Admissions to the BS Medical Laboratory Science Clinical Year & Medical Laboratory Science Certificate Program

No, this program requires attendance on campus in Cincinnati. 

We do offer a fully online AS to BS completer program for individuals who completed an Associate in Science in Clinical or Medical Laboratory Technology (AS in C/MLT) to complete an online Bachelor of Science in Medical Laboratory Science. 

Students in the BS-MLS major must complete the clinical-year program to complete their BS-MLS degree. This includes students who were offered Direct Admission as high school / 1st-year applicants.

• Students who confirmed a Direct Admission offer as high school applicants who maintain the minimum qualifications throughout their MLS program are automatically admitted to the clinical year; however, they must submit the application which collects required information.

Other students who are completing a bachelor's degree or who have earned a bachelor's degree and have pre-requisites in Immunology and Microbiology may apply to the Certificate program to complete the clinical-year program which enables them to gain technical skills for job entry and to become eligible to sit for the ASCP (American Society for Clinical Pathology) MLS national board exam.

• The certificate program cannot admit international students because the way we offer classes with some online and offsite components does not meet federal guidelines for international students. See the FAQ about international students. 

Admission to the clinical year is not guaranteed: it is competitive and requires separate application (except for students who confirmed their Direct Admission as a high-school applicant and maintained the minimum qualifications throughout their MLS program who are automatically admitted to the clinical year. Replace with your text

Unfortunately, we cannot because the certficate program does not meet federal requirements for international students planning to attend on a visa. The program requires in-person attendance in Cincinnati so is not feasible for international students looking for a completely online program.  International students with questions should contact UC's International Services at 513-556-4278.  

During clinicals, students gain technical proficiency and professional experience by working in clinical laboratories. Locations and schedules vary depending on the corresponding content the student is learning. Students will also take MLS clinical-year courses delivered in different formats: online, demonstration, traditional classroom lecture, collaborative learning and in laboratory settings. Students will spend certain days during the semesters in the laboratory under the supervision and guidance of Medical Laboratory Scientists. These experiences are required as part of courses and are not paid.

No. The admitted cohort for the fourth/clinical year of the BS MLS major and the certificate program start only in the fall semester. Students must apply by the posted deadline that occurs in the fall semester the year before students start clinicals.

Full-time:
Three full-time semesters starting in the fall. Students complete clinicals and graduate at the end of the summer semester. Students may petition to complete clinicals part-time or through a co-op option, both of which require additional time to complete clinicals.

Part-time:
Five or six semesters. Program staff will provide individual guidance on scheduling and clinical placement to ensure that all required courses and clinical requirements are completed.

Attending part-time can be a good option for students with other significant obligations, such as full- time work or family/care-giving.

The application has a question asking you to select any options you are willing to do for clinicals: full- time, part-time or Co-op. Once students have confirmed their acceptance to clinicals, we ask them to finalize their decision about attending. Once a student starts a part-time or Co-op option, they cannot change to the full-time option, so we support students making the best decision for their circumstances. The availability of part-time positions is dependent on availability of space. Students interested in this option should discuss this with the program during the application process.

Our co-op option requires two years to complete. Students follow an alternating schedule for two years, taking clinical courses and requirements in one semester followed by one semester of paid, full-time work. Program staff will provide individual guidance on scheduling and clinical placement to ensure that all required courses and clinical requirements are completed.

The primary benefit is getting paid to work during the working semesters. MLS differs from some other majors where Co-op might significantly increase your chances of employment after graduation: the job outlook for the MLS profession is growing much faster than average (US Bureau of Labor Statistics) and most of our clinical students find jobs near the end of their clinical year or shortly after graduation. The main downside of doing Co-op is the added time to degree; however, some students see this offset by the opportunity to earn money to pay for college.

The application has a question asking you to select any options you are willing to do for clinicals: full- time, part-time or Co-op. Once students have confirmed their acceptance to clinicals, we ask them to finalize their decision about attending. Once a student starts a part-time or Co-op option, they cannot change to the full-time option, so we support students making the best decision for their circumstances. 

Generally, no. Clinical-year courses are offered on a cohort-schedule and are not offered every semester. Changes in tracks are sometimes permitted but only with permission or on recommendation/requirement from the MLS program director. Several factors have to be considered which include academic performance, student laboratory space and clinical laboratory space. Additionally, courses are taught only once per year, so students switching tracks may need to wait until the course is offered again.

The MLS program currently has approximately 24 spaces at partnering laboratories and in the student laboratory. We do not accept more students than we are able to place for clinicals in partnering laboratories, and the number of available host institutions varies slightly each year: this is the main factor that restricts our annual cohort size. Each year's applicant pool varies and there is no way to predict the upcoming applicant pool, so we encourage everyone interested in the program to apply: you cannot be admitted unless you apply.

As the profession gains visibility, competition has increased to get into MLS programs nationwide, not just in our program. Each year's applicant pool varies and there is no way to predict the upcoming applicant pool, so we encourage everyone interested in the program to apply: you cannot be admitted unless you apply.

Yes, when we evaluate applicants, priority is given to UC students majoring in MLS. Among MLS majors, priorty is given to automatically admit Direct-Admit students who have maintained the minimum requirements of their Direct-Admit admission.

Other students are admitted on a space-available basis. The next group given priority is certificate students from other universities which have affiliate agreements with the UC MLS campus-based program, e.g., Miami University in Oxford, OH, followed by all other applicants, including those applying to the certificate program. We usually admit several certificate students each year. 

All applicants are evaluated on their GPAs, cumulative (overall) and Math/Science. (See Q&A on how GPAs are calculated.) Students are additionally evaluated on their references, and if invited to interview, on their overall impression. 

We factor grades taken from every course taken - this may include courses that are not applying to your current program. For the math/science GPA, we do treat repeated courses as if grade replaced/forgiven, whether or not they are official grade replacements: we take the higher of two grades for exact courses only. Students should indicate in the related application question if they have taken any course more than once to alert us to use the higher of the two grades. In the event that personal circumstances affected a student's performance in a course(s), we ask that the student explain these circumstances on the clinical application. (See Q&A for statistics of recently admitted students.)

In the last application round for clinical students starting in fall 2024, we received approximately 35 applications. Some of these applications were incomplete or withdrawn. We offered admission to all of our MLS major applicants and to several certificate students. The average GPAs of all admitted students (MLS majors and certificate applicants) were 3.44 cumulative (overall) and 3.33 Math/Science.

Each year's applicant pool varies and there is no way to predict the GPAs or numbers of upcoming applicants, so we encourage everyone interested in the program to apply: you cannot be admitted unless you apply.

Yes. We recommend students work with an advisor to determine any strategies possible to strengthen their GPA, possibly by repeating courses where lower grades were earned. Applicants must submit a new application each year. 

MLS majors are assigned an academic advisor in the College of Allied Health Sciences Office of Student Affairs (CAHS OSA). Pre-MLS students have advisors at UC Blue Ash and UC Clermont.Given the competitive nature of clinical admissions, we strongly recommend students work closely with an advisor as soon as they begin contemplating the major and throughout their time in the program, to assess the strength of their clinical application and to always identify a viable alternate program if they are not offered admission to the clinical (senior) year. 

Students denied to clinicals have several options, including re-applying the following year or changing to another major to complete their degree and graduate. Students should work with their advisor on an academic plan to determine courses to take in the interim (possibly grade replacements to strengthen reapplication or courses toward another program).

• Apply with the strongest grades possible. Students entering UC from high school should set high GPA goals early on. Students in the BS-MLS or pre-MLS programs should work closely with their advisor to track GPAs and discuss the feasibility of repeating courses where lower grades were earned.
• Avoid foreclosure (facing a dead-end because your only plan was getting into the MLS program and clinicals) by having an alternate plan to graduate and achieve your career goals. Work with your advisor to explore related occupations - not all lab work requires an MLS degree or board certification.
• Apply to more than one MLS program. This should always be the strategy for certificate students since most MLS programs nationally have few spots to offer certificate students. Search for MLS program types by state on the NAACLS website in the Programs section: https://www.naacls.org

The complete application including the form with short anwers can be completed in an hour or few. The components are accessed as separate forms to enable you to complete them separately and in shorter blocks of time.

The items which take the most time to complete are sending any transcripts (if needed; see the information elsewhere on this page about transcripts and how to check if you need them) and procurring three references and a healthcare provider to sign your health form.  

The MLS program revises its application each year and applicants must complete the current application. Until it becomes available, applicants can begin work on the items that typically take the most time:

• identifying 3 references (see the information about choosing references elsewhere on this page).
  
• requesting transcripts sent which show grades for previously-completed courses if you have not previously sent these to UC (see the information about transcipts elsewhere on this page). 
  
• seeing a healthcare provider if they will require you to meet with them before they will sign a form verifying your health will allow you to participate in our program. Most providers will sign a form if they have seen you within at least 30 days.
  

We recommend starting one month or several weeks in advance to allow time for any needed transcripts to arrive, to communicate with references and to obtain a signed health form from a provider.

You should find individuals who can speak to your academic performance in a lab, medical, scientific or MLS course, lab or work.

We ask for three references, at least two of which should be from science or lab instructors. Certificate students who may been out of school for a while may need to rely on work references, ideally from someone who can speak to your abilities related to MLS. 

Another good reference is someone who has worked with you, either in paid or volunteer work, ideally as your supervisor although this is not required. References cannot be family members, even if they are instructors, work colleagues or medical professionals.

Please read the instructions about References elsewhere on this page. 

If your advisor can speak to your abilities from 1) teaching you in a science or lab course or 2) working with you as a supervisor: Yes. If not, we recommend you find a science/lab instructor or work reference, because we deduct points on your application evaluation for references that don't comply with instructions, meaning, if you are a current student, you should be able to obtain references from faculty. 

Applicants who have been out of school for several years and feel unable to find a suitable instructor should use work supervisors and let us know in your application why you are doing so.

Please read the instructions about References elsewhere on this page. 

Rather than simply asking "Will you serve as a reference for me?" or worse, submitting their names and emails without asking them, briefly explain what the reference is for and then ask if the person feels they know you well enough that they could serve as a reference for you. This allows them the opportunity to decline or to admit if they could not honestly provide a strong reference.

Also let them know that they will be completing a short online form for you, not writing a letter - this requires less work than is typically involved in serving as an academic reference and increases the chances that they will agree to complete your form. Completing the form also requires them to know you less well than writing a letter. 

Allow enough time for your reference to handle your request - a few weeks to a month is standard to respect their busy schedules. Follow-up with them one week before the due date you agreed upon to see if they need any additional information from you (this also reminds them to complete the reference form if they haven't already done so). For more information on requesting references, search for one of the many guides on the internet on "etiquette of requesting references/recommendations."

Please read the instructions about References elsewhere on this page. 

Your and your references will each receive an email confirming submission of their form. You can also ask your references to let you know when they have submitted their form.  Please read the instructions about References elsewhere on this page. 

No, applicants do not need to complete the general (undergraduate admissions) UC application.

No, we do not charge an application fee.

Non-UC students must request official transcripts be sent from the Registrar of schools they have attended. Please refer to detailed instructions elsewhere on this page about transcripts. In short, all students who are not currently attending UC must send official transcripts from their institution's Registrar's office. UC students need transcripts for courses taken at other universities if they were not previously sent to UC - please read the section elsewhere on this page about transcripts for UC students.

In most cases, no. We have access your official record of UC courses which includes any courses taken at other colleges/universities that were previously sent to UC as official transcripts.

Current UC students can check their transfer credits in the My Academics area in Catalyst, which shows all external courses that you've sent to UC. If a course(s) is not listed, you will need to request an official transcript from the school(s) attended using the directions for transcripts for applicants without UC credit.

When you send transcripts to UC, you will receive directions to access your online Credit Evaluation Report which lists courses UC has received through official transcripts and how those courses equate to UC courses. Sometimes courses are pending evaluation (UC is still determining how they equate to UC courses), and if so, students should check their CER later to see when all courses have been evaluated. Those courses also show in Catalyst.

Given the number of applications we receive, we want to receive official transcripts by the posted deadline to allow adequate time to evaluate our applicants. The application deadline occurs before most fall semester grades have posted. Many students are taking science and other significant courses in the fall semester, so we want to include those grades for the most thorough evaluation of applicants.

We accept unofficial fall semester grades to expedite course evaluation and to save applicants the cost of sending additional transcripts. Once students are accepted into clinicals, we require complete official transcripts to verify any grades sent unofficially.

Grades can be obtained from the student's online grade report and can be copied/pasted into an email OR saved as a PDF. Send your grade report to the email address or fax number listed in the application packet.

As soon as fall grades post, applicants must send an unofficial copy of their grade report showing current cumulative/overall GPA statistics. Email those to MLS-Campus-Based@uc.edu 

For UC applicants, this only applies if they took courses at another institution during the fall semester of application.

No, because we want to begin review of students' applications as soon as possible. Please send official transcripts as soon as possible so that we receive them before the application deadline. Ideally these should show any courses you are taking in the fall term preceding the deadline.

Yes. Check the Transfer student requirements on UC's International Undergraduate Admissions website. TOEFL scores are good for 2 years.

The University of Cincinnati Medical Laboratory Science program is accredited by the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Science (NAACLS). Contact for accreditation inquiries: NAACLS; 5600 N. River Rd Suite 720; Rosemont, IL 60018-5119; Phone: 773-714-8880;  Email: info@naacls.org. 

Mel Woods (she/hers), MLS Program Manager, at MLS-Campus-Based@uc.edu

Please do not email Mel's personal UC email address.