The Biology Graduate Program at SFASU

Graduate Admissions
    
     Before you can begin graduate studies in the Department of Biology, you must first gain acceptance into the university's graduate program. Check out the following link for general information on the Graduate School's requirements and application procedures:

SFASU Graduate School Homepage

     Please be aware of the following Department of Biology graduate admissions deadlines. All of the above application materials (including those required in the Texas Common Application) must be received prior to the application for the semester in which you wish to enter and begin graduate study.

Admission Requirements for Domestic (US National) Students

     In addition to satisfying the general admission requirements of the Graduate School, applicants to the Masters program in biology must meet the following criteria:

1. All applicants must take the GRE exam. If the GRE exam was taken prior to August 1, 2011, scores will be converted into the scoring format for the Revised GRE and used in admissions decisions. The Biology Department has the following guidelines regarding the GRE exam:

2. Completion of a B.S. in Biology, or related field. Successful completion (with a C or better) of at least 15-18 hours of biology credit above the freshman level, with a course equivalent to BIO 341 (Genetics) and a minimum GPA of a 3.0 in all biology and related science courses. Courses in heredity do not apply towards the genetics requirement. Students lacking required equivalents of BIO 341 may be provisionally admitted and required to take one or both of these courses during their provisional first semester.

3. A written letter of intent specifying if the applicant is seeking a thesis or non-thesis degree (thesis work is highly recommended); the applicant’s intended course of study (Botany, Cellular and Molecular Biology, or Ecology and Evolutionary Biology) and academic interests; any relevant past academic, field, or research experience; and discussing the applicant’s personal academic and career goals, and how a Masters in Biology from SFA will help further these goals. The letter is used by the Graduate Advisor to better advise the applicant. Applications will be considered incomplete without a letter of intent, and will be held by the University Graduate Office until a letter is received.

4. Students applying to the thesis track will be admitted as such only if the applicant has secured a faculty thesis advisor prior to application submission. If the applicant has not secured a thesis advisor prior to application submission, and meets all other requirements, they will be accepted into the non-thesis track only. All non-thesis students wanting to switch to the thesis track will have to do so prior to the end of the second week of their first semester.


Application Requirements for International Students

     In addition to satisfying the general admission requirements listed elsewhere in this bulletin, international applicants applying to the Masters program in Biology must meet the following criteria:

1. Applicants from Universities following the US GPA format will be assessed following the table provided above under Domestic Students. Students from Universities not following the standard US GPA format require an average verbal and quantitative percentile of > 40.

2. The curriculum criteria as outlined above for Domestic Students, including some indication of grade interpretation for Universities not following the standard US GPA and grading system.

3. A letter of intent as outlined under the Domestic Student section above.

4. For thesis track applicant’s, a secure thesis advisor as outlined under the Domestic Student section above.

5. In addition to the requirements listed above, students for whom English is a second language require:

          A. A minimum TOEFL score of 550 (paper) or 213 (computer).
          B. A minimum of 150 on the English portion of the GRE examination.
          C. A 10-15 minute English language video of the applicant discussing some aspect of Biology. The
               video will be used to gauge the applicant’s spoken proficiency of the English language, not to
               assess teaching ability or scientific content of the video.