Transfer Students

The BMS accepts transfer students only when they are accompanying a faculty member who is moving to the University of Florida.  All other applicants must apply for regular Fall semester admission.  Transfer of credits from another institution to count toward a University of Florida Ph.D. degree is subject to the limits and conditions set forth by the UF Graduate School.

From the UF Graduate Catalog: Transfer of Credit

No more than 30 semester credits of a master’s degree from another institution will be transferred to a doctoral program. If a student holds a master’s degree in a discipline different from the doctoral program, the master’s work will not be counted in the program unless the academic unit petitions the Dean of the Graduate School. All courses beyond the master’s degree taken at another university to be applied to the Ph.D. degree must be taken at an institution offering the doctoral degree and must be approved for graduate credit by the Graduate School of the University of Florida. All courses to be transferred must be graduate level, letter graded with a grade of B or better and must be demonstrated to relate directly to the degree being sought. All such transfer requests must be made by petition of the supervisory committee no later than the third semester of Ph.D. study. The total number of credits (including 30 for a prior master’s degree) that may be transferred cannot exceed 45, and in all cases the student must complete the qualifying examination at the University of Florida. In addition, any prior graduate-level credits earned at the University of Florida (e.g., a master’s degree in the same or a different discipline) may be transferred into the doctoral program at the discretion of the supervisory committee and by petition to the Graduate School. In such cases, it is essential that the petition demonstrate the relevance of the prior course work to the degree presently being sought.”

Applications

Students must submit the same application materials as any other prospective new Biomedical Sciences student.  For application forms and procedures, please see the Admissions web page.  The Associate Dean for Graduate Education will review applications in consultation with the Admissions Committee or a subset thereof.

Supervisory Committee

Following their acceptance and arrival at University of Florida, transfer students must form a supervisory committee during their first semester of graduate study.

Course Work

Students who transfer into the Biomedical Sciences Program will be at different stages of their graduate careers, and will thus have completed different amounts and types of coursework at their prior institutions.  It is anticipated that the majority of students who transfer to the Biomedical Sciences Program will have completed at least a year of graduate studies.  The Advanced Concentration Coordinators and the Supervisory Committee will determine the appropriateness of their prior coursework for transfer (up to 45 credit hours), whether those courses will count towards fulfilling Biomedical Sciences course core and/or advanced requirements, and whether the student will need to take additional courses at UF.  Students who transfer during their first year of graduate study will have their cases reviewed by the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Studies Committee, who will decide upon the transfer of credit and on whether the student must take all or part of the Biomedical Sciences core curriculum.

Qualifying Exam

All transfer students must take a qualifying exam at the University of Florida, regardless of whether they have taken a qualifying exam at any other institution.  There will be two categories of students:

  • Students who have not taken the qualifying exam at their prior institution, i.e. first- and second- year students, will take this exam under the current Biomedical Sciences guidelines.
  • Students who have already taken a qualifying exam at their previous institution must take the qualifying exam here at UF.  While the format of their exam should follow the Biomedical Sciences guidelines, their Advanced Concentration Coordinator and Supervisory Committee will determine the content of the exam.

These policies are reviewed periodically, and will be structured to conform to the policies and procedures of the University of Florida and the Graduate School.