Clinical Science Master's Requirements

Admission Requirements

The application process occurs through the School of Graduate Studies. Information is available from the UND School of Graduate Studies website (http://graduateschool.und.edu/).

If further advice or help would be beneficial to an applicant's decision-making process, we encourage her or him to contact our Director of Graduate Education.

1. Completion of a four-year degree from an accredited university. We are particularly interested in students who have completed an undergraduate degree within the state of North Dakota.
2. Coursework: Admission into the graduate program offered through our department is dependent upon the applicant's demonstration of effective academic skills and appropriate undergraduate training.

Generally, the applicant will have completed successfully the following coursework:

•      General Biology or Zoology (one year sequence)
•      General Chemistry (one year sequence)
•      Organic Chemistry
•      College Algebra

Coursework in Physics, Molecular Biology, or Genetics is strongly recommended.

Preference for admission may be given to applicants who have completed coursework in at least one of the following areas: Biology, Cell Biology, Chemistry, Biochemistry, or Medical Laboratory Sciences.

Applicants must have a cumulative undergraduate GPA of at least 2.75 and a cumulative GPA of 3.00 in graduate level course work, if applicable.  Since the Graduate School requires a 3.0 for admission, those individuals with GPA less than 3.0 would have to be admitted under provisionary status.

1. Graduate Record Examination Scores: Applicants must submit Graduate Record Examination (General Test) scores. Preference for admission will be given to applicants whose test scores fall at or above the reported national averages or 50th percentiles.
2. Satisfy the School of Graduate Studies’ English Language Proficiency requirements as published in the graduate catalog.
3. Admission to the Clinical and Translational Science Graduate Program can be made either through the MS degree program or by application directly to the PhD degree program. A MS degree is not required for admission into the PhD degree program.
4. Students who elect to begin the MS degree program and later decide they wish to pursue the PhD degree may choose to attempt to bypass the MS degree by taking the comprehensive examination. By passing it and meeting the other requirements, such as a GPA of 3.0 or higher in graduate level coursework, a student may be admitted to the PhD program without completing the MS program. Otherwise, a student admitted to the MS program must complete the degree as listed.

Degree Requirements

Students seeking the Master of Science degree through the Clinical and Translational Science Graduate program at the University of North Dakota must satisfy all general requirements set forth by the School of Graduate Studies as well as particular requirements set forth by the program.

1. Minimum of 38 semester hours of graduate credit.
2. Completion of the following graduate level courses (minimum 38 credits):

Foundational Coursework to be completed by all CTS graduate students:

A minimum of 4 credits of elective coursework is required for all MS in CTS students.  Available elective coursework will vary based on track.

For students in the Pathogenesis of Human Disease track, a minimum of 4 hours of elective courses selected from the following:

For students in the Bioinformatics and Human Population Genetics track, a minimum of 4 hours of elective courses selected from the following:

3. Other graduate level courses may be selected or substituted if approved by the graduate student’s Faculty Advisory Committee. Elective courses chosen should be appropriate to the student’s area of interest.

4.  A thesis written on an independent research problem.