An Overview of the Process

Once your application is complete and received by both the department and the Graduate School, the faculty admissions committee reviews your application. Each applicant is discussed fully. At this point, we could vote to (1) extend an invitation to you for an on-campus interview; (2) accept you into the program; (3) reject your application; or (4) place you on a waiting list for further consideration. If you want a chance at an all-expenses-paid interview here in Athens, you should apply by December 15. If we decide to interview you, we will contact you soon, in early January so that we can arrange a visit in late January. This "recruitment" weekend extends from Thursday afternoon to Saturday. After your campus visit, we will further discuss your application along with input from the entire faculty and graduate students. At that point, you will either be accepted into the program or your application will be rejected.

Master's or Ph.D.

A common misconception is that you must have an M.S. before pursuing a Ph.D. That is not true in our department where we offer a terminal M.S. degree (where the M.S. is not simply a step on your way to the Ph.D.). The M.S. degree is more structured in that you will take classes over a 2-year period as well as pursue a research project that will result in a Master's thesis. Some faculty may not be accepting Master's students in any given year, so it is important that you identify 1 or 2 faculty with whom you would like to complete a research project and list them on your application. It is always a good idea to contact those faculty as well. There are a number of reasons to pursue a Master's degree: you're not quite sure if you want to dedicate the time and effort to getting a doctoral degree or you want to learn more about an area of genetics to help you in other career goals. The Ph.D. program is both more involved and more flexible. You will likely take classes for the first 2 years, but you are expected to begin research as quickly as possible. The doctoral degree requires a deep commitment to research and takes about 5 years to complete.

In making our admissions decision, we consider your entire application; rarely will one part of your application determine whether you are admitted or not. The committee takes into account your undergraduate (and, if relevant, graduate) record, GRE scores, statement of purpose, research experience, general fit with research in the department, and letters of recommendation:

Most of the students we admit have a strong undergraduate record, with GPAs of 3.3 or better. However, we do not require any particular GPA for admission. We recognize that undergraduate courses vary in difficulty across universities and we also recognize that some students hit rough patches in their undergraduate careers. If there are some low grades in your transcript, you should make an effort to explain the circumstances surrounding that performance in your statement of purpose. We also recognize that some students have been away from academics for a time and that your undergraduate record may not be the best measure of your readiness to pursue a graduate degree. Again, you should be clear in your application essay as to why you feel you are prepared to enter our graduate program. A student with a Master's degree will be evaluated on both the undergraduate and graduate record.

We do not have a minimum required GRE score. Since the GRE scores are the only evidence of ability that is the same for all our applicants, we do take those scores into consideration; we pay close attention to the verbal score as that has been highly correlated with success in our program. Although most of our current students have GRE scores above 600, some of our students were certainly challenged by either the verbal or quantitative portions of the GRE. However, we are aware that the ability to take a standardized test successfully does not always translate into a great scientist, so we do not let one score rule our admissions decisions.

The statement of purpose gives you an opportunity to convince us, in your own words, why we should admit you to our program. We use the statement of purpose in a variety of ways. First, it is an indication of your writing ability. But your statement also lets us know how serious you are about pursuing a graduate degree and how well you would fit into the intellectual life of our department. For example, you can write eloquently about your dedication to and interests in taxonomy, but since no faculty in our department currently study taxonomy, it would be unlikely that you would have a productive career here. Use the statement of purpose to convey a sense of who you are, and what your interests, goals, and ambitions are. Tell us about your research experiences; we understand that your undergraduate college may have had limited research opportunities, in which case you should let us know why you have come to the decision to pursue a graduate degree. Explain both what draws you to study in our department. If you have an unusual background or there is something you feel the need to explain in your record, tell us. If you can, it is particularly helpful for you to identify specific faculty members with whom you might like to work and tell us something about the research you might like to pursue in our department. Be concise: your essay should be only 1-2 pages in length.

If you already have a Master's degree in biological sciences, we expect that your statement will reveal a clear sense of what you want to work on for your doctoral dissertation and with whom you would like to work.

You are strongly encouraged to contact faculty members with whom you might want to work or whose research interests you. Send an e-mail and ask about whether the faculty member is taking students. Making this connection is recommended for those of you applying to the Ph.D. program, but essential if you are interested in a M.S. degree. The application asks you to click on research areas that interest you as well as faculty with whom you might like to work. Be thoughtful about these choices. First, if there is no clear match between your stated research interests and the faculty you choose, that raises questions about how well you have researched the department. Second, we use those choices to help set up interviews if you are selected for an on-campus visit.

The strongest letters of recommendation come from professors or employers (in a research-focused job) who know you well and think highly of you; their enthusiasm for you is more important than their status. Letters from family friends, politicians, and other non-academic sources are less useful: they help to describe you as a person, but they speak less directly to your intellectual abilities - our primary focus.

We usually admit 1-3 international applicants each year. Since we are unable to interview international students, our decision to admit depends more heavily on the application. Most international students accepted have very strong records (GPA above 3.67) with very high test scores (GRE scores above 700). We also strongly consider how well the applicant's research interests match with faculty in the department.

All students admitted to the department are provided some means of financial support. Students with high GPA and GRE scores are nominated for competitive university-wide fellowships. Those deadlines fall in early February and we don't hear about the results until sometime in March. Your offer letter will detail the financial support you will be provided. Since we are often juggling our budget to see how many students we can support (waiting on the university-wide fellowships), your offer letter may be delayed a bit until we are certain about fulfilling our financial promises.

• Become familiar with the "Admissions" section of the University of Georgia's Graduate School.


• If you are having difficulties with applying online or downloading forms, request that the information be sent via postal mail. Contact the Graduate School by telephone (706-542-1739), email, or web.


• After you send your application to the Graduate School, check the Graduate School tracking screen from time to time to obtain information on the status of your application, until it is complete.


• Prospective students are encouraged to contact Janice Lunsford, our Graduate Administrator, for further assistance at 706-542-1442.