Accelerated Bachelor and Master of Science

If you want to earn your bachelor’s and master’s degrees within a five-year period, we offer accelerated Bachelor of Science/Master of Science programs for all of our undergraduate degrees.

First, choose any major and concentration within the School of Life Sciences. As you complete a pre-determined portion of your undergraduate degree, you will then apply for your Master of Science. You may combine many of our undergraduate majors with the master's in molecular and cellular biology, master’s in biology or with a concentration in biology and society within the master’s in biology.

If accepted, you will begin taking courses toward your master’s degree during the same year you are finishing your bachelor’s.

If you choose the accelerated bachelor’s/master’s program, you will need only 138 credit hours for both degrees. If you chose to complete the degrees separately, you will need 150 total credit hours.

Please talk to your advisor for more information.

Application process

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis for admission to fall or spring semesters. As an undergraduate student, you are encouraged to apply for the accelerated Bachelor of Science/Master of Science program after completing 75 hours of your bachelor’s degree.

What do I need to apply?

To apply, you must have or do the following:

Have 75 hours completed toward your undergraduate degree
GPA of 3.0+ is required at the time of application, and at the time of admission to the master's program
A faculty member who will advise you for your master's thesis
Your application and acceptance into the accelerated program must occur prior to registration for the final year of your bachelor's degree
Apply to the term and year you plan to start sharing credit hours

Note: A GRE is not required.

You will complete an online Graduate Education Admissions Application for the master's in molecular and cellular biology, biology or concentration in biology and society of the master's in biology. Submit the following with the online application:

Personal statement of interest
Résumé
Transcripts for all universities and colleges outside ASU
Three letters of recommendation, including one letter of recommendation from the faculty member who will advise you for your master's thesis
Academic record form
Writing sample (biology and society concentration only)

What’s next?

Once you submit your application and pay the application fee, it will go through an admissions review process. We may require an in-person interview to determine your eligibility for admission.

Once accepted, we will notify the Graduate Enrollment Services Office that you are part of an accelerated Bachelor of Science/Master of Science degree program.

Also, once you apply for graduation from your bachelor’s degree, we will ask the Graduate Enrollment Services Office to activate your graduate student record. You will be considered an undergraduate until all requirements are met and your bachelor’s degree is posted to your transcript.

International students

If you are an international student, the graduate I-20 or DS-2019 will only be issued after you have graduated with your bachelor's degree and we have notified the Graduate Education office.

Degree Requirements

Bachelor of Science requirements

120 credit hours in your chosen Bachelor of Science program
12 credit hours may be shared between the accelerated bachelor's/master's degrees. In the accelerated bachelor’s/master’s program, you will complete 138 credit hours for the two degrees

Master of Science requirements

30 credits of approved graduate course work (see below)
Develop an individual plan of study (iPOS) in consultation with your advisor and supervisory committee
Complete a research thesis and defend it orally (an undergraduate honors thesis cannot substitute for a master's thesis)
No more than six hours of 400 level courses will apply to the master's degree

The master’s coursework required for the bachelor's/master's is the same as the master’s coursework in our standard Master of Science degrees.

Shared credit hours

12 credit hours may be shared between the two degrees
Chose these credits after consulting your undergraduate advisor and prospective master's advisor
Shared courses are typically chosen according to your research interest

Once accepted into the accelerated program

You must draft, together with your advisor, a preliminary Plan of Study for the Master of Science program.
Your degree program must include up to 6 credits of shared 400-level courses and up to 6 credits of 500-level courses.

Note: Only credit hours completed after you are accepted into the accelerated program can be shared. Six credit hours or more of shared coursework must be 500-level courses.

Master's milestones for BS/MS students

The following are required milestones once you have graduated with your BS and have begun registering as a master’s student.

1. Supervisory committee

Your advisor is appointed during your application to the Bachelor of Science/Master of Science program. A full advisory committee will be appointed by the beginning of the first semester as a master’s student (by the university’s 21st day).

Your advisor will chair your supervisory committee and must be a member of the appropriate graduate faculty endorsed to chair. At least three members (advisor and two+ others) will serve on your committee.

2. Plan of Study

File by the beginning of your 1st semester as an master's student (by the university’s 21st day).

3. Thesis Research proposal

Complete by beginning of 1st semester as an master's student (by the university’s 21st day):

The written thesis prospectus must contain: a description of the research question and its significance; a detailed work plan for data collection, analysis and writing; and a complete bibliography.
The goal of the prospectus is to help your committee determine whether you have the necessary knowledge, and whether your research is on track to continue with the research and begin writing a thesis. You must have an answerable research question, full knowledge of sources, and plans for conducting the research and writing the thesis that provide the committee milestones to assess.

4. Application for graduation

Beginning of 2nd semester as a master's student.

5. Thesis Defense

Completed by end of 2nd semester:

Register for 1 or more hours of appropriate graduate level credit during the semester you defend your thesis
You and your supervisory committee should consider deadlines for graduation set by Graduate Education and schedule your defense at a mutually agreed upon time. To effectively coordinate schedules, plan a defense date with your committee several months in advance.
Approximately two months before your defense, submit a complete draft of your thesis to your committee for comments.
You must submit a request to hold the defense, thesis, and appropriate paperwork to Graduate Education at least 10 working days prior to your scheduled defense date.
The first part of your defense is a public presentation of your thesis research. After the public presentation and questions from the audience, you will be examined by your supervisory committee, which will determine whether to award you Master of Science degree.

Accelerated degree programs (4+1) are designed to allow ASU undergraduate students to complete a master's degree only one year after the completion of their bachelor's degree.

How to be admitted into the accelerated degree program

To be accepted into the accelerated Bachelor of Science/Master of Science program, you must meet the admission criteria established by ASU School of Life Sciences and ASU Graduate Education, except for the completion of your undergraduate degree and taking the graduate record examination. Also, you must have a faculty member willing to advise your master's thesis at the time of admission to the accelerated program. Read detailed instructions in the Application Process section on this page.

Contact

General applications: Life Sciences graduate office
Biology applications: Kathleen Pigg
Biology and Society applications: Jane Maienschein or Karin Ellison

Sample Plan of Study for Bachelor of Science/Master of Science in biology

Note: Classes shared between bachelor's and master's are marked in yellow

Accelerated Bachelor of Science/Master of Science

Application process

Application process

What do I need to apply?

What’s next?

International students

Degree Requirements

Degree Requirements

Bachelor of Science requirements

Master of Science requirements

Shared credit hours

Once accepted into the accelerated program

Master's milestones for BS/MS students

Master's milestones for BS/MS students

1. Supervisory committee

2. Plan of Study

3. Thesis Research proposal

4. Application for graduation

5. Thesis Defense

How to be admitted into the accelerated degree program

Sample Plan of Study for Bachelor of Science/Master of Science in biology

BS in biological sciences (Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior)/MS in biology

Bachelor of Science in biological sciences

Undergraduate

Graduate

Option 1

Option 2

BS in biological sciences (genetics, cell and developmental biology)/MS in biology

Undergraduate

Graduate

Option 1

Option 2

BS in biological sciences (conservation biology and ecology)/MS in biology

Undergraduate

Graduate

Option 1

Option 2

BS in biological sciences (biology and society)/MS in biology

Undergraduate

Graduate

Option 1

Option 2

BS in microbiology/MS in biology

Undergraduate

Graduate

Option 1

Option 2

BS in microbiology (biomedical sciences)/MS in biology

Undergraduate

Graduate

Option 1

Option 2

BS in molecular biosciences and biotechnology/MS in biology

Undergraduate

Graduate

Option 1

Option 2

Academics

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