Admissions Criteria

Applicants to Doctor of Philosophy programs will be evaluated on the following:

• Baccalaureate degree in a relevant scientific discipline
• Transcripts from all previous colleges and universities attended
• A cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale
• Three letters of recommendation
• A personal statement
• The following PhD Programs/Tracks also require an official Graduate Record Examination (GRE) score. For these program applications, ≥300 combined verbal and quantitative scores is preferred.
  • Biomedical Sciences, Biomedical Materials Science track
  • Nursing

Applicants to the Doctor of Audiology program will be evaluated on the following:

• Baccalaureate degree
• Transcripts from all previous colleges and universities attended
• A cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale
• Three letters of recommendation
• A personal statement
• A Graduate Record Examination (GRE) score ≥300 combined verbal and quantitative scores or Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) score ≥495 is preferred

Applicants to the MS in Biomedical Sciences program will be evaluated on the following:

• Transcripts from all previous colleges and universities attended
• A cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale
• A personal statement

Applicants to the MS in Clinical Investigation program will be evaluated on the following:

• Terminal doctoral degree (MD, PhD, DMD, etc.) or demonstrate significant work experience relevant to the degree program
• Three letters of recommendation:
  1. Letter of support from Division Chief or Department Chair
  2. Letter of support from research mentor
  3. Letter of recommendation
• A personal statement which includes career goals, a brief description of research plan, and identification of research mentor
• Applicant’s curriculum vitae
• Mentor’s curriculum vitae
• Transcripts from all previous colleges and universities
• Applicants should be in good standing with their department at the time of admission

Applicants to the postbaccalaureate certificate program will be evaluated on the following:

• Baccalaureate degree in a science related field or must have completed five semester courses in biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, or math
• A culumative GPA of 2.0 or better on a 4.0 scale
• Official transcripts from all schools attended

English Language Proficiency

Applicants whose native language is not English and/or who have completed their tertiary education primarily outside of the USA must submit official scores of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), International English Language Testing System (IELTS) or Pearson Test of EnglishAcademic (PTEA) as evidence of English language proficiency.

• TOEFL Internet Based Test (IBT): 79 or higher
• TOEFL Paper Based Test (PBT): 550 or higher
• IELTS: 6.5 overall band score or higher
• PTEA: 53 or higher

However, this requirement may be waived for students who are currently enrolled at a college or university in the United States and/or who demonstrate a proficiency in written and spoken English following a personal interview. Admission of a student to a graduate program must be approved by the program director and by the dean of the Graduate School. No individual may enroll in graduate level courses without proper approval and notification from the School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences.

Conditional Acceptance

Acceptance to the School of Graduate Studies is conditional; the Admission Committee may rescind an offer of acceptance at any time before matriculation if an applicant fails to maintain expectations upon which the acceptance was based. Examples include, but are not limited to, a significant decline in academic performance, failure to complete prerequisites or other course work and degrees in progress, patterns of unprofessional behavior and incidents discovered in a criminal background check.

Criminal Background Checks (CBCs)

Any preadmission agreement executed by the degree program with a student shall be void if there is a disqualifying incident or pattern of unprofessional behavior in the CBC prior to enrollment.
Fingerprint-Based CBC: Effective July 1, 2004, Section 3729232 of the Mississippi Code requires that students
enrolled in a health care professional academic program undergo fingerprinting and CBC. All accepted applicants are required to be fingerprinted. Students receiving a stipend must be fingerprinted and drug tested. Fingerprints will be submitted to the Mississippi Department of Public Safety and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a criminal background check.

Technical Standards for Admission

Technical Standards are nonacademic requirements essential for meeting the academic requirements of the programs in the School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences. Within any area of specialization, students must demonstrate competence in those intellectual and physical tasks that together represent the fundamentals of research in their chosen discipline.

The PhD degree programs and some of the MS degree programs at The University of Mississippi Medical Center
School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences require a dissertation or thesis based on independent research.
Granting of those degrees implies the recipient has demonstrated a base of knowledge in their chosen field of study and the ability to independently apply that knowledge to form hypotheses, design and conduct experiments, interpret experimental results, and communicate these findings to the scientific community. Thus, a candidate for the PhD or MS degree in the health sciences must possess abilities and skills that allow for observation, intellectual and conceptual reasoning, motor coordination, and communication. The use of a trained intermediary is not acceptable.

The following technical skills are required of a successful PhD student:

• Observation: The candidate must be able to acquire knowledge by direct observation of demonstrations, experiments, and experiences within the research and instructional setting.
• Intellectual/ Conceptual Abilities: The candidate must be able to measure, calculate, analyze, reason, integrate and synthesize information to solve problems.
• Motor Skills: The candidate must possess motor skills necessary to perform procedures required for experimentation within the chosen discipline. Those individuals with physical challenges are encouraged to contact the appropriate administration to determine their educational options within the chosen discipline.
• Communication: The candidate must be able to communicate and discuss his or her experimental hypotheses and results to the scientific community.
• Behavioral and Social Attributes: The candidate must possess the emotional and mental health required for full utilization of his or her intellectual abilities, the exercise of good judgment, the prompt completion of responsibilities inherent in managing a scientific setting, the ability to function under the stress inherent in research, and the ability to understand and comply with ethical standards for the conduct of research.