{"id":8783,"date":"2025-12-22T14:08:26","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T20:08:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/biology\/?page_id=8783"},"modified":"2026-02-05T13:51:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T19:51:45","slug":"ms-thesis-track","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/biology\/students\/graduate\/ms-thesis-track\/","title":{"rendered":"MS (Thesis Track)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The thesis-track Master’s (MS) degree is a research-based degree and is intended for students pursuing careers in formal research or planning to continue study towards the PhD degree. The department offers MS degrees with focuses in the areas of Microbiology, Cell and Molecular Biology and Ecology, Evolution and Behavior. Prospective students are encouraged to visit faculty webpages in their area of interest<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Admission Requirements<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Upon acceptance to the program, students will be notified of any curricular pre-requisites that must be completed as perceived by their advisor\/committee. Extra programmatic requirements (physics, organic chemistry and calculus) will be determined by the student\u2019s major professor. All basic requirements must be remedied by the end of the student\u2019s first year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graduate School Requirements<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are a number of general Graduate School regulations and requirement for the Master\u2019s Degree that are described on the Graduate School\u00a0website<\/a>. The student\u2019s program is governed by the rules in the\u00a0Graduate School\u2019s Academic Policies & Procedures<\/a>\u00a0issued the year in which the student enrolled in the graduate program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research Requirement<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Master\u2019s degree is a research<\/strong> degree. The most important requirement is that a student must make an original, publishable contribution to their field of study. M.S. students are encouraged, but not required, to have submitted or published one primary or coauthored manuscript in a peer-revived journal before graduation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Annual Progress Reports<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Students must<\/strong> file a signed Annual Progress Report<\/em><\/strong> by June 1st every year<\/strong> of their tenure in the Biological Sciences Graduate Program. The student, major professor and all members of the M.S. Advisory Committee are all required to sign the Report, and all have the opportunity to make comments on the Report. Students must file these yearly Reports with the Biological Sciences Graduate Program Director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students who do not file a completed <\/em><\/strong>Annual Progress Report in any year are not making satisfactory progress and will become ineligible for departmental aid and University-wide financial aid (RAs, PAs, TAs, Fellowships) and risk dismissal from the Biological Sciences Graduate Program.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n