Application Process & Requirements

All degree and certificate programs require at least one Personal Statement, and many also require an Academic Statement of Purpose. You can find your program's specific questions on the "Personal Statements" page in the online application.

All programs require your Resume/CV to be uploaded to the online application. Make sure to include:

• Education
• All work experience, whether research-related or not
• Memberships and activities, including volunteering, sports, activism, and community service. Remember to include any leadership roles.
• Publications and presentations
• Awards, including scholarships and fellowships

For more information about preparing a resume or CV, please visit the Tufts Career Services website

In the online application, you are required to submit names and email addresses of persons willing to write letters of recommendation appraising your potential to succeed in the program to which you are applying. The application system will email online submission instructions to recommenders. Both you and the recommender will receive a confirmation email once a letter has been submitted to the online application.

Note that different programs have different requirements for the number of letters of recommendation.

• MS & PhD Programs require three letters of recommendation
• HEOR requires one letter of recommendation
• PREP requires three letters of recommendation
• BDBS requires two letters of recommendation

Please upload a copy of your transcript from each college and/or university you have attended, regardless of whether you earned a degree. You do not need to include college courses taken in high school or exchange study courses already listed on the home institution transcript. 

Note that advisement reports which do not meet the standards below should not be submitted in place of transcripts.

• Document(s) must have your name and the school's name.
• Courses must be listed chronologically.
• Orient the pages correctly before uploading.
• If your social security number is present, black it out before scanning.
• Upload the transcript key on the back of your transcript(s). Only one key is necessary per institution.
• For all transcripts that are not in English, please upload a translated copy with the original.*

*If the issuing university is unable to provide an English translation, please submit the transcript to a verifying authority such as an education ministry, a translation service, or a NACES-member transcript evaluation service.

Official transcripts are only required if you accept an offer of admission. 

All incoming GSBS students (for both degree and non-degree programs), must submit official transcripts from all colleges and universities from which they have received a degree. Transcripts must be complete with your name and the name of the school and must also include the degree conferred and the date of conferral (if a degree was earned). If your final, complete transcript from a previous institution is not yet available, please request it once it is available. All official transcripts must be received before you will be permitted to matriculate.

The official transcripts can submitted either on paper, or electronically. Official electronic transcripts may be sent to gsbs-registrar@tufts.edu via the National Student Clearinghouse, Parchment, Scrip-Safe, or other equivalent service.

Paper transcripts must be received in envelopes signed and sealed by the issuing institution. They should be mailed directly from the institution to:

Tufts GSBS Registrar
Graduates School of Biomedical Sciences
Tufts University
136 Harrison Avenue
Suite 501
Boston, MA 02111

Transcripts from schools outside the US and Canada must be formally evaluated through a NACES-approved credential evaluation service.

Basic Science PhD

The GRE is optional for applicants. If scores are submitted they will be considered in the admissions process. If not submitted, they will have no negative impact on the admissions decision.

CTS MS & PhD & Certificate

Candidates who have completed a doctoral degree previously (MD, DDS, PharmD, DVM, PhD) or are currently enrolled in another doctoral program (for example, Tufts School of Medicine MD students or MD students at other schools) do not need to submit GRE scores. Candidates who have completed a MD-equivalent degree outside of the United States (i.e. MBBS) are not required to submit GRE scores.

Candidates applying to the Certificate in CTS or HEOR are not required to submit GRE scores.

MS in Biomedical Research

The GRE is optional for applicants. If scores are submitted they will be considered in the admissions process. If not submitted, they will have no negative impact on the admissions decision.

PDD

The GRE is only required of applicants who do not already have a professional or doctoral degree (MD, DDS, PharmD, DVM, PhD, MBA, MBBS, etc).

BDBS & PREP

Candidates applying to BDBS or PREP are not required to submit GRE scores.

Official GRE electronic score reports must be sent by ETS to GSBS using the institution code of 3891. Any department code will suffice.

All applicants for whom English is not the native language must demonstrate English proficiency to be considered for admission to GSBS. This requirement may be met in any of the following ways:

• Receipt of a 2- or 4-year degree from a US-located college or university (including schools in US territories and protectorates) before the program start date. Programs that are entirely online do not fulfill this requirement.
• Receipt of a 2- or 4-year degree from a college or university in Australia, United Kingdom, Ireland, Anglophone Canada, or New Zealand before the program start date. Programs that are entirely online do not fulfill this requirement.
• Completion of the ECFMG (Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates) certification
• Scoring at the 50% or above on the Verbal section of the GRE General Test.
• Meeting minimum score requirements on the TOEFL, IELTS, Duolingo English Test, or the PTE, as follows:

TOEFL & GRE

Official electronic score reports must be sent by ETS to GSBS using the institution code of 3891. Any department code will suffice. GSBS accepts MyBest™ scores for the TOEFL iBT test, in addition to TOEFL iBT scores from a single test date.

IELTS 

Official IELTS results must be sent electronically from your IELTS testing center. Please have scores sent electronically to Tufts University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in Boston, Massachusetts.

Duolingo

Official results must be sent electronically to the Tufts University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.

PTE

Please upload a copy of your Score Report form to the application. Once we have verified those scores, your application will be updated to reflect you have met the English proficiency requirement.

There is a nonrefundable application fee of $90 for the PhD, MS, and Certificate programs. The fee may be paid by credit card or e-check as part of the application process.

GSBS offers fee waivers to applicants based on certain criteria.  We do offer a hardship application fee waiver for our U.S. citizens/permanent residents, however we do not offer this option for our international applicants.

Fee Waiver Information

Accepted students in the Pharmacology and Drug Development Program and the Biomedical Research Program are required to submit a nonrefundable $1,000 enrollment deposit, which is applied to their tuition.

Accepted students in the Online Certificate in Health Economics and Outcomes Research are required to submit a nonrefundable $500 enrollment deposit, which is applied to their tuition.

No other programs require enrollment deposits.