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Exit Masters

The BCB PhD curriculum provides an “exit masters” option that is available only to students already enrolled in the BCB PhD program. The exit master’s is for PhD students who decide, after completing many but not all of the PhD requirements, to take a different path. As such, as an “exit-ramp” from the PhD. It is not available as a standalone program and does not take applications from outside the BCB PhD program.

The degree requirements for the exit masters are the following:

  • A minimum of 23 credit hours of graduate course credit are required for the master’s degree. These include the BCB core courses (7 credit hours), 4 semesters of the BCB Colloquium (4 credit hours) and 12 credit hours of electives.
  • Completion of the first-year requirements for the Biological and Biomedical Sciences Program.
  • Master’s level Pass (or better) of the BCB written qualifying exam.
  • Completion of a master’s thesis or master’s project. Both the thesis and project require a written report of research completed by the student. The master’s thesis is subject to the strict guidelines enforced by the Graduate School, whereas the masters project should be in the form of a prepublication journal article.