Doctor of Veterinary Medicine/Master of Science in Animal Science

For qualified students, the Department of Animal Science offers an accelerated MS degree program for individuals pursuing a doctor in veterinary medicine degree. Central to this program is that a qualified veterinary student may have up to 9 credit hours of veterinary medicine courses count toward both the doctor of veterinary medicine degree and the MS degree. To this end, a student may earn the DVM and MS in about five to five-and-a-half years rather than the six to six-and-a-half years that otherwise would be required.

Normally, students will be considered for conditional admission to the program during, or following, their first year of veterinary medicine study at the University of Tennessee, College of Veterinary Medicine. Because the MS program requires that a student write a thesis based on original research, efforts related to identifying a graduate mentor (i.e., major professor) and starting a research-based project in consultation with a graduate advisory committee (that meets MS committee requirements) are appropriate in and around or following their first year of veterinary study.

The major professor, an animal science faculty member at the rank of assistant professor or above, chairs the student's graduate advisory committee. The student and major professor select the other members of the advisory committee which should contain at least two other faculty members at the rank of assistant professor or above, one of whom may be outside the Animal Science Department. The student's advisory committee assists in the planning of course work and may require specific courses in addition to those required by the Animal Science graduate program. The student's graduate advisory committee also aids in formulating an appropriate research project and assesses achievement of other degree requirements, including the research proposal and thesis defense.

An Animal Science Conditional Admission Application Form for the Five Year DVM/MS program is available from the Animal Science Graduate Program Director and must be completed by the applicant.

In order for a veterinary student to be considered for conditional admission to the Animal Science MS program,

A student must be a declared Veterinary Medicine major with a minimum GPA of 3.00 and must have completed at least one semester of course work required for the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree.

A student must obtain a written commitment from an Animal Science graduate research faculty member to serve as their graduate mentor-advisor (i.e., major professor) and identify at least two other graduate research faculty members to serve on their MS graduate advisory committee.

A student must coordinate the provision of three letters of recommendation (one from an individual willing to serve as their major professor and two from other faculty members willing to attest to their potential to do well in a thesis-based MS degree program). Letters should be submitted directly to the Animal Science Graduate Program Director by the individuals providing recommendation.

A student must interview with individuals comprising the Graduate Committee in the Department of Animal Science and selected individuals in the College of Veterinary Medicine.

An applicant requesting admission to the Graduate School may be required to submit results of the TOEFL or IELTS. Minimum score requirements for admission to the Graduate School are:

a total score of 80 on the internet based TOEFL (iBT),

a 6.5 overall band score on the IELTS.