Curriculum and Requirements

Graduation Requirements

• Completion of 30 credits of coursework is required to complete the degree program.
• Only courses completed with a grade of C or higher can be counted toward the degree.
• Students must achieve a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or higher in order for the degree to be awarded.
• Students must take a minimum of 3 credits in the Fall/Spring or 2 credits in the Summer, the semester they intend to graduate, one of which must be the Capstone Project course.
• Students must submit the Biomedical Neuroscience Capstone Project at least 4 weeks before the end of the semester in which students intend to graduate.

Grade Requirements

The only passing grades for graduate students are A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, and C. Please note C+ and C grades count toward the degree only if an equal number of courses numbered 5000 or higher have been earned with B+, A-, or A, respectively. If a grade of C- or below is earned, the student will need to re-take the course when it is offered again and must obtain a passing grade to have it count toward an M.S. degree. Note, the grade earned on the first attempt at the course will be averaged into the cumulative GPA.

Biomedical Neuroscience Capstone Project

To complete the Biomedical Neuroscience concentration, students must complete and submit the Capstone project. This project will be divided into sections, each focusing on a course completed by the student. In preparing materials for each course section, students will identify the most interesting topic they learned about in that specific course, present a short summary of that topic, and discuss recent research advances in that topic area and how they may shape the trajectory of future research efforts in that topic area. Students will work on creating materials for the capstone project and posting them to their VoiceThread project shell throughout their tenure in the program. They will complete and polish their project during the semester in which they plan to complete the degree.  Students will be evaluated on the content of their project and their ability to answer questions about the materials that they present.

The Program Director, Dr. Semple-Rowland, will serve on students’ supervisory committee, along with a teaching faculty member selected by the student. Supervisory committees will advise students about academic performance and will monitor student progress towards completion of the capstone project.

*Course must be completed before final semester

**Drafts of all 6 chapters of the The Comprehensive Neuroscience Capstone Project must be submitted before the semester the student intends to graduate.

Students who have successfully completed the graduate Certificate in Biomedical Neuroscience program will be able to transfer credits for all courses they completed in that program with a B or better to the UF Biomedical Neuroscience MSc program. Course credits from other UF online certificate programs will be considered for transfer on a case-by-case basis. The decision to allow transfer of course credit from these programs will primarily depend on whether the course is clearly relevant to neuroscience.

Recommended Course Order

• Fundamentals of Neuroscience and Neuroscience Professional Survival Skills should be completed during the first semester of enrollment.
• Functional Human Neuroanatomy should be completed before Molecular Pathobiology of Molecular Disease and Biological Clocks in Neural Health and Disease.
• Organization and Development of the Nervous system should be taken before Developmental Neurobiology.

The course schedule below is suggested and considers the content of the courses. It is recommended that students take no more than 2 courses each semester, but may be allowed a larger course load after the first semester with satisfactory academic progress.

Online Neuroscience Masters Handbook