Biomedical Sciences - MS

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College of Veterinary Medicine

Department of Veterinary Clinical and Life Sciences

About This Degree

The minimum requirement for this MS degree in Biomedical Sciences is 30 semester credits total, which includes 15- 24 credits in residency and, for MS graduate students, 6 to 15 semester credits of “Thesis Research (6970). Courses outside the student’s major field numbered 3000-4990 may be used for the MS degree only with the approval of the Supervisory Committee and the Dean of the School of Graduate Studies. Students may select from the course list provided. The School of Graduate Studies requires fulfillment of the prerequisites listed below.

For more information about Biomedical Sciences, see the Department of Veterinary Clinical and Life Sciences website.
Admitted and current students must meet with an academic advisor.
Log on to Degree Works to check student-specific program progress.

Degree Verification

A bachelor’s degree from an accredited U.S. college or university or a similarly recognized international university is required for admission to and completion of a graduate program.
Overall Graduate GPA of at least 3.0 and no grades of C- or lower; Graduate students are required to maintain at least a 3.0 GPA for degree-program courses. Grades of C- or lower will not be accepted for a graduate degree.

Course Number Acceptability

Credits in the following areas are not acceptable in a degree program: foreign languages (unless included in an approved Program of Study), continuing graduate advisement, individual home study, military science, and courses numbered below 3000.
A master’s degree must be completed within six years of entering the degree program. Additional time may be requested by the student’s committee and submitted to the Vice Provost of Graduate Studies for review.
Coursework more than eight years old at the time of degree completion may not be used for a graduate degree unless it is revalidated. If permitted by the departmental or interdepartmental degree program policy, a supervisory committee may develop and submit a revalidation plan to the Vice Provost of Graduate Studies for approval. The plan and determination must be verified in writing and include the Vice Provost of Graduate Studies and the student’s major professor or other person(s) responsible for the revalidation.

USU Residency Requirement

At least 24-semester credits for a master’s degree must be from a committee-approved and a School of Graduate Studies-approved Program of Study from Utah State University

Thesis Research Credits (6970)

The Plan A option for a master’s degree requires the preparation and defense of a thesis. Students are required to complete a minimum of 6 semester credits of thesis research (6970) with a maximum of 15 thesis credits applied toward a Program of Study.

Required Master’s forms:

Approval of academic forms required for master’s students by the School of Graduate Studies
Supervisory Committee (due by the end of the student’s second semester)
Program of Study (due before the end of the student’s second semester)
Thesis/Project Approval
Appointment for Examination
Record of Examination
SGS and library review & approval

Major Requirements (30 credits)

The minimum requirement for an MS degree is 30 semester credits total, which includes 15- 24 credits in residency and, for MS graduate students, 6 to 15 semester credits of “Thesis Research” (VCLS 6970 ). Courses outside the student’s major field numbered 3000-4990 may be used for the MS degree only with the approval of the Supervisory Committee and the Dean of the School of Graduate Studies.

Courses

Select 30 credits from the following courses:

(This is not a comprehensive list of courses available to graduate students. If you are a graduate student interested in taking a veterinary course, please contact the graduate programs coordinator in the Veterinary Clinical and Life Sciences Department for more information.)

ADVS 5260 - Methods in Biotechnology: Molecular Cloning 3 credit(s)
ADVS 6200 - Physiology of Reproduction 3 credit(s)
ADVS 6210 - Molecular Reproduction and Development 3 credit(s)
ADVS 6630 - Endocrinology 3 credit(s)
ADVS 6650 - Science Communication 3 credit(s)
BENG 6890 - Tissue Engineering 3 credit(s)
BIOL 5240 - Virology 3 credit(s)
BIOL 6020 - Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience 3 credit(s)
BIOL 6600 - Comparative Animal Physiology 3 credit(s)
BIOL 7110 - Cognitive Neuroscience 3 credit(s)
BIOL 7140 - Methods in Neuroscience 3 credit(s)
CHEM 5700 - General Biochemistry I 3 credit(s)
CHEM 6720 - Principles of Enzymology I 1 credit(s)
PSC 6150 - Bioinformatics and Big Data Mining 3 credit(s)
STAT 5200 - Analysis of Designed Experiments 3 credit(s)
STAT 5500 - Biostatistics Methods 3 credit(s)
VCLS 7510 - Veterinary Microscopic Anatomy 4 credit(s)
VCLS 7511 - Veterinary Anatomy I 5 credit(s)
VCLS 7519 - Veterinary Physiology I 4 credit(s)
VCLS 7522 - Fundamentals of Pharmacology 3 credit(s)
VCLS 7535 - Veterinary Virology 3 credit(s)
VCLS 7536 - Veterinary Bacteriology 4 credit(s)
VCLS 7546 - Systemic Pathology 6 credit(s)
VCLS 6970 - Veterinary Clinical and Life Sciences Research and Thesis 1 credit(s) (6-15 semester credits is required)