See Also: Apply for Admission

Students accepted into the Department for graduate study are expected to have a background equivalent to that of graduating Bachelor of Science majors in the Department. This includes knowledge of the basic principles of Biochemistry, Chemistry, Cell Biology, Molecular Biology, Genetics and Physiology.

The requirements listed below are minimal requirements. Highly competitive applicants have typically earned a recent B.S. degree in a biological science. Many of our most successful graduate students have also gathered experience, and demonstrated some productivity, as undergraduate research participants for at least one semester.

Requirements for admission are specified in the Graduate Catalog and are summarized as follows: one year of general biology or the equivalent, a minimum of 8 semester hours beyond introductory biology, general and organic chemistry(with laboratories), at least one semester of biochemistry, one year of calculus, one year of physics, a minimum GPA of 3.0 on a scale of 4.0, and satisfactory performance on the GRE (a combined score of 1100 or higher on the Verbal and Quantitative portions and a 3.0 or higher on the Analytical portion is strongly preferred).

International applicants must submit official TOEFL scores to The University of Tennessee Graduate Studies as part of the application (a minimum score of 550 for the paper-based, 213 for the computer-based, or 80 for the internet-based TOEFL is required for admission consideration).