For qualified students, the Department of Food Science offers a Five-Year BS/MS accelerated degree program with a BS major in Food Science and a thesis-based MS major in Food Science. Central to this program is that a qualified student may take up to nine hours of approved graduate courses for their senior undergraduate electives and have them count toward both the BS degree and the MS degree. Students will be considered for conditional admission to the program by the end of their junior year of undergraduate study at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Because the MS program requires that students write a thesis based on their original research, students in the BS/MS program must start working on their research project no later than starting the senior year of undergraduate studies. For each student in the program, a graduate advisory committee composed of a minimum of three faculty members must be established before completion of the BS degree.
To be considered for conditional admission to the program:
- A student must be a declared Food Science major, Science concentration, with a minimum GPA of 3.4, must have completed at least 15 hours of credit in Food Science, and must have completed at least 90 hours of the 120 hours of coursework required for the BS degree with a major in Food Science.
- A student must provide three letters of recommendation and complete a personal interview with individuals comprising the Graduate and Undergraduate Committees in the Department of Food Science.
- A student must obtain a commitment from a Food Science graduate research faculty member to serve as his/her graduate mentor-advisor (i.e., major professor) and at least two other graduate research faculty members to serve on his/her graduate advisory committee.
Applicants are required to have completed FDSC 241 - Food Preservation and Packaging . The Department may consider other relevant factors such as an applicant's work experience and level of maturity before conditionally admitting a student to the BS/MS program. Conditional admission of a student into the Five-Year BS/MS program must be approved by both the Department of Food Science and the Graduate School. Students will be typically informed of the outcome of their application by the end of their junior year of undergraduate study.
Any course taken for graduate credit before satisfying all requirements for the BS degree must be approved by the student's graduate advisory committee, the Graduate Director and the Graduate School. These courses must be identified in advance, in consultation with the undergraduate advisor, and the graduate advisory committee. The form "Food Science Conditional Admission Five-Year BS-MS" is available from the Graduate Director and must be completed and signed by the undergraduate advisor, undergraduate coordinator, and graduate advisory committee at least two months before the end of the junior year. After review by the Department, the form will be signed by the Graduate Director and submitted to the Graduate School for approval and processing.
Conditional admission into the BS/MS program does not guarantee acceptance into either the Graduate School or the MS program. Students in the BS/MS program must apply for admission to the Graduate School and to the MS program during their senior year of undergraduate study for the term immediately following the completion of their undergraduate study following the same procedures that all other student applicants follow. A GRE score must be submitted as part of the application for admission into any graduate program in the Department of Food Science. Students will be fully admitted to the MS program after they have been accepted both by the Graduate School and by the Food Science program. Students will not be eligible for graduate assistantships until they are enrolled as graduate-level students in the Graduate School.