***Potential Graduate Students, please read the letter for interested students from Dr. Oscar Riera-Lizarazu, Associate Head for Graduate Studies. to see letter click here
The department offers two Masters and a Ph.D. program in a broad spectrum of areas:
Master of Agriculture (Non-Thesis Option)
The Master of Agriculture is a non-thesis professional degree requiring internship experience. It provides management training and emphasizes problem-solving skills rather than research. At least 36 hours of course work are required.
Master of Science (Thesis Option)
The Master of Science, offered in all areas of horticultural sciences, emphasizes research. The Master’s program requires at least 32 credit hours of approved courses, research, and a thesis.
Doctor of Philosophy
For a PhD degree, a student with a Master’s degree must complete 64 hours, and a student with only a baccalaureate degree must complete 96 hours.
NOTE: It is highly recommended that all graduate students in the Department of Horticultural Sciences have taken or will take 6 credit hours of 200, 300, 400, or 600 level HORT courses prior to admission. In the event that a student is deficient in HORT courses, the student’s committee can require the student to take an additional 6 credit hours of HORT (300, 400 or 600 level courses) as part of their degree The courses must be approved by the Chair of the student’s Advisory Committee. Any 300, 400, or 600 level courses may be applied towards the student’s Degree Plan with the Chair and Committee’s approval. These 6 hours of HORT courses will be in addition to the 9 hour Master’s and 12 hour Doctoral requirement at the 600 level for all HORT graduate students. If the student is deficient in the non-HORT supporting field courses (for example: chemistry, soils, plant physiology, etc.), the Chair will determine course prerequisites that need to be taken.
Graduate students in the Department of Horticultural Sciences majoring in molecular and environmental plant physiology (MEPS), genetics (GENE), food science and technology (FSTC), or plant breeding (PLBR) must meet the course prerequisite requirements set forth by the Interdisciplinary Faculty of that major.
| M Ag | MS | PhD | |
| Genetics | X | X | |
| Food Science and Technology | X | X | X |
| Horticulture | X | X | X |
| Molecular and Environmental Plant Sciences | X | X | |
| Plant Breeding | X | X |
*Note the Plant Breeding MS & PhD via distance education technology program began Spring 2013. View the Department of Horticultural Sciences Distance Plant Breeding Handbook April 2018.
More information about the Department of Horticultural Science’s graduate faculty and their research can be found in Table 2 of the TAMU Horticulture Graduate Handbook.
Degree requirements are posted in the official TAMU Graduate Horticultural Sciences Policy Manual. Students must meet requirements set forth in the Texas A&M University catalog which is current in the year of their first registration, and the catalog is updated on an annual basis. The official University Catalog for the current academic year can be accessed here.
ADMISSION
General Guidelines for Admission:
No Deadline to Apply
Successful applicants to the M. Ag. or M.S. programs typically have an undergraduate GPR of 3.000 or substantially better, strong letters of support for admission to the graduate program from faculty mentors, a well written letter of application, and in the case of international students strongly demonstrated competency in English via TOEFL scores or other testing instruments. Applicants for the Ph.D. program who have successfully completed a prior M.S. degree usually have similar or greater qualifications than those outlined for admission to the Masters programs. The Department does not require official GRE scores for acceptance. The graduate school typically requires a minimum official TOEFL (International students only) score of at least an 80 (internet based), a 213 (computer based) or a 550 (paper based).
Application Process:
- An online completed application found at: https://texasam2021.liaisoncas.com/applicant-ux/#/login, on which the student should indicate horticulture as the major.
- http://admissions.tamu.edu/graduate . The application fee is paid on-line and is completed on the Office of Admission website (http://ogs.tamu.edu/prospective ). Information about university codes and sending transcripts and GRE scores are also on that website.
- Transcripts, letters of recommendation, and GRE scores should be sent to the Office of Admissions.
- Transcripts should come directly from the issuing universities (not photocopies).
- GRE scores should come directly from ETS, not the student.
- TOEFL scores should also be sent to Admissions from the administering institution, not the student.
- Three Letters of Recommendation are required. They can be sent through admissions or directly to the Horticultural Sciences Department via email at leann.hague@tamu.edu or by mail at: Graduate Advisor, Department of Horticultural Sciences, HFSB, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-2133.
- Once all the information has been received, the packet will be sent to our graduate faculty to be evaluated for our graduate studies program.
- We will contact you when the process is complete.
Application Deadlines for consideration of University fellowships funding:
Fall semester – December 15 of the preceding year to be eligible for fellowship consideration
Application Deadlines for consideration of College fellowships funding:
Fall semester – January 15 of the preceding year to be eligible for fellowship consideration;
Note that deadlines may be adjusted if you find a faculty member to work with you. For all other admission deadlines, please consult the Office of Graduate Studies.
*Delays in the process are often caused by either delayed receipt of the letters of recommendation, transcripts, TOEFL or GRE scores. Graduate Admissions will not release the application to the Department until all required information has been received.
Assistantships:
- All assistantships are awarded on a competitive basis.
- Some teaching assistantships are available from the Department.
- Most research assistantships are funded from grants held by individual faculty members.
- You should inquire about the availability of research assistantships from the individual faculty whose programs interest you.
- You should only go to the expense of applying if there is a program in your area of interest and which has an opening for a new graduate student.
International Student Services:
All information pertaining to international students at Texas A&M University is available on the Home Page of International Student Services at: http://iss.tamu.edu/
English Language Proficiency
Foreign applicants for whom English is not their first language must also submit TOEFL scores, unless they have received a degree from an accredited university in the United States. Successful completion of the English proficiency examination will be required of foreign students before graduate teaching assistantship appointments will be approved by the Office of Graduate Studies. Special training in “English for Foreign Students” is available through the English Language Institute.
Departmental Graduate Studies Contacts:
| LeAnn Hague Academic Advisor Department of Horticultural Sciences Texas A&M University leann.hague@tamu.edu |