The application deadline for Fall 2008 admission has passed.  The IDP admits students only in the Fall semester.  The next term for which applications will be accepted is Fall 2009.

International students comprise about one third of the IDP student body, and bring a rich diversity of cultural backgrounds, knowledge and expertise to our graduate program.  Due to the enormous number of international inquiries we receive and the large number of applications reviewed, the following information about the review process for international applicants is provided.  Most successful international applicants will have a basic science B.S. degree with extensive research experience as evidenced by letters of recommendation from research mentors and/or publications, and many will have a research M.S. degree.  Our initial evaluation of international applicants residing outside the United States is based on the written application materials.  UF faculty members native to and/or familiar with the educational systems of other countries assist the IDP Admissions Committee with this initial review.  

1. Research - The most important review criteria are research experience and potential as an independent scientist, as judged by the applicant's personal statement, resume or CV, and letters of recommendation.  Strength in this area is indicated by published abstracts and/or papers, presentations at scientific meetings, and/or a record of awards for research accomplishments.

2. Academics - The IDP admissions committee looks mainly at grades in science courses that form an academic foundation for graduate studies in the biomedical sciences.  For admission decisions, our university actually looks at the grade point average for the equivalent of the junior and senior year (the last two years of a 4-year undergraduate program).

3. Standardized Exam Scores - These exams must have been taken within the last 5 years.

    GRE - Based on the strength of our international applicant pool, most successful international applicants have a GRE score near or above 1400 (verbal + quantitative).  We do admit some international students with scores below 1400, particularly if their research and academic credentials are outstanding.  

    TOEFL - Minimum required TOEFL scores for international applicants are 600 on the written TOEFL, 250 on the computer-based TOEFL, or 100 on the internet-based TOEFL.  Exemptions to the TOEFL score requirement are granted per University of Florida policy for English proficiency.

Due to the large number of inquiries we receive, we can NOT offer an indication of how competitive your application will be before you apply.  If you are confident that a completed application will demonstrate exceptional strength as described above, we encourage you to submit your application by the December deadline.  This description of successful applicants is based on many years of experience and is not meant to be offensive or exclusive, but productive and realistic.  This will hopefully save less competitive applicants the costs associated with completing a full application.

The deadline for receipt of all international application materials for Fall 2009 is Monday, December 15, 2008.  Any qualified applications postmarked after this date from addresses outside the United States and Puerto Rico may be held over for Fall 2010 admission, but you must contact us again in Fall 2009 to reactivate the application.  Applications will be evaluated as described in our Admissions Process web page.

International students who are permanent residents and live within the USA may follow the application procedure for Domestic Applications.  All other international applicants must use the on-line application process.  All required forms can be printed from this website.  All forms are available as HTML documents.  Some forms are also available as PDF documents.  You will need to have to Adobe Acrobat Reader to access PDF documents.  If you don't have it installed, please download it from Adobe Systems.

last revised 3/19/08  wtm