Masters Program

The Department offers both a thesis and a non-thesis Master of Science degree. The thesis track is a research-based program, whereas the non-thesis track requires an extensive research literature review. In both cases a minimum of 45 graduate credit hours are required for graduation; 30 of these hours must be from formally designated coursework. Currently, it is very important to note that there is no stipend or tuition support available for students in the Master's program. Thus, students in this program are responsible for their own financial arrangements.

Students have typically begun their studies in the Fall quarter of a given academic year. However, we are now interested in admitting students into the Masters program each academic quarter. Students can continue to apply for traditional Autumn admission as well. We have found that some applicants are looking to increase their degree credentials for employment and career reasons (i.e. promotions, pay increase, etc.), while others hope to prepare for doctoral studies.

Each student will be assigned an academic mentor at the beginning of their year: this person will be an essential resource in advising on the choice of individual courses and overall curriculum direction. All students will be expected to take the Departmental three course introductory offerings in the Fall quarter (i.e., Introduction to Molecular Genetics, Introduction to Biochemistry, Prokaryotic Genetics for the Modern Biologist) for a total of 11 credit hours. Students are expected to take at least 10 credit hours of coursework in both Winter and Spring quarters. Students will meet with their academic mentor to determine appropriate coursework and academic load. At the end of the Spring quarter students on the non-thesis track should have accumulated at least 30 hours of formal coursework credit. Students on the thesis track might not have reached this target owing to time spent in laboratory research experiences. It is anticipated that thesis track students will obtain the necessary 30 hours minimum total from additional courses taken during succeeding quarters.

It is anticipated that students in both tracks can complete all requirements in a total of 6 academic quarters; in exceptional cases 5 quarters of intensive study and/or research may suffice.

At the discretion of the Director of Graduate Studies, students may be accepted into the Master's degree program on a part time basis. It is likely that this would be on the non-thesis track only, since the research project required on the thesis track necessitates a full time commitment on the part of the student. International applicants cannot be accepted as part time students, since U.S. visa requirements require such candidates to enter into a full time program of study.