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MS in Biology

Program Description | Admission | Degree Requirements | Courses


Program Description

The Master of Science in Biology allows for a specialization in one of several areas of biology and is designed for students planning to pursue careers in research at the collegiate level or in environmental biology with governmental agencies and industry. This degree is also appropriate for students planning to continue their training in a PhD program at other institutions or professional schools. The degree is a research-oriented degree and requires the completion of a thesis.


Admission

Applicants seeking admission to the graduate program in biology must submit the following directly to the Office of Graduate Studies:

  1. A Graduate Studies Application with the application fee
  2. Official transcript(s) of all previous college work
  3. Official GRE scores
  4. Two letters of recommendation from faculty in the student's major at the undergraduate degree-granting institution

To be granted regular admission, applicants must have an undergraduate degree in biology or a related field. Applicants having an undergraduate degree in a discipline other than biology must successfully complete the equivalent of an undergraduate minor in the biological sciences before being considered for regular admission.

Regular admission is based in part on a combination of GRE scores and undergraduate GPA, but these factors do not constitute the sole criteria for consideration of an applicant. Rather, a holistic review of each student's application file will be completed.

More detailed information on competitive GRE scores and undergraduate GPA can be found on the department's website at: www.shsu.edu/~bio_www/.


Degree Requirements

There are two different plans leading to the MS in Biology. Plan 1 requires completion of a thesis for a total of thirty-two hours of graduate credit in biology. In Plan 2, students take twenty-six hours of biology (including thesis hours) and twelve hours in a secondary field that logically supports the major for a total of thirty-eight hours of graduate credit.

All graduate students are required to pass a comprehensive examination on general biological concepts based on their coursework. The nature of this examination, which may be written and/or oral, will be determined by the faculty. Students must be enrolled the semester they take the comprehensive examination.

A thesis research project is conducted under supervision of the student's thesis advisor, and the student will present the thesis to the faculty in seminar format. The thesis must be defended before the student's thesis committee. Once enrolled in BIO 699 <BIOL 6399> Thesis, a student must be continually enrolled until graduation.

Plan 1 - MS in Biology

Item
Requirement
Options
Hours
Required
1
Specified
Course
Choose all from:
BIO 520 <BIOL 5200> Professional Aspects of Science
2
2
Electives
Choose eight from:
Graduate courses in BIOL excluding thesis courses1
24
3 Thesis Choose all from:
BIO 698 <BIOL 6398> Thesis
BIO 699 <BIOL 6399> Thesis
6
TOTAL
32
Notes:
1 Selections should be made in consultation with the Graduate Advisor.

 

Plan 2 - MS in Biology

Item
Requirement
Options
Hours
Required
1
Specified
Course
Choose all from:
BIO 520 <BIOL 5200> Professional Aspects of Science
2
2
Electives
Choose six from:
Graduate courses in BIOL excluding thesis courses1
18
  Secondary Field Choose four from:
Graduate courses in an approved field1
12
3 Thesis Choose all from:
BIO 698 <BIOL 6398> Thesis
BIO 699 <BIOL 6399> Thesis
6
TOTAL
38
Notes:
1 Selections should be made in consultation with the Graduate Advisor.

 


Courses

Biology (BIOL)

Senior Courses Open to Graduate Students
With departmental approval, a maximum of six hours of the following senior (4000-level) courses may be taken for graduate credit toward the MS in Biology. Course requirements in senior courses must be appropriately modified for graduate credit.

BIO 430 <BIOL 4430> Vertebrate Natural History
BIO 431 <BIOL 4410> General Entomology
BIO 432 <BIOL 4320> Environmental Toxicology
BIO 433 <BIOL 4330> Aquatic Biology
BIO 435 <BIOL 4350> Immunology
BIO 437 <BIOL 4370> Microbial Ecology
BIO 446 <BIOL 4460> Parisitology
BIO 449 <BIOL 4490> Advanced Cell Biology
BIO 460 <BIOL 4306> Philosophy of Biology
BIO 461 <BIOL 4361> Introductory Evolutionary Biology
BIO 470 <BIOL 4470> Animal Behavior
BIO 471 <BIOL 4471> Invertebrate Zoology
BIO 474 <BIOL 4374> Biostatistics
BIO 480 <BIOL 4480> Molecular Biology
BIO 493 <BIOL 4493> Endocrinology

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