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Ph.D. Degree Plans

Entering Ph.D. program from bachelor's in any degree field (Pathway 1a)

Courses:
96 hours beyond B.S.

  • 15 hrs – BMEN courses
    • May use up to 3 hours of BMEN 685
    • May not use any hours of BMEN 681
  • 9 hrs – Electives**Includes 1 Life Science Elective
    • May use up to 3 hours of BMEN 685
    • May not use any hours of BMEN 681
    • May use BMEN or non-BMEN courses
    • May use up to 2 hours of BMEN 684
  • 3 hrs – BMEN 674 (Communications), Spring Only
  • 4 hrs – BMEN 681 (4 one-hour seminars)
  • Research as required (BMEN 691)

Entering Ph.D. program from master's in non-engineering degree field (Pathway 1b)

Courses:
64 hours beyond M.S.

  • 15 hrs – BMEN courses
    • May use up to 3 hours of BMEN 685
    • May not use any hours of BMEN 681
  • 9 hrs – Electives**Includes 1 Life Science Elective
    • May use up to 3 hours of BMEN 685
    • May not use any hours of BMEN 681
    • May use BMEN or non-BMEN courses
    • May use up to 2 hours of BMEN 684
  • 3 hrs – BMEN 674 (Communications), Spring Only
  • 4 hrs – BMEN 681 (4 one-hour seminars)
  • Research as required (BMEN 691)

Entering Ph.D. program from master's in an engineering field other than biomedical engineering (Pathway 2)

Courses:
64 hours beyond M.S. 
66 hours beyond M.Eng.

  • 15 hrs – BMEN courses
    • May use up to 3 hours of BMEN 685
    • May not use any hours of BMEN 681
  • 1 Life Science Elective
  • 3 hrs – BMEN 674 (Communications), Spring Only
  • 4 hrs – BMEN 681 (4 one-hour seminars)
  • Research as required (BMEN 691)

Entering Ph.D. program from master's in biomedical engineering (Pathway 3)

Courses:
64 hours beyond M.S. 
66 hours beyond M.Eng.

  • 9 hrs* – Graduate BMEN courses
    • *No BMEN hours required if master’s was earned in BME@TAMU.
    • May use up to 3 hours of BMEN 685
    • May not use any hours of BMEN 681
  • 1 Life Science Elective
  • 3 hrs – BMEN 674 (Communications), Spring Only
  • 2 hrs – BMEN 681 (2 one-hour seminars)
  • Research as required (BMEN 691)

Entering Ph.D. program via M.D./Ph.D. (Pathway 4)

Courses:
64 hours 

  • 6 hrs* – Graduate BMEN courses
    • *No BMEN hours required if master’s was earned in BME@TAMU.
    • May not use BMEN 685
  • 3 hrs – Technical Elective
  • 2 hrs – BMEN 681 (2 one-hour seminars)
  • Research as required (BMEN 691)

Additional Degree Plan Information

  • May use up to 6 hours of upper-level undergraduate coursework on degree plan with approval of chair/committee.
  • Upper-level courses must come from a major that is outside of the student’s previous undergraduate (or master’s) level major.
  • Undergraduate coursework required for leveling may not be applied to a graduate degree plan.

Additional expectations for all Ph.D. students

Other Requirements:

  • Qualifying Exam
  • Proposal Defense/Preliminary Exam
  • Dissertation and defense
  • Prereqs/Leveling Courses as required
  • Annual Evaluation due in May each year

Advisory Committee:

4-member minimum with composition defined below

  • BMEN Faculty Advisor / Chair
  • Co-chair may be outside of BMEN faculty
  • 2 Faculty with primary appointments in BMEN
  • 1 Faculty with appointment outside BMEN

Note: The hour requirements reflected in these degree plans represent the minimum departmental requirements. Students may elect to take more courses and/or the student’s committee or chair may require more hours than what is listed on these degree plans.