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Current Graduate Programs offered by the Comparative Pathobiology Department

The Department of Comparative Pathobiology in the College of Veterinary Medicine. Purdue University, offers three-year graduate instruction leading to the Master of Science (MS) or Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees to persons possessing the DVM degree and to those with a baccalaureate degree and comprehensive training in the biological sciences.  Areas of study include animal welfare science and human-animal interaction, cancer biology, infectious diseases, bacteriology, epidemiology, immunology, laboratory and experimental medicine, parasitology, pathology, public health, toxicology, virology, and molecular genetics.

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Specific information is available for the graduate programs listed here:

Admission Requirements

Students applying for admission must be graduates of a veterinary or medical college or hold a bachelor’s degree in the biological sciences.  Graduates in other fields may be accepted with approval of the graduate faculty and department head if they have sufficient background in the biological sciences.

  • GRE Requirement

    GRE is optional. However, some clinical residency programs and certain Departmental faculty members may require it for application evaluations.  Please contact the Graduate Program Coordinator cpbgradc@purdue.edu  if you are unsure if you need the GRE to support your application.

  • TOEFL Requirement

    International non-native speakers of English must achieve a TOEFL score of 80 or higher on the Internet-based test, with section scores of: reading, 19; listening, 14; speaking, 18, and writing, 18.

    As an alternative to the TOEFL, the Graduate School accepts IELTS (Academic Module) scores of 6.5 or higher. (Non-native speakers of English who are U.S. citizens or who hold permanent visas are not required to submit TOEFL/IELTS scores.) The scores must be documented by an official report from Educational Testing Service or IELTS and must be no more than 24 months old at the time the application credentials are reviewed in the Graduate School. The Graduate School will routinely waive the TOEFL/IELTS/PTE for applicants who have received a baccalaureate degree or graduate or professional degree, within the last 24 months, from a school where English is the primary language of instruction in a country/location where English is the native language.

    The major professor and graduate advisory committee will assist all students in development of good scientific writing skills over the course of the entire graduate training program.

  • Conditional Continued Enrollment

    Conditional continued enrollment status is assigned to any application possessing deficits (e.g. GRE scores or cumulative GPAs). Students admitted in this status are required to take at least two courses (6 credits) from the following list in addition to research credits in each semester of their first year in the graduate program.

    • BCHM 56100 - General Biochemistry I - 3 credits

    • BCHM 56200 - General Biochemistry II - 3 credits

    • BIOL 51700 - Molecular Biology: Proteins - 2 credits

    • BIOL 51900 - Molecular Biology: Nucleic Acids - 2 credits

    • BIOL 53700 - Immunobiology - 3 credits

    • BIOL 57300 - Molecular Biology of Animal Cells - 3 credits

    • STAT 50300 - Statistical Methods for Biology - 3 credits

    • STAT 51400 - Design of Experiments - 3 credits

    Students may substitute other courses recommended by their faculty mentor(s) from the Pathology, Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, and Epidemiology and Public Health sections; and approved by the Graduate Studies Committee.

    If a student fails to receive a "B" or better for the two required courses, or fails to maintain an overall "B" average for all courses taken, it will result in the dismissal of the student from the program.

How to Apply

Download the Purdue Graduate School application checklist and check the graduate program requirements.

You will be asked to provide a complete curriculum vita or the following items of information:

  1. Scientific discipline of interest: microbiology (bacteriology, immunology, virology, parasitology), pathology (clinical or anatomic), epidemiology and public health, or animal welfare science and human-animal interaction.
  2. Please indicate the semester/year for which you request admission.
  3. Please apply to Comparative Pathobiology and specify your area of interest.
  4. Post-secondary education: universities attended, dates, major, GPA, degree received and date.
  5. Employment information; positions, dates and work descriptions.
  6. Test results for the general Graduate Record Examination (GRE) are required of all applicants. Scores older than five years are not acceptable.
  7. Purdue's Graduate School requires all international applicants to take the TOEFL.  Scores older than 24 months are not acceptable.  The TOEFL can be waived if the applicant has earned a degree in the U.S. within the last 24 months.

Please direct any further communications to the CPB Graduate Program Coordinator by e-mail to cpbgradst@purdue.edu or mail to:

Graduate Program Coordinator
Department of Comparative Pathobiology
College of Veterinary Medicine
725 Harrison Street
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2027

A copy of your electronic application and corresponding material will be directed to interested faculty.

Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine, 625 Harrison Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907, 765-494-7607

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