Exceptional undergraduate students at UNC Charlotte may be accepted into the M.S. in Bioinformatics, Graduate Certificate in Bioinformatics Applications, or Graduate Certificate in Bioinformatics Technology and begin work toward a graduate degree before completion of the baccalaureate degree.  The criteria for admission are the following:

1. A student may be accepted into the Early Entry Program at any time after completion of 75 credit hours of undergraduate work applicable to the appropriate degree, although it is expected that close to 90 hours will have been earned by the time the first graduate course is taken.
2. The application process and all required documentation (e.g., test scores, transcripts, letters of recommendation) are the same for early entry students as for other applicants to the program except that the GRE scores are waived.  Admission must be recommended by the Department of Bioinformatics and Genomics and approved by the Graduate School.  The admission status will be “provisional” pending the award of the undergraduate degree.
3. To be accepted into this program an undergraduate student must have at least a 3.2 overall GPA.
4. If an Early Entry student has not met the normal admission requirements of a 3.0 overall undergraduate GPA and a 3.0 Junior/Senior GPA at the end of his/her baccalaureate degree, she/he will be dismissed from the graduate program.
5. Students accepted into an Early Entry Program will be subject to the same policies that pertain to other matriculated graduate students.  Generally, it will be assumed that Early Entry students will finish their baccalaureate degrees before they complete 15 credit hours of graduate work.
6. The Early Entry Program is also accelerated in which up to 12 credit hours earned at the graduate level may be substituted for required undergraduate hours.  In other words, up to 12 credit hours of graduate work may be “double counted” toward both the baccalaureate and graduate degrees.