PB Program Overview

Ph.D. Course Requirements

1. You are required to take a minimum of three Plant Biology courses with two courses inside your area of study and one outside your area of study. Research courses (BIO 182, 282, 382) cannot be used to fill this requirement. If you did not enter the program with a Master’s Degree, you can expect to take more than four courses.
2. In addition to the aforementioned courses the student must take BIO 389D Subjects and Skills for Graduate Students in the Biological Sciences in the fall. This is a required course for all first-semester students in the Plant Biology Graduate Program. 
3. Seminar and research courses cannot be used to fulfill the four course minimum requirement.
4. You must take 9 hours during each long semester and 3 during the summer semester to be considered a full-time graduate student.
5. Incomplete courses MUST be completed in the next long semester.
6. Graduate students are expected to receive grades of “A” or “B” in all courses. While “A’s” can cancel “C’s” to keep a grade point average above 3.0 (required), teaching assistantships and fellowships are jeopardized by receiving a grade of “C” in any course. Courses used to fulfill the minimum requirement must be passed with a letter grade of “A” or “B”. The Graduate School does not consider a “C” to be a passing grade.
    

Master’s Course Requirements

1. A Master’s degree program shall be completed within 3 years. For the Master of Arts degree in the Plant Biology Graduate Program, there are two options for requirements.
2. For the Thesis option, 24 hours of coursework plus BIO 698A & 698B Thesis which counts for 6 hours for a total of 30 hours. For a Master’s with Report option, BIO 398R must be taken and counts for 3 hours, in addition to 27 hours of coursework, for a total of 30 hours.
3. A minimum of 15 hours of coursework in Plant Biology is required. Research courses (BIO 182, 282 and 382) cannot be used to fill this requirement. The student can use no more than one seminar course to fulfill the 15 hour requirement.
4. As part of the 15 hours of coursework, the student must take three hours of BIO 389D Subjects & Skills in Biological Sciences. This is a core course for first- semester students in the Plant Biology graduate program and is co-taught with the EEB first year.
5. Six hours of work acceptable for graduate credit must be outside the major area Plant Biology.
6. No more than 9 hours of senior level college courses may be counted toward the Master’s degree, no more than 6 of these can be in Plant Biology or the minor area; thus courses with middle digits of 8 or 9 should be chosen where possible.
7. Twenty percent of the credits for the Master’s degree can be taken pass/fail, but the department prefers letter grades.
8. Students must be full time to receive support. Course loads for a full-time student are 9 hours per long semester and 3 hours for summer session.
9. The Graduate School requires a B average in both major and minor areas. The Program does not count C grades toward fulfilling the requirements, but such grades will appear on the student’s record and must be balanced with an A grade in order to achieve the proper average. Should a student receive a second C grade, his performance will be considered by the faculty and recommendations made as to whether he should continue in the graduate program.