Procedure for Requesting Transfer into the BCB Program
If you wish to be considered for admission to the BCB Program, you should:

1. Discuss your desire to transfer (or to pursue a co-major in BCB, see below) with your major professor or temporary advisor. Your professor must send a brief memo to BCB (bcb@iastate.edu) stating that he/she approves of your plan to transfer into BCB. Your request for transfer will not be considered until this memo is received.

2. Notify BCB (bcb@iastate.edu) that you would like to transfer. You do NOT need to fill out the online application form on BCB website, but your Email should indicate that you understand the following:
   1. Students who request transfer into BCB are expected to be fully supported by funds from other sources. The BCB program does not guarantee support to students who enter the BCB program through the transfer procedure. In some cases, transfer students may be eligible to apply for RA or TA support from sources that provide support for BCB program (e.g., NSF IGERT Training Grant, Pioneer Hybrid competitive RAs, TAs provided by participating departments).
   2. Transfer students must complete all requirements for BCB majors described in the BCB Curriculum & Training Plan. In particular, research projects of BCB majors should be interdisciplinary (including both a biological and computational/mathematical component) and should be administered by two mentors (usually a major professor and co-major professor), one biologist and one mathematician/statistician/computer scientist. Transfer students involved in laboratory rotations should complete them; rotations are optional for other transfer students.

3. Fill out the "Request to Transfer from one Major/Program/Department to Another," available at: http://www.grad-college.iastate.edu/forms/forms.html

4. After filling out Section I, take this form to the DOGE (Chair) or Program Office of your present major.(For example, if your present major is Interdepartmental Genetics, take the form to 2102 MBB.)

   The DOGE/Program Assistant of your present major should:

   1. Fill out Section II
   2. Attach a copy of your application (graduate file)
   3. Forward package to BCB Administrative Office, 2014 Molecular Biology Building (Program Assistant is Trish Stauble, 4-5122, bcb@iastate.edu)

After receipt of this information, the BCB Admissions Committee will review your application and make a decision regarding your admission into the program.

Procedure for Declaring a Co-Major in the BCB Program
There is a BIG difference between working toward "two concurrent degrees" and a declaring a "co-major" in BCB:

• The "two concurrent degrees" option requires student to write 2 theses -- (an option even very energetic students should want to avoid!!)
• A "co-major" requires a only 1 thesis (and a few other things, of course).

For a "co-major" no special Graduate College form is required. The only form required for this process is the POS form, which has a check-box for "co-major." This form is available at: http://www.grad-college.iastate.edu/forms/forms.html

Typically, a student would apply and be admitted to 1 department/program and "apply" for the co-major option when forming the POS committee (see Grad College Handbook excerpt below). However, approval of the "co-major" POS option requires that both the DOGE of the admitting department and DOGE of proposed "co-major" department/program sign POS form. For students who list BCB as "co-major," BCB will approve/sign POS if:

1. the student follows instructions in "RE: REVISED TRANSFER PROCEDURE" above, except that the "Request for Transfer" form is NOT required
2. the BCB Admissions Committee recommends approval of co-major option for student
3. the courses listed on POS fulfill requirements of the BCB Curriculum and Training Plan

Here is excerpt from http://www.grad-college.iastate.edu/publications/handbook/ describing "co-major"

(NOTE that all BCB students are required to have co-major professors; if major professor and co-major professor are chosen to represent the two different programs/departments., the "co-chair" requirement described above is automatically fulfilled.)

RE: "joint major": Somewhere else in handbook you might learn that a "joint major" is actually the same as "double degree" which is for MS only, not PhD