Contiguous Bachelors Masters Pathway
Because the bioinformatics concentration of the Biomolecular Engineering and Bioinformatics (BME) B.S. provides excellent preparation for a graduate program in bioinformatics, we offer a contiguous B.S./M.S. degree pathway that allows those students to complete the M.S. (or Ph.D.) somewhat sooner than students with a less-tailored preparation.
The current B.S. and M.S. requirements have three courses in common:
BME 80G, Bioethics in the 21st Century*
BME 205, Bioinformatics Models and Algorithms*
BME 230A, Intro to Computational Genomics and Systems Biology*
*These courses must be passed with a grade of B- or better to meet the M.S. requirements.
In accordance with UCSC Graduate Council guidelines for contiguous five-year bachelor’s/master’s programs, students are required to complete 35 credits during the master’s phase of the program. Since BME 205 and BME 230A are taken in the undergraduate phase, the credits cannot be counted toward the overall credits required by the M.S. degree.
Classes should be chosen in consultation with the BME Graduate Advising Committee. Per UCSC Graduate Council policy, up to 15 credits may be upper-division undergraduate courses not already counted toward the B.S. Typically, these courses are selected to address specific interests, cover topics specific for the capstone project, or address specific deficiencies of each student.
Biomolecular engineering graduate courses suitable for fulfilling the 35-credit requirement include, but are not limited to, BME 215, Applied Gene Technology; BME 230B, Advanced Computational Genomics and Systems Biology; BME 232, Evolutionary Genomics.
The combined B.S./M.S. degree pathway does not make any changes to the undergraduate program nor the graduate program, except that students must pass the overlapping courses listed above for a grade of B- or better.
To apply for the combined pathway, students apply to the M.S. program through the normal graduate admission process in the fall of their senior year. If admitted into the graduate program, they are automatically included in the combined B.S./M.S. pathway.