MS Requirements
As the Genetics program prepares for the next exciting part in our history with the upcoming merger with the Functional Genomics program, we are in the process of updating our core curriculum. If you have questions about the curriculum, please contact Director of Graduate Programs Dr. Reade Roberts (rbrober2@ncsu.edu) or Graduate Services Coordinator Tyler DeAtley (tdeatle@ncsu.edu). Below is our historical curriculum. If you are interested in the proposed curriculum for the new program, you may see the proposed curriculum here.
During their first semester, new graduate students participate in at least three laboratory rotations, each rotation being five weeks in duration. These rotations facilitate choosing a major professor and a research focus. Once associated with a particular mentor, an advisory committee of at least three additional professors is assembled. The majority of coursework for the MS is completed within approximately one to two years at the beginning of the program. Following the completion of this coursework, a final written and oral examination is taken. In addition to coursework and research, MS students are required to teach one semester of undergraduate courses.
To see the catalog listings for the below course, please visit the NCSU course catalog.
REQUIRED CORE COURSES
| Number | Department | Course Title | Credit Hours | Semester Offered |
| GN 701 | GN | Molecular Genetics | 3 | Fall |
| GN 702 | GN | Cellular & Developmental Genetics | 3 | Spring |
| GN 703 | GN | Population & Quantitative Genetics | 3 | Spring |
| GN 810 | GN | Special Topics in Genetics – Journal Club | 1 | Fall |
| GN 850 | GN | Professionalism & Ethics | 1 | Fall |
| ST 511 | ST | Experimental Statistics for Biologists | 3 | Fall/Spring |
(An additional 6 hours of elective courses are required, 3 hours must have substantial Genetics content, such as the examples below.**)
PRIMARY ELECTIVE COURSES
| Number | Department | Course Title | Credit Hours | Semester Offered |
| GN 713 | ANS | Quantitative Genetics and Breeding | 3 | Fall |
| GN 721 | ST | Genetic Data Analysis | 3 | Alt. Spring |
| GN 725 | FOR | Forest Genetics | 3 | Spring |
| GN 735 | GN | Functional Genomics | 3 | Fall |
| GN 750 | GN | Developmental Genetics | 3 | Alt. Spring |
| GN 756 | GN | Computational Molecular Evolution | 3 | Alt. Fall |
| GN 757 | ST | Stats for Molecular Quantitative Genetics | 3 | Alt. Fall |
| GN 758 | MB | Prokaryotic Molecular Genetics | 3 | Spring |
| GN 761 | BCH | Advanced Molecular Biology of the Cell | 3 | Alt. Spring |
| GN 768 | BCH | Nucleic Acid: Structure and Function | 3 | Alt. Spring |
| GN 810X | GN | Special Topics in Genetics | Var | Variable |
| ST 590C | ST | Bioinformatics I | 3 | Fall |
| ST 590C | ST | Bioinformatics II | 3 | Spring |
| PB 780 | PB | Plant Molecular Biology | 3 | Fall |
| PB 824N | PB | Topics in Plant Molecular Genetics | 3 | Alt. Spring |
| BCH 701 | BCH | Macromolecular Structure | 3 | Fall |
| BIT 510† | BIT | Core Technologies | 4 | Fall/Spring |
| BIT 815X† | BIT | Advanced Modules (Several) | Var | Fall/Spring |
†Only three hours of these courses may be counted toward the primary elective requirement.
**Other courses that do not appear on this list may be counted if they have substantial Genetics content. Please consult with the Director of Graduate Programs if you would like to count a course as an elective that is not on this list.