Typical First Semester Registration:

Normal load is 9 credits with no assistantship or 6 credits with an assistantship. For PhD students, there is no need to sign up for more than 6 credits. You will have plenty of credits by the time you are ready to graduate. For Plan B (non-thesis) Masters students, you would not be taking MCB 6897, but would be taking another course. Note that MCB 6897 is for non-thesis research. Once you are in a lab and have a thesis project, you will be registering for GRAD 5950 (MS) or GRAD 6950 (PhD) research credit.

MCB 5884 MCB Research in Progress  (1 credit)- This is a seminar series given by graduate students to learn the art of presenting seminars and to hear what other students are doing in the lab. Cell Biology students are required to present once each year.

MCB 6002 Introduction to Faculty Research (1 credit)- Presentations by faculty members who have openings in their labs about their research projects.

MCB 6897 Research (variable credits) – This is the course number for research credit if you have not yet chosen a lab for your thesis work. You should register for 1 credit so that you can begin a research project in a lab even if you are rotating through the lab. Once you are doing thesis research, you should sign up for GRAD 6950 (PhD) or GRAD 5950 (MS).

MCB 5217 Biosynthesis of Nucleic Acids and Proteins (3 credits)– This is a core course and should be taken as soon as possible

Fill in the schedule with other seminar courses (5099, 5683, 5699) or courses that are of interest to you. Remember that seminar/journal club courses can be taken multiple times since topics change from year to year. Find out what the topic is for this semester from the instructor.

Other course numbers you need to know:

GRAD 6960- You would use this number if you are a PhD student registering for credits in the summer because you are getting work study funds.
GRAD 6950- The normal course number for PhD thesis research
GRAD 5950- The normal course number for MS thesis research