Prospective Students

Thank you for your interest in the School of Biological Sciences at Georgia Tech. We look forward to providing you with more information about Georgia Tech and the programs available in our School.

The Biological Sciences Graduate Program welcomes applications to the new PhD in Neuroscience and Neurotechnology in addition to Applied Physiology, Bioinformatics, Biology, Ocean Science and Engineering, and Quantitative Biosciences. If you are interested, please complete the "contact form" linked at https://neuro.gatech.edu/training-page/graduate-academic-programs.  

Our Ph.D. program applications are due in December each year.  We evaluate applications in December, January and February, make offers in March, and expect responses from candidates who have been made offers by mid-April. Offers for spring and summer admission are not usually made. Please contact us first if your application timing differs from the time window above (e.g., We will occasionally consider applications by REU students on an earlier timeframe).

Apply to the School of Biological Sciences

1. Get informed

• All the information you need to make a decision about our programs is listed on this webpage. If you have additional questions, please email Chung Kim at ckim@gatech.edu.

2. Apply

• Complete the full online application. Make sure you have read all the information listed on this page.

Notes:

• Your recommenders will be emailed when you add them as a recommender in your application.
• You do not have to wait for recommenders to submit their recommendation before you submit the application.
• Recommendation letters can arrive after the deadline, however, the admissions committee cannot make a decision without recommendation letters.

3. Check the status of your documents / application

• The Graduate Admissions office sets all the requirements for the necessary documents, please check the Graduate Admissions office
• The School of Biological Sciences will contact you directly if we need any other documents from you.

Application fee waiver request

The School of Biological Sciences does not have any application fee waivers available at this time.

Areas of concentration:

• Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior (BIO) including population and evolutionary ecology; community ecology; aquatic chemical ecology; ecological genomics; sensory ecology; evolution of development, behavior, and sociality; biological oceanography; environmental microbiology; theoretical ecology.
• Molecular and Cell Biology (BIO) including eukaryotic and prokaryotic cell biology; molecular physiology; molecular biophysics and structural biology; animal, plant, and microbial molecular genetics; human genomics; molecular evolution.
• Applied Physiology (AP) Integrative Physiology spans levels of biological organization from cellular mechanisms to motor behavior and human performance, and this research encompasses many of the body’s organ systems. Specific emphases include the control of motor activity by the central nervous and musculoskeletal systems, the cellular mechanisms of plasticity in muscular performance, fluid balance and exercise performance in thermally-challenged environments, and approaches to rehabilitation that include prosthetic and orthotic devices as part of the treatment plan. This research is propelled by an enthusiastic faculty and by the natural synergies that arise from our common interests in motor systems, prosthetics and orthotics, and other areas of systems physiology.
• Ocean Science and Engineering (OSE) (home school Biological Sciences)
• Computational Biology and Bioinformatics (BINF) (with available M.S. and interdepartmental PhD programs in Bioinformatics) focusing on DNA and protein sequence analysis; comparative genomic analysis; macromolecular structure modeling including protein-protein, protein-nucleic acid, and protein-small molecule interactions; molecular evolution.
• Quantitative Biosciences (QBioS)  - An interdisciplinary Ph.D. program enabling the discovery of scientific principles underlying the dynamics, structure, function of living systems at scales from molecules to cells to organisms to populations.

Funding Sources

Ph.D. students obtain stipends either via GRAs, GTAs, or fellowships such as the NSF GRFP or the NIH NRSA and other competitive fellowships.  The tuition is covered via tuition remission by the thesis advisor’s grant(s) or via a tuition waiver for GTAs.  Occasionally industry or government employers will fully fund a PhD student.  The Ph.D. student is responsible for fees (Fall: $753, Spring: $753, Summer: slightly less than fall, spring semesters, subject to change annually. Please visit the Bursar’s website for details).

The current stipend for 2024-2025 is $35,500/year (~$2,959/month).  It is important to us to pay the same stipend to all students.  Exceptions occur only for external fellowships and internal awards (e.g. the Presidential and GAANN [https://cos.gatech.edu/gaann-biosci] Fellowships).

The majority of our Ph.D. students are supported by GTAs during their first year, unless they have obtained a fellowship or are funded via a GRA.  Beyond the first year, 70-80% of Ph.D. students are supported on a GRA, 20-30% as GTAs, and 10-15% via fellowships and other funding sources.  The decision between a GRA and GTA is discussed with the thesis advisor for subsequent semesters. Additional information about Graduate Assistantships, fellowships, loans, and off-campus employment options is available on the Office of Graduate Education site.

For more information on demographics, admissions, and time-to-degree for doctoral students in our program, go to Doctoral Student Statistics. Enter the search criteria for Biology.

We welcome a breadth of career interests in our Ph.D. students and provide them with opportunities to learn about Ph.D.-level careers through visitors.  Our Ph.D. students graduate from our program with experience in research, which typically results in 2-6 publications, and often have substantial experience in presentations, writing, mentoring, teaching, and collaborations.  Thus, our Ph.D. alumni work in a range of fulfilling careers within and outside of academia.  This includes postdoctoral fellows and professors at major research universities and liberal arts colleges.  In addition, a substantial number of our alumni work in research and management positions in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry or government agencies as well as in university tech transfer offices.  Their rigorous scientific training has prepared other alumni for impressive careers at nonprofit organizations, in business, and in law.

More information about the Ph.D. Program

• Information about the Masters Programs
• Choosing between the Ph.D. and Masters Programs

Ph.D. Student Positions

If one of our professors is looking for a Ph.D. student with a specific set of skills, it will be advertised below. You are encouraged to respond directly to the professor although you should note that you will still need to submit a full application that will be evaluated by the Graduate Committee.