Prospective Students

• Applicants to IBIO graduate programs are applying to work in a particular lab. Unlike some other programs, we do not offer a general admission to the program with rotations in multiple labs.

• So, the first step is to contact potential advisors and ask if they would be willing to consider accepting you into their lab. In many cases they will arrange to talk with you to discuss your interests.

• Not all of our faculty are currently accepting new students. Here is a list of those that are: https://integrativebiology.natsci.msu.edu/graduate-program/prospective-students/faculty-recruiting-graduate-students/

• Follow the directions on this page to submit your application to the MSU Graduate School by December 1: https://integrativebiology.natsci.msu.edu/graduate-program/application-requirements/

• For more information: https://integrativebiology.natsci.msu.edu/graduate-program/prospective-students/

• There are additional requirements for international applicants, particularly regarding official transcripts and English language proficiency. For more information, see here: https://grad.msu.edu/internationalapplicants

• There are additional requirements for international applicants, particularly regarding official transcripts and English language proficiency. For more information, start here: https://grad.msu.edu/internationalapplicants

• For information on English language proficiency requirements, visit this link: https://grad.msu.edu/english-language-competency

Depending on your career goals, you may decide that a master's degree is more appropriate for you than a Ph.D.

MSU offers two types of master's degrees: Plan A, which requires original research and a thesis, and Plan B, which instead of a thesis requires a Special Problem, consisting of a research project carried out either in a laboratory or the library. You can learn more about IBIO degree requirements at https://integrativebiology.natsci.msu.edu/graduate-program/degree-requirements/.

In order to be considered for admission for either an MS or a PhD program, you will need a faculty sponsor.

An important consideration when making this decision is that the MSU Graduate School does not guarantee funding for Master's students. Most MS students in IBIO either fund themselves or support themselves with Teaching Assistantships. Note that TA placements are not guaranteed for MS students.

• As of February 2021, the median time to degree for IBIO PhD students was 6.3 years.

• The official MSU Graduate School time limit for completing a PhD is 8 years. Students can apply for an extension by filling out this form and submitting required materials to the Graduate Program Director, who will submit the request. https://grad.msu.edu/sites/default/files/content/forms/Extension%20Request%202018%20Fillable.pdf

MSU has many departments and programs, and it can be a little confusing to understand how they interact with each other. The Department of Integrative Biology is a degree-granting department. Graduate students, postdocs, and faculty from IBIO may also participate in one or more interdisciplinary programs.

Many people in IBIO are also members of the Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior program (EEB). EEB is not a standalone degree-granting department; however, graduate students can dual-enroll in this program and receive a degree in both IBIO and EEB. Students must first be accepted into a department (IBIO or another department). Then, they may apply to join EEB as well. For more information, see: https://eeb.msu.edu/

• The graduate secretary assembles the list of applicants to our program.

• Faculty members are asked to identify which applicants they want to sponsor. In most cases, they will only identify applicants with whom they have already been in contact. However, sometimes faculty will see applications that name them as potential advisors, and will contact those applicants to determine whether they want to sponsor them.

• Applications that do not have faculty sponsors usually do not progress past this point.

• The list of applicants with faculty sponsors is sent to the Graduate Affairs Committee. This committee reviews all of these applications and ranks them. The highest ranked applications are then selected to apply for the College of Natural Science recruitment fellowships.

• Applicants that are selected for CNS recruitment fellowships are then also considered for university recruiting fellowships (University Distinguished Fellowship and University Enrichment Fellowship, https://grad.msu.edu/universityfellowships).

• Admission is offered to students receiving these fellowships. Applicants not selected for these fellowships may be offered admission as well if we are able to guarantee 5 years of funding for them (for example, the applicant may have already secured an NSF GRFP; the applicant’s adviser has sufficient funds to offer research assistantships; or the department knows for sure that we have enough teaching assistantships available).

Funding for IBIO PhD students is guaranteed for 5 years. Note that the 5-year guarantee only applies to the academic year (fall and spring semesters), not summers. This means that students in the guaranteed period are prioritized for teaching assistantships. Students that are past the guaranteed period are still eligible for TAs (and often get them), RAs, and fellowships. Different types of funding are available.

• Research assistantship (RA): Paid by your adviser, usually from an external grant or startup funding. Pays a salary with taxes taken out; your tuition and health insurance are also covered. The expectation is that you spend your time working on research. Details will be agreed upon between you and your adviser. It is not typical for faculty to have enough funding to support an RA for a student's entire degree.

• Teaching assistantship (TA): Paid by the department, pays salary with taxes taken out; your tuition and health insurance are also covered. Many students teach one class per semester.

• Fellowship: Paid by the college or university (or an external agency). Paid as a stipend – does not have taxes taken out (*this means you'll need to set some money aside to pay them at tax time!). Fellowships do not have teaching/research expectations beyond your dissertation research.

  • Recruitment fellowships for new graduate students, including the College of Natural Science Recruiting Fellowship and the University Distinguished Fellowship (https://grad.msu.edu/universityfellowships), include waivers for tuition and health insurance.

  • Dissertation Continuation Fellowships, and Dissertation Completion Fellowships (https://grad.msu.edu/fellowships/dissertation), which advanced graduate students can apply for on a semester by semester basis, do not include waivers for tuition and health insurance.

  • Other fellowships offered by the MSU Graduate School can be found here: https://grad.msu.edu/msu-graduate-school-fellowships

  • External fellowships, such as the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, follow the rules of that agency. Payment is typically via stipend without taxes taken out.