Receive two degrees in five years. The BS/MS BCBT program is an accelerated program that allows students of appropriate academic ability and maturity to complete both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Biochemistry and Biotechnology in only five years of full time study.
The program allows students to apply 12 of the 30 MS credit hours towards the BS (per the approval of the College of Arts and Sciences), reducing the overall required hours for the two. Students will pay graduate credit hour tuition for all courses applied to the graduate degree. All other requirements for the BS and MS degrees remain in effect.
Admission Requirements
Students interested in this program must go through a two-step admission process. First, applicants for Provisional Status must have completed all courses in the biology, chemistry, math and physics cores of the BS in BCBT program. CHEM4712/BIOL4712 Biochemistry must be in progress or completed prior to applying for Provisional Graduate status. Applicants should have completed all of the general education requirements. Applicants must also have a minimum G.P.A. of 3.0 (both overall and in science courses) and must submit at least two letters of recommendation (one instructor and one academic advisor is recommended). The second step of the admission process is the transition from Provisional status to formal graduate status. Admission requirements for formal graduate status are the same as for the traditional MS program.
Awarding of Degrees
The student may apply for and receive the bachelor’s degree in the semester when all the undergraduate requirements are completed. In their final semester in undergraduate status, the student must apply and be admitted to the graduate program, to begin the following semester. The student will apply to receive the master’s degree in the semester that the requirements for the graduate degree will be completed.
If the student fails to enroll for more than one year after receiving the bachelor's degree, the student can still earn the master’s degree, but the graduate-level credits earned as an undergraduate cannot be used for the graduate degree.
