Admissions

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The Department of Microbiology and Immunology encourages applications from promising students seeking the Ph.D. degree who intend to pursue careers in academic or industrial research and teaching. Candidates for admission should possess a broad general education, including a B.S. or B.A. degree. While course requirements for admission are flexible, a knowledge of organic chemistry, general physics and calculus are considered prerequisites. In addition, the successful applicant will usually have taken several upper level science courses such as microbiology, immunology, biochemistry or genetics. Finally, the Graduate Record Examination General (Aptitude) Test is required of all applicants. In general, the undergraduate grade point average, especially in the science courses, should be no lower than 3.0 (B) and the GRE verbal and quantitative scores should total over 1000. However, applications with undergraduate grade point average and GRE scores below the stated minimum of the Graduate School will be completely evaluated; exceptions to these guidelines have been granted. Letters of recommendation from professors who can assess the applicant's potential for a successful graduate career play a critical role, perhaps the most critical role, in the decision process. The letter writers should be chosen carefully so as to provide new (not redundant) information and insights into the prospective student's probability of succeeding in graduate school. The average entering class has six students. As competition for these positions has become very intense, early submission of application materials is recommended.