Biological Sciences, BS/MS

Degree Requirements

Students may apply for admission to the program in their third year and will be carefully evaluated to ensure that they meet all university graduation requirements, including the completion of at least 32 credit hours at the 30000-level or above, for a Bachelor of Science degree. The Bachelor of Science/Master of Science combined curriculum consists of all required courses for the Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences as well as all of the current graduate course requirements of either the thesis or the non-thesis Master’s program.

The requirements for admission to the combined program are more stringent than the admission standards into the traditional into the Master of Science program. Students applying to the combined program are required to maintain a minimum 3.25 GPA for the first 80 credit hours of course work and a grade of B- or higher in all biology core courses in the plan of study, in order to be admitted to the Graduate School, pending completion of the Bachelor’s degree requirements. Final admission to the graduate program requires that the student have a minimum 3.25 overall GPA, a minimum 3.25 GPA in all biology basic core courses, and a B- or higher grade in each of the graduate courses taken during the senior year. If these criteria are met, the GRE score requirement for application to Master of Science program is waived.

One hundred and forty-one course credits are required for the combined program in which students are awarded both the Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees. The Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences requires 120 credit hours and the Master of Science in Biological Sciences requires 30 credit hours, for a total of 150 credit hours. The graduate portion of the combined program offers both thesis and non-thesis options. The combined program allows an overlap of 9 credit hours, thereby reducing the number of required hours to 141 and making it possible for qualified students to complete both degrees in five years (summer course work may be needed to complete both degrees in five years for non-thesis students, depending upon the courses taken during the graduate portion of the program). The combined program allows students to receive the Bachelor of Science degree first upon completion of the undergraduate curriculum and the Master of Science degree later upon completion of the graduate plan of study.

Total 141 Credits Required