Education
Application for Graduate Study in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Revised: January 2012
Applicants interested in a PhD in Biochemistry are admitted by The Biomedical Sciences Doctoral Portal (BSDP)
(http://www.medschool.vcu.edu/graduate/phd/index.html#bsdp).
The BSDP admits students into the first year of their
Ph.D. training in six departments: Anatomy and Neurobiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,
Human and Molecular Genetics, Microbiology and Immunology, Pharmacology and Toxicology, or
Physiology and Biophysics. In addition, the portal admits students
into the first year of three interdisciplinary training programs in Neuroscience,
Molecular Biology and Genetics and
Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences (Premedical Graduate Certificate Program).
Students seeking a Ph.D. spend their first year rotating in laboratories selected from any department. With the help
of an academic advisor, students also select courses from any department, which are chosen to complement their research interests or in
some cases explore potential research interests. At the end of the first year, students select a dissertation advisor and enter his or
her department for their Ph.D. research. Doctoral students thus have a flexible and tailored curriculum during their first year of graduate
school, which is drawn from existing laboratories and graduate courses within the School of Medicine. This flexibility extends beyond
the School of Medicine to laboratories and courses in other VCU graduate programs, e.g., biology, chemistry, or engineering. The
first year is designed for cross-departmental flexibility, yet students are free to specialize in a particular discipline beginning
in their first year by electing courses and laboratories exclusively in a particular program. Official entry to the Department of
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology takes place at the end of the first year.
Domestic Applications may be submitted to the
VCU Graduate School at any time, but before January 17 for full consideration
for financial support for the Ph.D. International students are directed to the
VCU Office of International Education. The minimum
stipend is $23,100, plus tuition, fees, and VCU student health insurance.
Application forms can be accessed at:
http://www.graduate.vcu.edu/ (domestic)
http://www.vcu.edu/oie/ia/ia_app_grad.html (international)
• Baccalaureate degree or its equivalent at the time of enrollment, with an undergraduate GPA of 3.5
• 1250 (verbal plus quantitative) and 4.0 (analytical) GRE scores
• Individuals for whom English is a second language must take the “Test of English as a Foreign Language” (TOEFL) examination and achieve a score of 100 (IBT), 250 (CBT), or 600 (PBT).
For combined-degree students, the Medical College Admission test or Dental Admission Test may be substituted for the Graduate Record Examination.
Applicants interested in a MS in Biochemistry are admitted by the Graduate Program Committee (GPC) of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Domestic Applications may be submitted to the VCU Graduate School while International students are directed to the VCU Office of International Education. Applications should be submitted by June 30th.
Application forms can be accessed at:
http://www.graduate.vcu.edu/ (domestic)
http://www.vcu.edu/oie/ia/ia_app_grad.html (international)
Successful applicants will typically have the following credentials:
• Baccalaureate degree or its equivalent at the time of enrollment, with an undergraduate GPA of 3.0
• 1150 (verbal plus quantitative) and 4.0 (analytical) GRE scores
• Individuals for whom English is a second language must take the “Test of English as a Foreign Language” (TOEFL) examination and achieve a score of 100 (IBT), 250 (CBT), or 600 (PBT).
For combined-degree students, the Medical College Admission test or Dental Admission Test may be substituted for the Graduate Record Examination.
For further information about our MS in Biochemistry program contact:
Dr. Tomasz Kordula
Graduate Program Director
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Virginia Commonwealth University
P.O. Box 980614
Richmond, VA 23298-0614
Telephone: (804) 828-0771
Email: tkordula@vcu.edu
