Prospective Students

Admission Requirements

1. Each applicant must complete a baccalaureate degree program from an accredited academic institution before matriculation at USU.
2. Complete college transcripts, transcripts of all previous graduate studies.
3. A complete employment history.
4. Three letters of recommendation from faculty members under whom the applicant has studied.
5. The aptitude portion of the Graduate Record Examination, taken no more than two years before the time of application.
6. Individual programs may also require Advanced Graduate Record Examinations in one or more subject areas. The school code for the GRE is 5824 (both the Department and Institution code).
7. Additionally, some programs may have established requirements for college courses specific to their area of scientific studies. You can access the web site for more detailed information on individual programs.

Deadline for full consideration of applications for the Fall Quarter is December 1st. Receipt of applications by this deadline will allow prospective students to be considered for financial support.

USU gives careful consideration to all available information about each applicant and selects students on a competitive basis without regard to race, color, sex, creed or national origin.

*International Students will be considered if they have earned a baccalaureate degree from a United States College/University.

You may apply by clicking the following link -  https://registrar.usuhs.edu.

All applicants to the USU Graduate Programs in Biomedical Sciences and Public Health are required to submit the Application Form and a set of specified additional credentials to support the Application.

Tuition and Fees

Tuition and fees are waived for students. Civilian students do not incur service obligation to the United States government after the completion of their graduate studies.

Financial Support for Civilian Students

USU provides an attractive package of financial support to students, which will be administered as a part-time Federal salary for your position as a Research Associate. The financial support of this package will be approximately $44,900 per year, at a part time rate of 64 hours per pay period. As an Administratively Determined (AD) Federal employee, your salary is subject to standard taxes and withholdings.

As an AD employee, you will receive standard Federal benefits including contributions towards health insurance, retirement, and transit costs. Additionally, you have the option to decline certain benefits, which will increase your net income. Students are supported as Federal employees for the first 3 three years of their enrollment. After this period, students transition to employment as Research Associates by the Henry M. Jackson (HMJ) Foundation. These positions are supported by grants awarded to mentors or by fellowships awarded to students. 

There are no tuition charges for graduate students at USU, nor is there any requirement in the form of government or military service. Most required textbooks are provided without charge. 

Fellowships

The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine (HMJ) annually provides support for a graduate fellowship. The fellowship is competitively awarded annually to outstanding USU civilian graduate student doctoral candidates in the USU School of Medicine who meet the following criteria:

1. the student's USU-supported funding has ended or will end in August of the year of the award,
2. the student has advanced to candidacy and is in good academic standing, and
3. the student agrees to march in the USU commencement ceremony subsequent to completion of their degree requirements.

Applicants must provide information on their research plan and progress, and have the support of their Program Director. A call for application is made in the summer of each year.

Graduate student fellowship support is also competitively available from many other sources, such as the NIH, the Howard Hughes Medical Foundation, various private foundations such as the American Heart Association, Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, etc. Check with the USU Office of Research and/or the GEO for various opportunities to compete for extramural funding.

Doctoral Student Research Funds

USU maintains a special fund to finance doctoral student research. This resource is designed to provide funds to graduate students in addition to those provided by their major advisor. Funds are available to graduate students who have completed two years of graduate study at USU or who have been advanced to candidacy and are devoting a majority of their time to their dissertation research. Graduate research funds are currently available for two academic years. Funding beyond two years is evaluated on a case by case basis. In recent years, the maximum amount of funds available each year to eligible graduate students has varied between $1,500.00 and $2,500.00.

Forms to apply for USU graduate research funding are available from the USU Office of Research. These applications are relatively short if the funding requested is part of an already accepted University protocol by a major professor. If the research funding represents an entirely new protocol, the normal USU research review procedures must be followed.

These protocols are administered by the Office of Research Administration at USU. You, your advisor, and your Program Director will receive notification when the funding is approved.