OVERVIEW

Wondering if graduate school is right for you? Need some pointers on how to go about the process? An article entitled Helping Students Get Into Graduate School by Beth Fischer and Michael Zigmond at the University of Pittsburgh recently appeared in The Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education. This article provides remarkable insight into deciding if graduate school is the appropriate path for your career plans, how to choose a program that is right for you, and how to successfully navigate the application process.

The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) offers the M.S. and Ph.D. in 21 areas of study plus an individualized, inter-disciplinary option. The School is located in Houston, Texas, within the Texas Medical Center, one of the world’s largest centers for biomedical research and education.

The faculty are drawn from the Medical, Dental, Public Health, and Health Information Sciences Schools of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and the Texas A & M University Institute of Biosciences and Technology. This combination of faculty and institutions, with their associated equipment and facilities, provides one of the world’s most outstanding environments for graduate training in the biomedical sciences.

The GSBS has a unique organization in which faculty from participating institutions form inter-institutional training Programs based upon common research interests. The School offers maximum flexibility that allows students to select their area of study before, during, or after the 1st year of study, and to choose an advisor from its nearly 500 faculty members. The Faculty recently adopted the GSBS Core Tenets of Graduate Training.

The school has an enrollment of 400-500, roughly 70% U.S. and 30% international students (see Student Body Demographics), and all those in the Ph.D. program receive financial assistance throughout the course of their studies. When it comes to Life after GSBS, many graduates go on to research careers in universities, industries, or government agencies, while others choose scientific journalism, patent law, consulting, undergraduate teaching, or biotechnology. GSBS alumni are highly satisfied with the school, the training they received, and their subsequent careers (see The Alumni Survey).

More detailed data about GSBS applicants, current students, graduates, and faculty may be found in the GSBS Data Tables.