Admission Requirements

Admission Requirements for the degree and non-degree programs at McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics at UTHealth Houston, formerly UTHealth Houston School of Biomedical Informatics (SBMI).

For more information about our programs please visit our Academics Programs page or contact Admissions at 713-500-3591.

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Certificates & Non-Degree
- ✓ Application Form
- ✓ $60 Application Fee
- ✓ Baccalaureate or higher degree
- ✓ Official transcripts from ALL colleges and universities attended (international applicants see additional requirements following below)
- ✓ Resume and/or Curriculum Vitae
- ✓ Grade Point Average (GPA): no minimum GPA requirement. Majority of successful applicants have a GPA of 2.75 or greater
- ✓ One Letter of reference
- ✓ F1 sponsorship is not available for any Certificate or Non-degree programs.
  
  * For the Joint Certificate in Dental Informatics, please refer to UTHealth School of Dentistry at Houston (UTSD) Application Criteria page.
Public Health Informatics Certificate
- ✓ Application Form
- ✓ $60 Application Fee
- ✓ Baccalaureate or higher degree
- ✓ Official transcripts from ALL colleges and universities attended (international applicants see additional requirements following the table)
- ✓ Grade Point Average (GPA): no minimum GPA requirement. Majority of successful applicants have a GPA of 3.0 or greater
- ✓ Resume and/or Curriculum Vitae
- ✓ One Letter of reference
- ✓ Two page, double spaced Goal Statement.
- ✓F1 sponsorship is not available for any Certificate or Non-degree programs.
Master's Degree
CAHIIM Accredited
- ✓ Application Form
- ✓ $60 Application Fee
- ✓ Baccalaureate or higher degree
- ✓ Official transcripts from ALL colleges and universities attended (international applicants see additional requirements following the table)
- ✓ Grade Point Average (GPA): no minimum GPA requirement. Majority of successful applicants have a GPA of 3.0 or greater
- ✓ Please note: Students on a F1 student visa are not eligible to enroll in the Master of Science in Applied Biomedical Informatics program. F1 sponsorship is available for students in the Master of Science in Research Biomedical Informatics program.
- ✓ Resume and/or Curriculum Vitae
- ✓ Three Letters of reference from educators & employers
- ✓ Goal Statement
- ✓ Please note: Current students in the certificate program applying to the master's program should complete at least 3 classes before applying. It is also recommended that at least one of the reference letters be from our faculty member.
PhD Degree
- ✓ Application Form
- ✓ $60 Application Fee
- ✓ Baccalaureate or higher degree
- ✓ Official transcripts from ALL colleges and universities attended (international applicants see additional requirements following the table)
- ✓ Grade Point Average (GPA): no minimum GPA requirement. Majority of successful applicants have a GPA of 3.0 or greater
- ✓ Graduate Record Exam (GRE)
- ✓ The majority of successful applicants to our doctoral programs have individual GRE scores (quantitative, verbal, and analytical) in the 50th percentile or higher.
- ✓ Resume and/or Curriculum Vitae
- ✓ Three Letters of reference from educators & employers
- ✓ Goal Statement
- ✓ Please note: It is highly recommended for current students applying to the doctoral programs to submit at least one reference letter from our faculty member.
- ✓ For PhD Applicants ONLY: If you attended a college or university outside of the United States, your application can be reviewed using transcripts from that institution. However, an offer of admission can’t be extended until a course-by-course education evaluation from either WES or ECE has been submitted.
- ✓ For PhD Applicants ONLY: If you are submitting an application without the required course-by-course education evaluation from either WES or ECE you will need to convert your GPA to the U.S. scale using the iGPA calculator. You will need to upload a PDF copy of your converted GPA along with your transcripts. Please ensure that you accurately report ALL courses listed on your transcripts. Failure to do so may disqualify your application
DHI Degree
- ✓ Application Form
- ✓ $60 Application Fee
- ✓ Baccalaureate or higher degree
- ✓ Official transcripts from ALL colleges and universities attended (international applicants see additional requirements following the table)
- ✓ Grade Point Average (GPA): no minimum GPA requirement. Majority of successful applicants have a GPA of 3.0 or greater
- ✓Goal Statement: Applicants should refer to this document for detailed instructions
- ✓ Resume and/or Curriculum Vitae
- ✓ Three Letters of reference from supervisors or colleagues. At least two letters should be from Supervisors.
- ✓ Proposed area of interest for translational practice project
- ✓ A Letter of Support from the healthcare organization willing to facilitate the translational practice project. The Letter of Support must be on the healthcare organization's official letterhead and it should not be from the same person as a Letter of Recommendation. The Letter of Support should include background on the healthcare organization (including the indication of size and the type of activities), the area the institution expects the student to perform the project in, whether or not the organization will provide any type of support (monetary or technical) for the applicant’s project.
- ✓ Please note: Students on an F1 student visa are not eligible to enroll in the Doctorate in Health Informatics.

International Applicants

McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics at UTHealth Houston is a graduate school that awards postgraduate degrees. We do not offer undergraduate degrees.

A bachelor’s degree or higher is required to apply. If all education was completed outside the U.S. you must have a U.S. equivalency of a bachelor's degree or higher.

Please note that F1 sponsorship is NOT available for the following programs:

Any Certificate or other Non-degree programs (Our certificate program is a non-degree program)
Master of Science in Biomedical Informatics – Applied Track
Doctorate in Health Informatics program.

Please note that F1 sponsorship is available for the following programs:

Master of Science in Biomedical Informatics – Research Track
Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Informatics programs

All applicants with international college transcripts must submit a course by course education evaluation report by either World Education Services (WES ICAP) or Educational Credential Evaluators. The verified transcripts used for the evaluation need to be included with the education evaluation. These are the only two evaluations we will accept for admission to any of our programs.

TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) minimum acceptable score is an 87 or IELTS (International English Language Testing System) minimum acceptable score is a 7.

Admission Deadlines

PROGRAM	FALL	SPRING	SUMMER
Certificate	July 1	November 1	March 1
Master's	July 1	November 1	March 1
PhD	December 1	July 1	N/A
DHI	March 1	Only one DHI cohort will be admitted annually.