Residence

In partial fulfillment of the residence requirement for the degree of Master of Biotechnology, the student must complete 9 resident credit hours during one regular semester or one 10-week summer semester. Upon recommendation of the student's advisory committee and with approval of the Office of Graduate Studies, a student may be granted exemption from this requirement. However, such a petition must be approved prior to the student's registration for the final 9 credit hours of required course work.

Full-time staff members of the University or of closely affiliated organizations stationed at the campus at College Station may fulfill total residence requirements by completion of less-than-full course loads. Specific authorization for such programs must be granted in advance by the employing agency. Employees should submit verification of their employment at the time they submit their degree plan. See Registration.

Student's Advisory Committee

After receiving admission to graduate studies and before enrolling for course work, the student will consult with the Professional Program in the Biotechnology (PPiB) Office. The student's advisory committee for the master's degree will consist of no fewer than three members (more than one department must be represented by the members of the advisory committee). The committee chair must be a member of the Graduate Faculty and of the Faculty of Biotechnology.

The chair, in consultation with the student, will select the remainder of the advisory committee. The chair will then notify the tentative members of the advisory committee, giving the student's name and field of study, and a request that they consider serving on this committee. The student will interview each prospective committee member to determine whether he or she is willing to serve. The chair of the committee has the responsibility for calling required meetings of the committee, and for calling meetings at any other time considered desirable.

If the chair of the student's advisory committee is unavailable for an extended time in any academic period during which the student is involved in activities relating to an internship and is registered for 684 courses, the student may request, in writing, that the Program Chair appoint an alternate advisory committee chair during the interim period.

The duties of the committee include responsibility for the proposed degree plan, the professional portfolio and the final oral defense. In addition, the committee as a group and as individual members is responsible for counseling the student on academic matters, and, in the case of academic deficiency, initiating recommendations to the Office of Graduate Studies.

The committee members' signatures on the degree plan indicate their willingness to accept the responsibility for guiding and directing the entire academic program of the student and for initiating all academic actions concerning the student. Although individual committee members may be replaced by petition for valid reasons, a committee cannot resign en masse.

Degree Plan

The student's advisory committee, in consultation with the student, will develop the proposed degree plan. The degree plan must be completed and filed with the Office of Graduate Studies following the deadline imposed by the PPiB, and no later than 90 days prior to the date of the final oral examination. No exceptions are allowed.

This proposed degree plan must be typed and submitted on the official form as it appears on the website at vpr.tamu.edu with endorsements by the student's advisory committee and the Chair of the PPiB, who serves as department head for the PPiB.

Additional course work may be added to the approved degree plan by petition if it is deemed necessary by the advisory committee to correct deficiencies in the student's academic preparation.

Credit Requirement

A minimum of 39 hours of course work is required for the Master of Biotechnology degree. To emphasize the integration and application of subject matter learned and the development of written and oral communication skills, students will be required to take BIOT 684 (Professional Internship) during their last semester. Students may select 6 credit hours of electives within the 39 credit hour requirement in consultation with their advisory committees. These elective hours may be from any course on the list of approved electives or other courses if approved by the advisory committee.

Limitations on the Use of Transfer, Extension and Certain Other Courses

If otherwise acceptable, certain courses may be used toward meeting credit-hour requirements for the master's degree under the following limitations.

Exceptions will be permitted only in unusual cases and when petitioned by the student's advisory committee and approved by the Office of Graduate Studies.

Transfer of Credit

You may transfer a maximum of 12 hours of courses or one-third of the total hours of the degree plan, whichever number is greater, from an approved institution upon the advice of your advisory committee. Courses taken in residence at an accredited U.S. institution or approved international institution with a final grade of B or better will be considered for transfer credit if, at the time the courses were completed, the student was in degree-seeking status at Texas A&M University or at the institution at which the courses were taken, and if the courses would be accepted for credit toward a similar degree for students in degree-seeking status at the host institution. Course work without formal grades or with grades other than letter grades (for example, CR, P, S, U, H, etc.) is not accepted for transfer credit. Transfer credit for course work from any college or university must be shown in semester credit hours or equated to semester credit hours. You must have an official transcript sent directly from the university in which the transfer course work was taken to the Texas A&M Office of Admissions and Records. Transfer courses are not included in the calculation of the GPR.

Scholastic Requirements

In order to maintain good academic standing, a MBiot student must maintain a minimum cumulative 3.000 GPR each semester. If a student fails to attain a cumulative 3.000 GPR, he or she is placed on academic probation. Students on academic probation must raise their cumulative GPR to 3.000 or above by the end of the next 9 hours of course work. If this requirement is not met, the Program Chair will recommend that the Office of Graduate Studies block the student from further enrollment. If a student is blocked from further enrollment in the MBiot program, he or she shall not be permitted to enroll in other MBiot courses.

Foreign Languages

There is no specific language requirement for the Master of Biotechnology degree.

Internship

Students who undertake a professional internship in partial fulfillment of master's degree requirements after completing all course requirements for the master's degree must return to the campus for the final examination. The final examination is not to be administered until all other requirements for the degree, including any internship, have been substantially completed. Students on academic probation will not be allowed to participate in an internship.

Time Limit

All degree requirements for a master's degree must be completed within a period of seven consecutive years. Course work which is over seven calendar years old may not be applied to a master's degree. Time limits for course work on the degree plan also apply to transfer courses.

Application for Degree

Graduate degrees are conferred at the close of each regular semester and 10-week summer semester. Candidates for advanced degrees who expect to complete their work at the end of a given semester must apply for graduation by submitting the electronic application for degree to the Office of the Registrar and by paying the required graduation fee at the Fiscal Department no later than the Friday of the second week of the fall or spring semester or the Friday of the first week of the first summer term. The electronic application for degree can be accessed via the website degreeapp.tamu.edu.

Final Examination

All students must return to campus after the professional internship and pass a final examination. In order to be eligible to take the exam, a student's cumulative and degree plan GPRs must be at least a 3.000. He/she must not have any unabsolved grades of D, F, I or U for any course listed on the degree plan. Additionally, all English Language Proficiency requirements must be satisfied prior to scheduling the examination.

The BIOT 684 Professional Internship, Professional Portfolio and oral defense of the contents of that portfolio will constitute the final examination. Each student will prepare a professional portfolio on topics relating to the student's course of study and the internship. The professional portfolio must be submitted to the student's advisory committee for approval prior to the examination. The student's advisory committee will conduct the examination, which will include an oral presentation prepared by the student. Unless otherwise authorized by the Office of Graduate Studies, the final examination for the master's degree must be administered on the campus at College Station. Persons other than members of the graduate faculty may, with mutual consent of the candidate and the major professor, attend final examinations for advanced degrees. Upon completion of the questioning of the candidate, all visitors must excuse themselves from the proceedings. A positive vote by all members of the graduate committee with at most one dissension is required to pass a student on his or her exam. All committee members should attend the final examination. If one of the members cannot attend the examination, he or she must find an appropriate substitute. The committee chair may not be substituted.

The request for permission to hold the final examination must be submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies at least ten working days prior to the exam. Please see the Office of Graduate Studies website (vpr.tamu.edu/ogsforms.html) for the forms. It also should include the signatures of approval of the committee chair and the department head certifying the student's eligibility for the exam. Examinations which are not completed and reported as satisfactory to the Office of Graduate Studies within 10 working days of the scheduled examination date will be recorded as failures. A student may be given only one opportunity to repeat the final examination for the master's degree and that must be within a time period that does not extend beyond the end of the next regular semester. No examination may be held prior to the mid-point of the semester or summer term in which a student will complete all remaining courses on the degree plan. Master of Biotechnology students do not qualify to petition for an exemption from their final exam.