Biomedical Sciences (MS)

Admissions

Admissions Criteria:

• The BMP welcomes candidates who are U.S. Citizens, non-citizen nationals, or lawfully admitted permanent residents of the U.S., or individuals who already hold a J-1, H1-B, or F1 transfer visa.
• The program is designed for applicants with long-term goals of entering careers in the health sciences, particularly by successful application to MD, DMD, and PhD degree programs.
• Candidates must have distinguished personal qualifications of past academic ability, research efforts or publications, and references. Application requirements include a bachelor’s degree with a 3.2 or better GPA and completion of courses required for application to a professional degree program. MCAT, DAT, PCAT, or GRE scores will be considered as well in the prioritization process. Candidates with community service, physician or dentist shadowing, patient volunteering, clinical or basic research  experiences will be viewed very favorably.
• Applicants who are citizens of countries where English is not the official language (and the Province of Quebec in Canada) are required to submit evidence of English Language proficiency by submitting the official results of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). A minimum TOEFL score of 600 (paper) or 100 (iBT), or IELTS score of at least 7.00 is required for admission to the Program. We actively seek qualified applicants from underrepresented minorities and students with disabilities.

Application Process:

• The online application process will start July 2016, with rolling admissions until the class is full, for matriculation in late August 2017.  A strong focus on promoting diversity of successful applicants will be employed in the admissions process.
• Admissions are based upon the student’s academic record, standardized test scores, letters of recommendation, previous professional or research experience, written statement of interest, and a personal online interview.
• The online application is available at: https://admissions.gradbiomed.pitt.edu

Financial Assistance

Financial guidance is available through the University of Pittsburgh Office of Admissions and Financial Aid: http://oafa.pitt.edu/learn-about-aid/.  All students are responsible for their own tuition.

Degree Requirements

All requirements detailed in the Regulations Governing Graduate Study at the University of Pittsburgh will be met.  The MS in Biomedical Sciences requires the completion of a minimum of 32 credits with a GPA of 3.0 or higher.  Maximum credits allowed per term will be 18, and a typical course load will be 12-15 credits for the fall and spring terms and 6-8 credits for the summer term.

Foundational Components:

The Curriculum.  The BMP employs science-based instruction designed to improve student preparation for professional degree programs in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, and research.  The BMP, by emphasizing understanding and how to think in addition to what to know, promotes the development of study habits that enable our students to excel and thrive in the first two years of these demanding professional degree programs.  These goals will be achieved through an integrated series of required core courses and elective courses and experiential training opportunities together with dedicated one-on-one advising and mentorship that will enable students to successfully apply to and perform well in his or her chosen professional school.

Experiential Training.  The BMP will afford opportunities for experiential training specifically tailored to the strengths and weaknesses of each individual student.  The areas selected correspond to the typical aspects considered in the review of standard professional school applications: community service, patient volunteering, physician or dentist shadowing, and research training.

Mentoring.  The BMP program will provide one-on-one mentoring to all students.  Each student will initially meet with an advisory team (the four BMP Directors and the Mentoring Coordinator) during the initial phase of the program in order to identify strengths and weaknesses of the previous training received by the student.  The student and his/her committee will prepare a preliminary set of career goals, identifying areas that require special attention for success in medical school.  Periodic assessments of each student’s progress towards these goals will follow.  The students will also receive mentoring during the preparation of applications to professional and graduate schools, emphasizing standardized test preparation, and honing interviewing skills, as needed.  As the program evolves, each student will be assigned a primary faculty mentor and a mentoring team, comprised of BMP program faculty and staff.  The faculty mentor will provide a detailed and personalized letter of recommendation.

Expanding on these three components, the BMP enables the student to differentiate with elective courses and experiential opportunities and mentoring to focus on specialized interests. These so-called Areas of Concentration (AOCs) are in Medicine, Dentistry, or Biomedical Research. The AOCs are designed to individualize the program for students seeking future professional programs leading to the MD, DMD, or PhD degree, respectively.

Successful completion of the BMP results in conferral by the University of Pittsburgh of the Master of Science (MS) degree in the major of Biomedical Sciences. The BMP can be completed in one year or in a more flexible two-year option, but must be completed within two years.
 

Curriculum

The BMP curriculum includes three major components: core, electives, and experiential activities.  A common “core” has been designed to provide the foundational sciences for students who have a minimal level of basic science training as well as advanced education in health science thinking skills to serve students well into the first two years of professional degree programs.  These courses are complemented by electives and experiential activities that are chosen on the basis of each student’s interests in his/her AOC.

Core Courses: Biochemistry and Physiology; Cell Biology Pathways in the Treatment of Disease; Methods and Logic in the Health Sciences; Cell Signaling and Pharmacology; Comprehensive Analysis of Disease; Foundations of Successful Career Planning and Development

Elective Courses: Human Anatomy; Histology and Cell Function in Health and Disease; Human Genetics and Genomics in the Health Sciences; Biomedical Literature Research

Additional Elective Courses: Additional courses are available through the School of Medicine Molecular Pharmacology and Cell Biology & Molecular Physiology Graduate Programs, and the School of Dental Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.

Experiential Courses: The BMP will provide ample pre-clinical opportunities in community service, hospital volunteering, and physician shadowing.  Available opportunities are matched each term to optimize the experiential benefit for all students during their tenure in the program.  Research training experiences are also available in a wide range of biomedical and clinical research laboratories.  Students are expected to take the initiative, guided by their faculty advisor, to find suitable matches and schedule experiential education and training sessions during the Fall, Spring, and/or Summer terms.

Training in Ethics: Ethical conduct and scientific integrity is an essential aspect of the health sciences. The BMP program instructs students on the significance and practice of ethical conduct in an annual workshop.

Academic Standards

Students must maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0.  In addition, a minimum of a B grade must be earned in each of the required courses and in each of the program core courses.