry

Chemical Biology (CB) emphasis:

  • 1 year of organic chemistry
  • 1 course of biochemistry
  • 1 course of cell biology

Additional Recommended Experience/Education

A background in a wide variety of subdisciplines is appropriate preparation for the Integrated Biosciences Graduate Program. 

  • Examples include, but are not limited to: biochemistry, botany, cell biology, chemistry, developmental biology, ecology, evolution, genetics, immunology, limnology, medicinal chemistry, microbiology, molecular biology, neuroscience, physical chemistry, physics, physiology, psychology and zoology.
  • Prior research experience greatly strengthens applications