With the Accelerated Master’s Degree Program (ADMP) you fast-track your computational medicine and bioinformatics training while still getting an outstanding education and a unique experience as a U-M student. ADMP offers the same curriculum and experience as the traditional Master’s Degree, but you start as an undergraduate junior student.
The application deadline is April 1; late applications will not be considered. Students must submit an online Rackham application. Applicants should be in their junior year or approximately 18 months before finishing undergraduate degree requirements. Undergraduates who are pursuing a dual degree are ineligible for the Bioinformatics AMDP.
Accepted students enroll in the Bioinformatics AMDP during the last year of undergraduate study. For the 5th year, AMDP students enroll in Rackham as an MS student.
We highly recommend contacting the Master’s guidance advisors, Stephen Guest, PhD, or Cristina Mitrea, PhD for advice before applying. With them, you will be able to discuss course options, what courses from your undergraduate studies may be transferred or double-counted, and other general information about the program.
When applying, use Program Code 02161 and Academic Plan Code 4740MS1.
The Bioinformatics Graduate Program requires the following:
- GPA, minimum 3.2/4.0 – no GRE is required
- Letters of recommendation (1 required): Please be aware that submitting only the Rackham Recommendation for Admission Form is insufficient; forms must be accompanied by a letter from the recommender. All letters are due by the application deadline. Without them, applications will not be considered complete or reviewed by the Program Admissions Committee.
- Statement of Purpose: The Statement of Purpose should be a concise, well-written statement about your academic and research background, your career goals, and how Michigan's graduate program will help you meet your career and educational objectives.
- Personal Statement: The Personal Statement should be a concise, well-written statement about how your personal background and life experiences, including social, cultural, familial, educational, or other opportunities or challenges, motivated your decision to pursue a graduate degree at the University of Michigan. This is not an Academic Statement of Purpose, but a discussion of the personal journey that has led to your decision to seek a graduate degree.
- Rackham AMDP Election Form: This should outline what courses you anticipate taking in the upcoming two years to satisfy both your undergraduate and Bioinformatics MS requirements.
- Resume/CV
- Current U-M Transcripts: Please submit transcripts electronically with your online application.
Students must submit an online application in their junior year of undergraduate study (or approximately 18 months (about 1 and a half years) before finishing the requirements). Include the Rackham AMDP Election Form with your application as this will indicate your anticipated course of study. The application deadline is April 1.
A total of 30 credit hours, plus relevant research experience is required and includes the following courses and electives:
- Introductory Bioinformatics (BIOINF 527 or BIOINF 529)
- Computing & Informatics – 3 or 4 credits, several choices
- Probability & Statistics –3 or 4 credits, 1 or 2 courses
- Molecular Biology – any graduate level or an undergraduate course approved for graduate credit
- Two Advanced Bioinformatics and/or Computational Biology courses
- Two semesters of Bioinformatics Journal Club; 1 term of BIOINF 602 and 1 term of BIOINF 603
Electives for the MS degree can be any of the listed courses, or any graduate course in the relevant topics (biology, computing, statistics). Applied mathematics or applied computing courses will be considered only if in relation to biology topics.
Up to 6 credits for the undergraduate degree may be taken during graduate enrollment.
Up to 15 credits can be transferred from the undergraduate years; up to 9 credits can be double counted.
A transfer credit is one that is not needed for ANY graduation requirements – not for 120 credits, not for LSA distribution, nor your major or minor – your undergraduate degree would be the same without this.
Double counted credit: Only credit for free or technical electives in your major.
Note: As an exception, AMDP students whose undergraduate degree is Statistics, Life Sciences Institute (LSI), or CSE can double count BIOINF 527. Cellular and Molecular Biology (CMB) undergraduates can double count Molecular Cellular & Developmental Biology (MCDB) 427 even though it is required.
At least 300 hours of research experience is also required for the Master’s degree. This can be either a paid part-time research experience, spring or summer full-time internship, or research for credit (BIOINF 599). A maximum of 6 credit hours of BIOINF 599 will count towards your degree. Please speak with Dr. Stephen Guest about details and review the internship guidelines.
The Bioinformatics Graduate Program encourages applications from traditionally underrepresented minorities, students with disabilities, and those from disadvantaged backgrounds. There are funding opportunities and resources both from the program and other campus units to contribute to students' overall well-being while pursuing studies. Several resources available to students can be found on the Rackham Graduate School Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion website.
In addition, DCMB’s faculty members participate at events around the country, such as the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS).
Diversity is a key component of excellence, especially for solving the complex biomedical challenges that our field of computational medicine and bioinformatics faces. We believe that all people—regardless of background, race, religion, sexual/gender orientation, age or disability—deserve an equitable opportunity to pursue the education and career of their choice.
Our Master students are largely self-funded. You may apply for teaching or research assistantships but there is no guarantee. Please note that the Bioinformatics Program offers few positions and priority is given to PhD students. A student may obtain a teaching position (GSI) in another unit.
While many Master's students get some funding, rarely is a student fully funded without some type of external award or fellowship. If interested in research assistantships, you need to contact specific faculty for those positions. Having significant programming experience is helpful.
Yes. Some students take coursework while working full time. A student is expected to complete all coursework within five years from the date of first enrollment in the program.
Bioinformatics consists of a mathematical and/or statistical analysis of a biomedical problem using computation. We define bioinformatics widely and include traditional bioinformatics areas such as for examples, systems biology, genomics, proteomics, plus statistical and evolutionary genetics, clinical informatics, and protein modeling.
As an interdisciplinary field, Bioinformatics attracts graduate students from mathematics, statistics, physics, computer science, biomedical engineering, chemistry, biochemistry and biology. Most incoming students have both a major in one and a minor in another discipline. In recent years students have entered with undergraduate training in bioinformatics or computational biology.
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