Admission to the Program

Admission to the Master of Biotechnology program is determined by a committee comprised of faculty members from each of the member campuses.   Evaluation takes into account the applicant’s total academic record, industrial or work experience, and statement of purpose. Because of the rigorous nature of the PABS program, the applicant’s practical experience and career aspirations will be important factors in applicant selection.

To be admitted to the program, an applicant must be accepted first by the PABS MBt Program and then by the Admissions office of the home campus at which the student is to be placed (Los Angeles, Fullerton, Dominguez Hills, or Pomona).  

The prospective student must submit an initial application directly to the MBt program, as described fully at http://www.calstate.edu/pabs/applicants/. IMPORTANT: Students do not apply through CSU mentor until after they have been accepted into the program and subsequently assigned by the program office to apply to one of the four  participating campuses.

Applicants must meet the requirements for admission, which include an appropriate (see below) baccalaureate from an accredited institution and a grade-point average of at least 3.0 in the last 60 semester or 90 quarter units attempted.  (Note that the grade point average requirement for admission to the MBt program has been set higher than that required for general admission to Cal State Los Angeles for graduate study or for admission to the M.S. degree program in Biological Sciences at Cal State Los Angeles.  Students with academic deficiencies may be considered for conditional acceptance into the program. For conditionally accepted students, the specific conditions and a deadline for their completion are determined at the time of admission; continuation in the MBt program is contingent upon completion of the admission conditions by the specified deadline.

In addition to general university requirements for CSU admission, acceptance into the MBt program is contingent upon the following:

1. a B.A. or B.S. from an accredited institution with a grade-point average of 3.0 in the last 60 semester or 90 quarter units of courses in a major in one of the following general areas: Biological Sciences, Engineering, Chemistry or Biochemistry, Business, Computer Science, Bioinformatics, Information Science, or Mathematics
2. Submission to the program office of a completed application to the MBt program, which is available at the MBt program web site application page (http://www.calstate.edu/pabs/applicants/)
3. Submission to the program office of all supporting documents for the program application, as described at (http://www.calstate.edu/pabs/applicants/)
4. Upon an offer of admission into the program following review of materials in items 2 and 3 above, application to the assigned campus through CSU Mentor, including submission of any required documentation.

Requirements for the Degree (38 semester units/55 quarter units)

Students must complete the required core and selected elective courses in a given concentration as described below.  Students may elect to complete any one of the six concentrations.  While the PABS core courses require no prerequisite coursework, the concentration courses often have prerequisites.  Students must have completed prerequisites for any elective courses chosen for their concentration or must have obtained permission from the instructor to enroll. Permission from the instructor does not alter the standards for achievement within the class.  In the majority of cases, these prerequisites have been met by coursework taken as part of a student’s undergraduate major. There are no prerequisites for the concentration in Regulatory Affairs.  No undergraduate degrees in Regulatory Affairs are offered in the United States at this time.

Before being awarded the degree, the student must present his/her project work as a written project report (modified as necessary for proprietary reasons of the company at which the work was done) for submission to the university library. In addition, the student must present his/her work (modified for proprietary reasons as necessary) during a PABS symposium. 

PABS Master of Biotechnology (MBt) Curriculum

Note: Academic units are presented below as Semester Units/Quarter Units to accommodate campus differences in term length and number.