FAQs - Bioscience - The University of Utah

We are no longer accepting applications for the Fall 2023 class. We encourage you to apply next year for Fall 2024 and the deadline will be December 1, 2023.

We anticipate that the online application will open sometime in September 2023.

Below is a list of frequently asked questions. Please contact us if you have questions that are not answered below or in our Application Guidelines.

What is the application fee?
Where do I send information?
What is the most important factor in an application?
What is the institution code?
What is the department code?
What are the average TOEFL and GPA scores?
English Proficiency requirements and waivers?
What are your minimum score requirements?
How do I calculate percent effort into research months or person months?
How many students do you accept every year?
What are the financial benefits?
How long does it take to get a PhD?
How do I upload documents to my online application?
How do I log back into my online application?
My recommenders have not submitted letters of recommendation. What should I do?
I have uploaded my materials and I am waiting on letters of recommendation. What should I do?
What if I am having technical difficulties with my application?
When is the deadline?

What is the application fee?

The online application is free. You will submit your application with a coupon code and you should not enter your credit card information or send a check or money order for payment when you apply.

The application fee will be waived if you enter the current program specific code in the Application fee waiver code field under at the bottom of the Additional Materials section.

The University of Utah and the Bioscience PhD Programs cannot reimburse or reverse application fees paid by the applicant. Application fee waiver codes are program specific and data entry errors or codes created by other programs will not be honored or credited.

To avoid confusion and delays in processing applications, you can only apply to one of the two Programs: Molecular Biology PHD or Biological Chemistry PHD and only one application fee waiver per applicant.

Please see our application instructions for details.

Where do I send information?

Please upload scans of all application materials in Slate.

Do not send materials by mail to the Office of Admissions or the Bioscience Office unless instructed to do so after an offer has been made and accepted.

What is the most important factor in an application?

All portions of the application packet carry equal weight. Deficiencies in one area may be balanced by strengths in another.

The following are common components of successful applicants:

Meaningful, hypothesis-driven research experience for which the applicant had primary responsibility
Strong letters of recommendation, particularly from research advisors
Publication record in PubMed-listed journals
Consistent record of academic excellence

What is the institution code?

The institution code for the University of Utah is 4853. Please allow several days for processing.

What is the department code?

The institution code for the University of Utah is 4853. Please allow several days for processing.

What are the average TOEFL and GPA scores?

Over the past five years, the students who enrolled in our programs had the following averages:

TOEFL: 109 iBT score
GPA: 3.51
Research Months: 20 Full time person months

Please note that these are averages and are not minimum requirements. When making a decision, we review the entire application not just test scores and GPA.

TOEFL/IELTS/DUOLINGO requirements and waivers?

Please visit this site for more information about requirements and waivers:
http://admissions.utah.edu/international/graduate/grad_english_proficiency.php

TOEFL/IELTS/Duolingo are considered expired if taken before May 1, 2021. University policy states that applicants must have one of the following :

- Duolingo 105 or higher
- iBT/TOEFL 80 or higher
- IELTS 6.5 or higher
- Meet one of the specific criteria listed on https://admissions.utah.edu/english-proficiency/#not-required , for example if you are a native English speaking citizen of an approved country.

Please note that class instruction in English does not meet this requirement. Typical English proficiency waivers are:

- An associate, bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree from a regionally-accredited U.S. college or university completed within two years of admittance

- A bachelor's, master's or doctoral degree from a regionally-accredited or ministry of education approved college or university within the past two years from one of the approved countries.

Applicants whose first language is not English must submit the TOEFL, IELTS or DUOLINGO examination for consideration or satisfy requirements that waive the English proficiency requirement. The University Office of Admissions determines exceptions to the English proficiency requirements.

If necessary, the Bioscience PhD Program Office will provide a Letter of Support for a English Proficiency Petition for students who have already received and accepted an offer from the Admissions Committee. Please do not contact individual faculty to request a Letter of Support.

What are your minimum score requirements?

The University policy states that applicants must have a bachelor's degree from a regionally-accredited U.S. college or university or equivalent, at least a 3.0 or higher undergraduate weighted mean GPA on a 4.0 scale, and international students must have an iBT/TOEFL 80 or higher, IELTS 6.5 or higher, or Duolingo 105 or higher. (Minimum score requirements are subject to change).

How do I calculate percent effort or Part Time Research into Research Months or person months?

Person months is the metric for expressing the effort you devote to a specific project in the lab. Person months or research months are an important metric to demonstrate prior research experience.

Please visit the link below on how to calculate person months and part time effort in to full time research months.

How Do You Convert Percent Effort into Person Months?

Over the past few years the incoming class had an average of 20 Full time research months .

How many students do you accept every year?

Between our two programs, we receive ~ 600 applications each year, and typically accept ~20% of those applicants.

We aim for a combined class size of 55-60.

What are financial benefits?

Fellowship / living stipend of $35,000 for the 2023-2024 academic year
$1,000 starting allocation
Health Insurance
Full Tuition Coverage

This financial support is for all accepted students, regardless of citizenship.

How long does it take to get a PhD?

It takes, on average, 6 years.

How do I upload documents to my online application?

To upload paper materials you need to scan them with a scanner/printer save them in PDF format and then upload the files in the appropriate place. If you have several pages for your transcript, for example, then you will scan each page then merge all pages in to one document and then save. You may need to reduce the file size either by reducing the document size or optimizing scanned PDF to make the document smaller. These functions can be found under the document tab of ACROBAT.

We require all applicants to upload their personal statement, CV, transcripts, and score reports when submitting the online application. If you have not uploaded these items before submitting, your application may be considered incomplete. If you have questions/concerns, please contact our office.

For application instructions please click here.

You can log back in to your online application here:

https://futureu.admissions.utah.edu/apply/

If you have forgotten your password, you may request a new password with the email address and birthdate.

My recommenders have not submitted letters of recommendation. What should I do?

Three letters of recommendation must be submitted into the Slate system by your recommenders by the deadline of December 1, 2022.

You can log back into your application and send your recommenders a reminder. You can also add new recommenders and make edits to previously added recommenders. When the recommenders information is saved, an email will be sent with instructions on how to proceed with the online recommendation.

Please note that notification emails will indicate "The University of Utah Office of Admissions" as the sender and will come from admissions@utah.edu. If your recommenders use a spam-blocking tool, please ask them to add this email address to their list of known/safe addresses.

I have uploaded my materials and I am waiting on letters of recommendation. What should I do?

Submit your application! Once you have completed the application questions and uploaded the required documents complete the Signature and Review process. On the Review page Slate will alert you to missing or incomplete information in the various sections.

What if I am having technical difficulties with my application?

Please contact us if with specific information about the problem.