No. The faculty admissions committee makes their admission decision based on a holistic review of applications. Requests to meet with members of the committee will not be honored in order to be fair to all applicants in the admission process.

You can complete multiple online applications using one $30 application fee. Please keep in mind that the more programs you apply to in our department, the longer a decision may take as it is reviewed by multiple faculty committee members. Students can only be enrolled in one graduate program at a time.

You can upload your MCAT test scores to your online application. Make sure your AAMC ID and verification code is included on your print out. Our staff will verify your scores online with this information. If this information is not included, it will stall the processing of your application.

We will not inform an applicant if they are competitive or discuss an applicant’s chances of admission. The faculty committee will make a decision based on a holistic review of your application.

Yes! Since every student and their situation are unique, we can provide you with a meeting to answer your questions about the program and a brief campus tour of the USF Health area. Prospective students can even communicate with a current student ambassador to see what it’s really like to be a Morsani College of Medicine graduate student. Please contact the Office of Graduate Affairs to set up your appointment.

Our staff can assist you in answering questions about applying to our programs. We can update you concerning whether your application is complete or incomplete. However, once your application is complete, we will not be able to meet with you concerning your application status in order to prevent bias in the application process. Since the process is rolling, some applicants will need to wait longer than others depending on how competitive the applicant pool is at any given moment. If you have not heard a decision within 4 weeks after completing your application, you may want to consider updating your application with new transcripts, test scores, etc., to make your application more competitive. 

No. We are a separate office from the medical school and use a different system. The applicant will need to submit these documents directly to our department.

While we holistically review all completed applications, it is recommended that the applicant meets at least two of the minimum admission requirements (overall GPA, science GPA, test scores). 

Each year, we receive over 1,000 primary applications for our programs, making the programs very competitive for admission. Unfortunately, due the limited number of seats and lack of facilities, not everyone who applies and meets the minimum requirements can be accepted. Since decisions are made by the faculty committee, our staff cannot discuss your chances of admittance to the program.

The requirements include 2 semesters of the following: biology, general chemistry, physics, and organic chemistry, including laboratory sections.

Most health professional schools require these same prerequisites. If you are extremely deficient in the pre-requisites courses, we recommend speaking with an undergraduate pre-health adviser before applying. Our programs are designed to be an application enhancer rather than a career changer program. Before applying to the master's program, be sure to check your future professional schools for their pre-requisite requirements. Since the curriculum for the M.S.M.S. degrees cover the basics of the first and second year of medical school, it is recommended you have most, if not all, the required pre-requisites.

Test scores (GRE, MCAT, DAT) are strongly encouraged but not required for admission. It is at the sole discretion of the applicant whether or not to submit a test score; we cannot confirm or deny what the outcome of your application will be before its submission. However, students with lower Science or Cumulative GPAs should consider taking the GRE to strengthen their application and chance of admission. Test scores must be earned within five years of your desired term of entry.

Yes, you can apply as long as the course work and your degree will be completed before your graduate program starts. We can offer "provisional admission" pending completion of course work or degree prior to matriculation.

The master’s program is designed to academically prepare students for professional school by exposing students to pre-clinical basic science courses taught by the Morsani College of Medicine faculty who also teach our medical students. Gaining admission into a medical or other health professional school is very competitive. While our program is designed to help students obtain a graduate degree, thus strengthening their professional school application, successful completion of our graduate program does not guarantee admission into a professional school. Every year some of our MS in Medical Sciences students successfully matriculate into USF medical school, but we do not have an official linkage or bridge program. We provide our graduate students opportunities for medical sciences research, MCAT preparation, clinical shadowing, volunteering, pre-health advising and various workshops, but gaining admission to any professional school is ultimately the responsibility of the student.

All coursework that is completed in the master’s program is designed for you to be a serious candidate for any health professional school. Students in the master’s program are applying to a variety of professional schools including: medical, dental, pharmacy, physical therapy, physician assistants, veterinarian and law school. It is important to note that we accept students into our program whom we believe will be serious candidates for professional schools after completing our program with a strong GPA. When we have surveyed past graduates, the graduates who responded found that the master’s program helped them gain admission to a professional school. More importantly, students responded that they felt more confident that after completing the master’s program they were more academically prepared for their first year of professional school than their peers who had matriculated to professional school straight from undergrad.

Due to the competitive nature of the admission process to USF’s medical school, and in order to create a diversified class of students, a select few of our master’s alumni matriculate into our medical school each year. Aside from our own medical school, we have students matriculate into professional schools across the nation after successfully completing the program.

While many students will successfully gain admission into professional schools directly following the master’s program, we recommend that you plan on this being a two-year process and do not be discouraged if you do not get an offer of acceptance until the year after you have completed the master’s program. If you apply to medical schools while in the master’s program you will likely only have fall grades to show medical schools. If you apply or reapply for the next year medical schools will see your grades from the entire master’s program.

No. Even though our courses touch on topics covered in the first and second year of medical school, our courses are basic medical science courses to help prepare students for what to expect and are not equivalent to medical school courses.

The main reason students enroll in our program is to enhance their GPA. Students who succeed in the program treat the program as their full-time job. If a student needs to work, we recommend the work is less than part-time and to only consider working after their first round of exams. This will allow students to determine the amount of time and effort required to succeed in the courses. We also recommend that students keep up with their extracurricular healthcare related activities (i.e. shadowing, research, volunteering, etc.) while enrolled in the master’s program.

Our department does not offer any scholarships or graduate/teaching assistantships to our master’s students due to the unique nature of the programs. Many of our students use federal financial aid loans to help finance their graduate education.

We offer the MCAT Success Skills course every semester, depending on the demand for the class. Class size is limited to 50 students. This is an elective class and not required for graduation.

Some students apply to their professional school of choice while in the program and even go on interviews while taking courses. However, some students wait until they have completed the program to apply and use another gap year to study for the MCAT or DAT. Every student is unique and our advisors will guide you in making the best decision based on your unique situation.

No.

Taking GMS courses as a non-degree seeking student does not guarantee admission to the Health Sciences master’s degree program. Applicants must apply and meet the minimum requirements for admission. Up to 12 credits of courses with a “B” or better taken as a non-degree seeking students can be transferred into the degree. Transferring any courses must be approved by the director.

USF Policy on transfer of credit.

Tuition is assessed based on your residency status in the system. If you are classified as a non-resident student in the system based on the documents you provide, you will be charged out-of-state tuition. If you reside in one of the states that are a part of the Academic Common Market you can apply for in-state tuition after admitted.

No. Due to when the courses are offered, the program can be completed in a minimum of 4 terms (16 months) if the student attends full-time.

There are no required in-class meetings, and all course materials, documents, exams, etc., are all offered online through CANVAS. The courses are taught through PowerPoint presentations (with an optional narration), as well as required readings from textbooks. Some courses may incorporate discussion boards and case reports. All exams are administered online via CANVAS and are set on a certain day and time at the discretion of the professor. Student will utilize Proctorio during exams.

The same faculty members who teach at the USF Morsani College of Medicine teach the online courses. The Morsani College of Medicine faculty members all have terminal degrees in their fields of study and are experts in their fields. We do not hire adjunct professors to teach our online students.

Letters of recommendation are a courtesy from your professors. You can request a letter from your professor and it is up to the individual professor and your relationship with that professor that may determine if they will write a letter for your professional school application.

The only mandatory times to log- in are during exam times, which will be outlined in the syllabus and instructions provided on CANVAS. Allow yourself adequate time to take the test in case any technical issues arise.

• Access to a personal computer with a camera
• Internet browser
• Access to CANVAS via my.usf.edu
• Proctorio
• Valid e-mail address

Course may require the student to view/listen to narrated presentations, videos, and participate in audio-conferencing. Therefore, in addition to the general technology requirements, this course will require the following:

• Adobe Acrobat
• QuickTime player
• Flash player
• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Microsoft Word