Admissions and Financial Support:
Qualifications: Qualified students are admitted to the department
on a competitive basis. Applicants should have a minimum undergraduate
GPR of 3.0 and a strong foundation in natural sciences, preferably with
research experience. Verbal, quantitative, and analytical Graduate Record
Examination scores are required; all should be above 500. Three letters
of recommendation and a personal statement are also required. The personal
statement should describe your research interests and research experience,
as well as career objectives. For international applicants, minimum scores
of 500 on the verbal section of the GRE and 55 on Section 1 of the TOEFL
are required. Total TOEFL score should be over 600. The program generally only admits students seeking the PhD.
Research Program: All entering students are expected to become
established in a research program by the end of their first year. For this reason,
compatibility of an applicant's research interests with the research interests
of our faculty is a major consideration for admission. Applicants are encouraged
to become familiar with departmental research programs and to communicate
directly with faculty members with whom they would prefer to work.
Financial Support: It is the policy of the Department of Biology
to provide financial support in the form of teaching assistantships or research assistantships to all students entering our graduate program. The stipend for new students is $1835 per month plus single-coverage health insurance. First-year students receive 12 months of support plus tuition and academic fees. After the first year, all students in good standing receive continued support through Research or Teaching Assistantships. International students
must successfully complete an English Language Proficiency Examination.
Application Deadline: Nominations for awards and assistantships
are submitted in early February. Additionally, a few highly qualified applicants
are invited to College Station to meet our faculty in early March. To allow
sufficient time for review of applications and consideration for participation
in these activities, applications should be received by JANUARY 15th
for Fall admission. Students are generally not admitted for the Spring
or Summer semester.
Admission to Texas A&M University
and any of its sponsored programs is open to qualified individuals regardless
of race, color, religion, sex, age, or national origin.
