Applicant for admission to the Master of Science program in Biomedical Informatics must hold a bachelor's degree from an accredited institution in the US or its equivalent with a major in any field of health sciences (including medicine, dentistry, allied health, nursing, public health, pharmacy), biological sciences, computers science, engineering or an equivalent field of study. A student seeking admission to the Program must satisfy all entrance requirements of UMDNJ-School of Health Related Professions. These requirements include the submission of official transcripts, two letters of recommendation, and scores on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE).
Applicants already holding a master's or doctoral degree in an appropriate discipline from an accredited institution, UMDNJ's medical, dental or public health students, students who have already completed SHRP's Health Care Informatics program with a GPA of 3.5 or above, or students already admitted in any of the UMDNJ's master's degree programs wishing to apply for a dual-degree or joint-degree option are exempted from the GRE requirement.
In addition to the requirements stated above international students are required to provide evidence of English language proficiency by submitting Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) examination scores. Applicants with scores below 550 are not considered for admission.
Students are expected to have basic proficiency in any programming language, database concepts, elementary calculus and differential equations. Student lacking such a proficiency are advised to take a bridge course at UMDNJ-SHRP namely, BINF4000: Essentials of Health Computer Science or its equivalent. This course provides an overview of all the essential and technical concepts of computing, data structure, and communications needed to understand the techniques, processes and applications outlined in the biomedical informatics curriculum. Students coming from non-health sciences disciplines (e.g., engineering) will be required to take an introductory physiology course offered by NJIT's Biomedical Engineering program namely, Engineering Physiology or its equivalent.
Each entering student will be assigned a faculty advisor who will assist the student in initial course selection appropriate to the career goals of the student, selection of a project advisor and an advisory committee for the directed thesis/project.
All students will complete at least 36 credits hours of which at least 33 hours must be formal course work with an average grade of 3 or better. This includes: 15 credit hours of core courses, 9 credit hours in an area of emphasis, 9 credit hours of electives, and 3 credit hours of directed thesis or project.
The Program has been designed primarily to serve medical, dental, nursing and allied health professionals who desire to improve their competence in: health care/ hospital management, clinical decision making, and health sciences education and research. However, the student body is not limited to medical and health related professionals. Students with baccalaureate degree in computer science, engineering, biological sciences, business management, or a strong background in the basic sciences are also admitted. A maximum of fifteen (15) students would be enrolled each semester. Full-time students may complete the Program in 18 months, but usually will require two years. Part-time students may take three to five years to complete the Program.
The School also offers a joint MSN in Nursing Informatics with UMDNJ-School of Nursing. A dual-degree option for students already enrolled in the Dental and Medical Schools is also available.