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Admissions Information

Admissions Requirements

Eligibility criteria include: 

• Applicant must be a continuing University of Arizona undergraduate with a minimum CGPA of ≥ 3.3. 

• Completion of ≥ 75 undergraduate units at the time of application and ≥ 90 undergraduate units at the time of entry into the program. 

• Completion of ≥ 12 undergraduate major credits at The University of Arizona. 

• Completion or near completion of general education requirements. 

• Three letters of recommendation.
• A personal letter of intent (statement of purpose) describing research and career goals.
• Curriculum vitae.
• Unofficial electronic copies of all college and university transcripts are to be submitted with the online application

Applications will be accepted from students who have reached an agreement with a faculty member to serve as a mentor and who have applied to the Graduate College in the standard manner. Students in their junior (3rd) year should submit an application to the AMP prior to January 1st. 

 

 

Standardized Tests

GRE scores aren't required if applying to the Accelerated MS program.

 

Funding Opportunities

Graduate status will be granted once the student has completed their undergraduate degree. Then, students are charged at the graduate rate and will be eligible for graduate assistantships. Students who complete 12 graduate units, but not the undergraduate degree, will be considered as graduate students for financial aid and tuition purposes. 

 

Admissions Deadlines

Domestic Applicants:

• Fall: January 1

International Applicants:

• Fall: January 1

 

International Conditional Admission

International applicants will not be considered for conditional admission by this program.

Other Information

The GRE Institution Code for The University of Arizona is 4832

Completion Requirements

Minimum Credit Units

30 

Core Coursework Requirements

After acceptance into the Accelerated Masters Program, students register to take a combination of undergraduate and graduate courses during their final year to complete their Bachelor’s degree. During this first year in the AMP, students will meet with their advisors to plan their graduate research. Once the student’s bachelor’s degree has been completed the student will focus on their remaining graduate coursework and their research-based thesis in order to complete the requirements for the Master’s degree. 
 
Once a student is admitted into the AMP they may take up to 12 units of graduate coursework, which may apply toward both their Bachelor’s degree and their Master’s degree. During this time students will be charged at the undergraduate rate and retain undergraduate scholarship eligibility. At least 12 graduate credits must be taken while in graduate status, after completing all degree requirements for the bachelor’s.

The degree program requires ≥ 30 units of specified graduate coursework and includes the following: 

• ACBS 696A Research Seminar, 2 units, minimum grade required: B. Students should enroll in, and present a seminar, at least once per academic year. Irrespective of registration, however, MGP graduate students are required to attend seminar each semester, unless there is a course scheduling conflict on the days that seminar is scheduled. Attendance will be monitored and recorded in the student’s annual progress report.

• MIC 595A Critical Evaluation of Scientific Literature, 3 units

• Graded Coursework,12 units (see list below). Decision about these courses is made in conjunction with Major Advisor

• MIC 900 Research, 9 units

• MIC 910 Thesis, 6 units

Minimum GPA in core coursework: 3.0

 

Elective Coursework

Beyond the few required courses, each student will work with his research mentor and graduate committee to develop a curriculum tailored to individual needs. The following list includes courses that have been taken by current/former students in the program. Note: course offerings may be in flux – please refer to the course catalog to make sure that specific courses in the following list are still being offered.

 

STATISTICS & COMPUTATION 

BE 513 Applied Biostatistics 3 units

PSY 510 Statistics Fundamentals 3 units

BIOS 576A Biostatistics for Public Health 3 units

MCB 516A Statistics Bioinfo and Genomic Analysis 3 units

RNR 620 Working with Ecological Data with R 2 units

 

MICROBIAL GROUPS 

MIC 520 Pathogenic Bacteriology (online/hybrid) 3 units

PLP 527R General Mycology (in-person/online) 3 units

PLP 611 Comparative Virology 3 units

MIC 533 Medical and Molecular Virology 4 units

MIC 503R Biology of Animal Parasites 3 units

 

GENETICS, CELL & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 

PLP 528R Microbial Genetics (in-person/online) 3 units

MCB 573 Recombinant DNA Methods and Techniques 4 units

BIOC 568 Nucleic Acids, Metabolism, and Signaling 4 units

MCB 539 Methods in Cell Biology and Genomics 3 units

MCB 577 Principles of Cell Biology 4 units

MCB 572A Cell Systems 4 units

 

FOCUSED COURSES FOR SPECIFIC ACBS MICROBIOLOGY LABORATORIES 

MIC 530 Food Microbiology & Biotechnology 3 units

MIC 530L Advanced Food Science & Microbiology Laboratory 2 units

ENVS 525 Environmental Microbiology 3 units

ENVS 526 Environmental Microbiology Lab 2 units

MIC 550 Veterinary Microbiology 3 units

ACBS 556 Aquaculture 3 units

ACBS 543 Research Animal Methods 3 units

 

MICROBES, IMMUNITY & DISEASE 

MIC 519 General Immunological Concepts  4 units

PLP 552 Antibiotics- A Biological Perspective 3 units

IMB 501 Medical Microbiology and Immunology 4 units

IMB 548 Basic and Advanced Immunology 3 units

IMB 565 Principles and Molecular Mechanisms of Microbe-Host Interactions 3 units

IMB 605 Medical Immunology & Infectious Disease (hybrid) 4 units

ENTO 532 Comparative Immunology 3 units

ACBS 566 Principles of Disease 3 units

 

EPIDEMIOLOGY & PUBLIC HEALTH 

EPID 573A Basic Principles in Epidemiology (in-person/online) 3 units

EPID 573B Epidemiologic Methods 3 units

HPS 529 Project Design & Implementation in Global Health (online) 3 units

PHPM 574 Public Health Policy and Management 3 units

EHS 575 Environmental and Occupational Health (online) 3 units

ENTR 548 Healthcare Entrepreneurship 3 units

 

OTHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COURSES 

ENVS 508 Scientific Writing for Environmental, Agricultural and Life Sciences 3 units

SLHS 649 Survival Skills and Ethics  3 units

CMM 696B Research Seminar 1 unit

CHEM 595A Professional Development 1 unit

 

OTHER SPECIALIZED COURSES 

ABS 593A Internship in Applied Bioscience 1-6 units

BIOC 548A Plant Biochemistry and Metabolic Engineering (online) 3 units

ENVS 564 Environmental Organic Chemistry 3 units

ACBS 570 Animals and Ecosystems (hybrid) 3 units

ACBS 571 Risk Assessment, Management, and Communication 3 units

NSC 696B Nutrition Seminar 3 units

MCB 696E Science, Society and Ethics 1 unit

 

Additional Requirements

None

 

Student Handbook

Please refer to the Graduate Student Handbook for students who are pursuing this program of study.

 

Additional Information

This is an Accelerated Master's Program (AMP).

The Graduate College offers exceptional undergraduate students in selected majors the opportunity to earn both a bachelor's degree and master's degree in as few as 5 years. The Accelerated Master's Program is for the top undergraduates in participating majors who plan to continue in a graduate program in the same, or closely related, UA discipline.

Programs will select from among a qualified pool, based on the following criteria. Individual programs may have more stringent or additional requirements:

• Completion of a minimum of 75 undergraduate credit hours will be required at the time of application; a minimum of 90 undergraduate credit hours will be required at the time of entry into the AMP. If the student's GPA falls below 3.30 at the time s/he has completed 90 units, the student will not be admitted into the program. Courses taken for audit may not be included in the total number of units counted for eligibility or admission.
• Completion of at least 12 earned units of undergraduate course work in the major at the UA.
• Units still graded Incomplete, units graded Pass/Fail or units taken as audit will not count toward the requirement of the 12 undergraduate units in the major.
• Completion or near completion of general education requirements.
• Submission of a graduate application and payment of a graduate application fee.
• Demonstration of the maturity necessary for success in an accelerated, highly competitive program.
• Expectation to complete the undergraduate degree within four years. The undergraduate degree requirements must be completed before the student is eligible to have the Master's degree awarded.
• Interested students should verify departmental requirements as they may have additional or more stringent requirements than the Graduate College minimum requirements.

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