Admissions

The School of Systems Biology programs provide advanced training and education for students and professionals seeking careers in the biotechnology industry or biodefense, as well as more traditional careers in teaching or biomedical research for government agencies and private industry.

Application Deadlines:

MS Programs – Spring and Fall admission
March 15 – fall
November 15 – spring

Bioinformatics & Comp Biology PhD program
February 1 – international applicants
February 15 – domestic applicants
November 1 – spring

Biosciences PhD program
January 1 – domestic and international applicants
November 1 – spring

Certificate programs – Spring and Fall admission
June 15 – fall
November 15 – spring

Candidates applying for fall 2021 or spring 2022 admission consideration, may request GRE waiver via email to cosgrad@gmu.edu. Additionally, a student may also request waiver for one (1) of the required recommendation letters.

Applicants to the MS Biology and PhD Biosciences graduate programs traditionally have a background in the life sciences, with undergraduate degrees in biology or biotechnology.

For the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology graduate programs, applicants should have the equivalent of a U.S. 4-year undergraduate degree in biology or biotechnology, math, engineering, or computer science.

Applicants should have a minimum 3.0 GPA to apply to the Master’s and Certificate programs and a minimum 3.25 GPA for the PhD programs.

GRE scores should be in the 45th percentile or above for verbal and quantitative sections, with analytical writing scores of 3.5 or above. Prospective students are encouraged to contact the faculty as potential advisors. Faculty research interests can be found on the Research page.  Students who choose the Translational and Clinical Research concentration in MS Biology may submit MCAT scores in place of GRE general exam scores.