PhD Plant Breeding at University of Florida

Programme overview

The PhD in Plant Breeding is an interdisciplinary, interdepartmental programme training plant breeders for academic, industry and non-profit careers. It covers traditional and contemporary breeding methods including trial analysis, bioinformatics, gene editing, genomic prediction and quantitative genetics.

Faculty: College of Agricultural and Life Sciences | Department: Plant Breeding (interdepartmental) | Duration: Minimum 90 post-baccalaureate credit hours | Study mode: full-time | Location: Gainesville, FL, United States

What you will study

A minimum of 90 post-baccalaureate credits including 20 required course credits (Field Plot Techniques, Genetic Improvement of Plants, Plant Breeding Techniques, Introduction to Quantitative Genetics, Applied Statistics, and a special topics colloquium), at least 20 elective credits and dissertation research. Students with an MS may transfer up to 30 credits toward electives, and each must have a first-author paper submitted before graduating.

Career pathways

Plant breeding roles in academia, industry and non-profit organisations.

Official programme page

Application information

Entry requirements

The Plant Breeding Graduate Program offers a Doctor of Philosophy degree that provides students with a strong background in experimental design and analysis during the first semester, and plant breeding theory and methods during the second semester. Minimum requirements for this degree are available in the Graduate Degrees section of this catalog. University-wide graduate admission (not specific to this programme): application through the UF graduate application; official GRE scores are required by most programmes (GMAT for MBA applicants), per programme; transcripts, a CV or resume and letters of recommendation where the programme requires them.

Tuition is charged per credit, so the total depends on the modules you register for each year. Current fees are listed in the official fee schedule.

Graduate applicants apply through the UF graduate school application on CollegeNET and pay a $30 non-refundable application fee; the Office of Admissions does not offer an application fee waiver. Deadlines vary by department. Most applicants must submit GRE scores.

Apply through the official page: https://admissions.ufl.edu/apply/graduate/

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