Effective Date: 11-11-2014 Revised Date: 01-2021
School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences
DOCUMENT TYPE: Policy
REVIEW PERIOD: 1 year
TITLE: Admission Requirements
PURPOSE: To define minimum requirements for admission into the School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences.
POLICY: Selection of applicants is made on a competitive
basis, without regard to creed, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, age,
national origin, disability, or veteran’s status.. A student with a
baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution may apply for study in
areas in which competence has been demonstrated by scholastic performance.
Prospective students must submit
an online application for admission to the Office of Enrollment
Management. This application will include
official transcript(s) of undergraduate and graduate (if applicable) grades;
and may include an official statement of scores (verbal, quantitative and
analytical) received on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), MCAT, or DAT;
letters of recommendation for; and a personal statement. With the exception of
those students applying for admission directly from a Master’s Degree program,
the GRE examination must be taken within five years of application. Information
regarding the GRE may be obtained from the Educational
Testing Service , Princeton, NJ 08540. All non-U.S. transcripts must be
evaluated on a course-by-course report from World
Education Services (WES) at or Educational
Credential Evaluators (ECE).
Additional prerequisites may be required
by individual programs, and these may be determined by contacting the specific
program to which the applicant desires admission.
Initial evaluation of applicants
for admission to graduate programs is made on the basis of undergraduate and
graduate(if applicable) scholastic performance, letters of recommendation,
personal statements and scores received on the GRE. Those applicants for whom the
initial evaluation indicates the scholastic competence necessary to
successfully pursue a graduate degree may be further evaluated by personal
interview.
Coursework in the sciences more than 10 years prior to application
for admission is not acceptable except where competency is validated by
subsequent higher level coursework that is less than 10 years old. Decisions as to the acceptability of course
work will be made by the graduate program in which the student is enrolled and
approved by the Dean.
PhD
applicants will be evaluated based on the following:
- Baccalaureate degree in a relevant scientific
discipline
- GPA (3.0 or better)
- Three letters of recommendation
- A personal statement
- A GRE score >300 on the combined verbal
and quantitative scores is preferred
- Students whose combined verbal and quantitative
scores are > 300 will be granted full admission to the School of
Graduate Studies. Students whose
combined verbal and quantitative scores are < 300 will be considered
for conditional admission based on the recommendation of the program
director. To be removed from conditional status the student must, within the
first semester of admission, attain a GPA of >3.0, or retake the
GRE and score >300. Conditional students who fail to meet the
criteria listed above will be dismissed from the program. Notwithstanding the above, individual
programs may set higher minimum standards than those required by the
School of Graduate Studies.
MS in Biomedical Sciences
applicants will be evaluated on the following:
- Baccalaureate degree in a relevant scientific
discipline
- GPA (3.0 or better preferred)
- A personal statement
- A GRE score ≥295 on the combined verbal and
quantitative scores,
·
Or a DAT score ≥15,
·
Or an MCAT score ≥492
MS in Clinical Investigation
applicants 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
- Letter of support from Division Chief or
Department Chair
- Letter of support from research mentor
- 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.
Post-baccalaureate certificate
applicants will be evaluated on the following:
- A complete application
- 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 school 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 English-Academic (PTE-A) 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
- PTE-A: 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 37-29-232 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 non-academic 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.
Application
procedure - The application may be obtained online from the School of Graduate Studies website.
All transcripts and documents submitted to the Office of Enrollment
Management in support of an application become the property of The University
of Mississippi Medical Center and will not be returned to an applicant or
forwarded to another school or individual.
Contact information: Office of Enrollment
Management, University of Mississippi Medical Center, 2500 North State Street,
Jackson, MS 39216, 601-984-1080, 601-984-1079 (Fax). If problems are
encountered, please contact the graduate school office for assistance
(601-984-1195).
Deadlines for application - The SGSHS
accepts applications throughout the calendar year. However, applications for all
programs must be received by the Office of Enrollment Management by June 1 with
the exception of the post-baccalaureate certificate program in Biochemistry.
·
Post-baccalaureate program in Biochemistry
o Summer
admission application deadline: May 1
o Fall
admission application deadline: July 17
o Spring
admission application deadline: December 18
·
Prospective PhD students who wish to attend the
Graduate School Spring Recruitment Day must have applications submitted by
December 15.
- Students wishing to be considered for
a graduate stipend for the upcoming Fall semester should apply for
admission as early as possible, but no later than April 1.
Stipends are assigned on a competitive basis. An applicant is considered for the
enrollment period designated on the application. If the applicant is
accepted and fails to enroll, or is not accepted, a new application must be
submitted if consideration for a subsequent enrollment date is desired.
Application
Fee - A nonrefundable fee of $25 must accompany the initial application.
Registration -
Registration for classes is not permitted unless the applicant has received
notification of acceptance to a specific graduate program from the School of
Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences. Registration for courses must be
approved by the graduate program director and advisor. No credit is given for
any course for which a student is not officially registered. All students and advisors must complete the
required Registration Approval Form before
each semester.
Non-degree
seeking students - UMMC employees
who wish to take graduate courses but are not members of a University of
Mississippi Medical Center graduate program may apply as non-degree seeking
students. Applicants must first complete an Approval to Register Form. The form
and instructions for the Non-Degree Student are located on the Graduate School website. Non-degree students may not
earn more than 9 semester hours.
Furthermore, successful completion of courses taken does not in itself
qualify the individual for subsequent admission to a graduate program.
Tuition and fees - Tuition
and fees for the academic year can be found on the institutional website. Non-resident PhD students will pay in-state tuition.
Tuition is subject to change pending
information from the Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL).
SCOPE: All SGSHS students.