Cell and Developmental Biology

The graduate curriculum in Cell and Developmental Biology is designed to educate students for careers in research and teaching in the biological sciences. Departmental faculty are concerned with the structural and functional relationships of cells and organisms, with research emphases upon eukaryotic cell and molecular biology, neurobiology, developmental biology, and molecular genetics. The department has embarked on a major program to develop research strengths in molecular aspects of developmental, neural, structural, and eukaryotic cell biology to complement existing faculty interests. Students are not admitted to the M.S. program; M.S. requirements are completed as part of the Ph.D. program.

Other Requirements1

Requirements

• Application fee: $70 for domestic applicants, $90 for international applicants.
• Transcripts from all previous undergraduate and graduate institutions are required to be uploaded as part of the application procedure. These transcripts should be a scanned version of your official transcripts. Please make sure to follow the instructions for Uploading Credentials. You should not submit hard copies of your transcripts to the graduate program as these are not needed. We will only review those documents submitted online in your application.
  International Applicants who have already received their degree will need to upload their degree certification or diploma with the transcripts. Diplomas and/or certificates of degree are not required if degree is still in progress or pending.
• Three Letters of Recommendation are required for admission consideration. Recommendation letters should be submitted electronically in the Apply Yourself Application System. In the event your recommender is unable to submit his/her reference letter in the system, please contact us at gradinfo@mcb.illinois.edu for more instructions. 
• Official GRE and TOEFL Test Scores should be sent to the Office of Admissions and Records, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, using campus institutional code 1836 and program code 0206 (GRE) and 74 (TOEFL).Please note that the subject GRE is not required.
• MSP Applicants: Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) scores will be accepted in lieu of GRE scores for applicants to the Medical Scholars Program only.
• TOEFL Note: A minimum score of 590 (paper-based test) or 96 (internet-based test) on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is required of applicants from countries where English is not the primary language. Please note that we do notaccept the IELTS in lieu of the TOEFL.
• Declaration of Finances: The Apply Yourself Application will ask for your financial information; however, international students do not need to declare their finances in order to apply to MCB. Since MCB offers a stipend and tuition waiver, applicants are exempt from submitting their financial details. Please follow the MCB policy for this section of the application.
• Passport: You are required to upload your passport as part of the application. If you do not yet have a passport, you may skip this step in the application. Please note if you are admitted to the program, we will not issue your I-20 until you have provided us with a copy of your passport.

Scholarships

• Global Education
• Teaching Assistantships