Carnegie Mellon University
M.S. in Automated Science: Biological Experimentation

Ray and Stephanie Lane Computational Biology Department

MSAS
Ray and Stephanie Lane Computational Biology Department  ›  M.S. in Automated Science: Biological Experimentation  ›  Admissions

M.S. in Automated Science:Biological Experimentation Admissions 

The Master of Science in Automated Science: Biological Experimentation program uses the School of Computer Science online application for admissions. For more on the application process, please refer to the SCS Online Graduate Application Instructions.

Please note: Students are admitted for the fall semester and cannot begin in the spring.

Important Application Information

Application Opens September 9, 2026

Final Deadline: December 9, 2026 (3PM EST) 

  • The fee for applications is $100 per program and $80 if the applicant applies before the early deadline.  If the application fee presents financial hardship to the applicant, they may apply for a financial or participants waiver which is available within the application. 

 

Apply

PROGRAM PREREQUISITES

  • Strongly encourage students with undergraduate degrees in Computer Science, Biology, Chemistry, or Biomedical Engineering (or some combination of those)
  • Completed college-level coursework in at least one of the life sciences, statistics, and at least some programming
  • Ideal candidates will have taken some coursework in algorithms and data structures

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

The following must be submitted to be considered: 

  • A PDF of the most recent transcript from each college and/or university attended, even if no degree was granted.
  • Resume in PDF format.
  • Statement of Purpose — In addition to research interests, experience, and objectives, candidates are invited to include an optional paragraph describing contributions to outreach efforts and/or promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion.
  • Three letters of recommendation, at least two of which are from faculty or recent employers.
  • TOEFL score is required if native language is not English. A successful applicant will normally have a total TOEFL iBT score of at least 100. Our program will accept expired test scores from applicants who have recently completed a degree in the United States if the applicant can present a copy of an official score report showing the applicant's picture, not an unofficial score listing. 
    • We do not issue waivers for non-native speakers of English. In particular, we do not issue waivers based on previous study at a U.S. high school, college or university. We also do not issue waivers based on previous study at an English-language high school, college or university outside of the United States. No amount of educational experience in English, regardless of the country it occurred in, will result in a test waiver.

Note:  When submitting your application, you may be asked to enter the date you expect to take the GRE.  If this happens, just enter any date in the future. This field is disregarded because GREs are not required for admission.

PROGRAM INQUIRY
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You may also be interested in CMU’s MS in Computational Biology degree program. It shares some training faculty and three required courses with MSAS, but the intellectual content is distinct. The MSCB program offers broad training in advanced biological and data science concepts encompassing genomics, biological modeling and simulation, and machine learning. In contrast, The MSAS curriculum combines cutting edge artificial intelligence and laboratory automation to enable students to become leaders in the emerging field of automated science. Both programs prepare students for jobs in industry or additional graduate study in competitive PhD programs.