Department of Biomedical Engineering

Admission Requirements

Application Deadline

Admission is for the Fall 2024 quarter only.

Applications must be submitted and paid for (or have an approved fee waiver) by December 1, 2023. Letters of recommendation and/or TOEFL scores may be submitted until December 15, 2023. Applications that are incomplete after December 15 cannot be reviewed by the admissions committee.

Please carefully review our programs, research and courses. You may also contact individual faculty to learn about current research activities and possible opportunities for academic support. If you have a strong interest in our programs, you are welcome to apply.


Coursework Requirements for Admission

Because of its interdisciplinary nature, Biomedical Engineering attracts students with a variety of backgrounds. Students should have a bachelor’s degree in an engineering, physical science or biological science discipline.

  • 6 quarters of calculus through linear algebra and ordinary differential equations
  • 3 quarters of calculus based physics
  • 3 quarters of chemistry
  • 2 quarters of biology

Students who do not meet the above requirements prior to enrollment or without a physics, chemistry or engineering undergraduate degree can still apply, but will be required to take additional relevant undergraduate engineering courses before enrolling at UCI. Plan to take any of the above missing courses at your local junior college or undergraduate institution. 


Cumulative GPA

A cumulative GPA of 3.20 during undergraduate study is strongly recommended for admission into the Biomedical Engineering program. 


Application for Admission

You must complete and submit your online application for graduate admissions

Please note the BME program will only accept one application from an applicant—either M.S. or Ph.D.
The five digit application codes for Biomedical Engineering are:

  • 01289 for Ph.D.    
  • 03289 for M.S. (terminal)

Your application cannot be reviewed until UCI has received your nonrefundable application fee. ($135 for U.S. Citizens and lawful U.S. Permanent Residents; $155 for international applicants). The nonrefundable application fee must be paid by credit card. Fee waivers are available to qualified domestic applicants only. Details about the application fee and fee waiver eligibility can be found here.

Please note that the application fee is paid to and administered by UCI Graduate Division. The department has no authorization to waive the fee for international students.


GRE

The GRE is NOT required for the Biomedical Engineering graduate applications.


TOEFL or IELTS

A minimum score of 250 on the computer-based TOEFL, or a minimum score of 94 on the TOEFL iBT, is required of all international students whose native language is not English. Students applying to Biomedical Engineering will be evaluated based on these TOEFL requirements, not on the minimum university standards.

As an alternative to the TOEFL, you may submit scores from the Academic Modules of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). UC Irvine only accepts scores submitted electronically by the IELTS test center. An overall minimum score of 7 is required for admission, with a score of no less than 6 on any individual module.


Letters of Recommendation

Three letters of recommendation are required to be submitted on your behalf. Letters must be submitted online. Please refer to the Letters of Recommendation website for submission methods. Letters should be from faculty or managers who can speak in detail about your academic and/or research aptitude, or experience in internships/industry. The admissions committee expects to see recommendation letters from prior PIs with whom you conducted research. 


Transcripts

For application review purposes only, upload copies of unofficial transcripts for all institutions attended since high school. In the online application, you will be prompted to upload your scanned documents. Please upload both the front and back sides of the transcript. Uploaded transcripts should be recent and include the following: your name, dates of attendance, grades/marks received, credits and grading legend. UCI reserves the right to require official transcripts at any time during the admission process, and rescind any offer of admission made if discrepancies between uploaded and official transcript(s) are found. Official transcripts will be requested if and when you are admitted and decide to attend UCI. Do not send official transcripts until you accept admission at UCI.

 

Written Statements

Both a statement of purpose and personal history statement are required. The admissions committee reviews both statements thoroughly.

The statement of purpose should detail your past research experience and mention future research goals. If you have identified UCI faculty that you may want to work with during graduate study, please indicate them in this essay. 

The personal history statement should not cover any academic topics. This essay is your opportunity to let the admissions committee get to know you on a more personal level, aside from academic achievements. There are no set topics for this essay, but you may want to discuss hardships you have faced in life or in the pursuit of your education, volunteer work or clubs you are active with, your motivation for studying engineering/STEM, or perhaps details about a hobby or passion of yours. 


What Happens Next: Interviews and Admission Process

Once all the paperwork is received, your application is evaluated by the Graduate Admissions Committee. Competitive Ph.D. applicants will be contacted in early January for a virtual interview with the admissions committee. We do not conduct interviews from M.S. students at this time.

The committee will make their decisions after the interviews. If accepted into our graduate program, Ph.D. candidates currently residing in the U.S. will be invited to our campus visit day in early March. You will be expected to give us your response by April 15, 2024.

Should you have questions about the graduate program, please contact the Graduate Academic Coordinator, Maggie Mulcare, mmulcare@uci.edu