Doctor of Philosophy in Biology

The graduate program in the Department of Biology began soon after the University of Oklahoma was founded, and the first Ph.D. degree awarded by OU was in Biology. The graduate program now has internationally-recognized strengths in ecology/systematics, animal behavior, neurosciences, physiology, and genetics/cell biology. The Department maintains an enrollment of about 50 graduate students. lab The goal of our PhD program is to prepare students for successful careers in academic, biomedical, environmental, or government institutions. We take special pride in the quality of our graduate teaching and our record of training successful scientists. Our open and collaborative atmosphere encourages creative and interdisciplinary research. Our research and training facilities for field studies, molecular biology, microscopy, bioinformatics, quantitative biology, and physiology are excellent, and they are further enhanced through integration of the department with the OU Biological Station, the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, and the Oklahoma Biological Survey.

As part of the application, you will need to upload the following documents:
Curriculum Vitae that includes information related to your educational and professional background, such as positions held, honors and awards, honors research topic and any presentations or publications.
Personal Statement that describes what area(s) of specialization you would like to pursue as a graduate student in our program, what generated your interest in this area and in OU, and your eventual career plans.
Unofficial copy of transcript(s) from the school where you earned or will earn your undergraduate degree and any graduate degree.
Unofficial copy of your Graduate Record Exam (GRE) scores.
Applicants whose native language is not English, an unofficial copy of your TOEFL iBT or IELTS exam score.
Scoring 6.5 or higher on the IELTS, Scoring 79 or higher on the Internet-based TOEFL (iBT)