TOTAL required credit hours for DBE program: 57 (must maintain a GPA of 3.5)

Students with a master’s degree in bioethics (27 transfer credits) need to complete 3 concentration required courses, 5 elective courses, and 2 capstone courses for a total of 30 credit hours. 

Students without a master’s in bioethics (or the course equivalent) need to complete 3 concentration required courses, 4 core courses (listed here), 10 elective courses, and 2 capstone courses for a total of 57 credit hours:

    BEHL 401 Clinical Bioethics
    BEHL 402 Justice and Health Care
    BEHL 404 Biomedical Ethics and Law
    BEHL 406 Principles of Health Care Ethics

Concentration options and course requirements:

• Clinical Bioethics - Ethics Across the Care Continuum; Ethics Consultation Simulation Seminar*; Advanced Clinical Ethics Skills Course* or Practicum in Clinical Ethics
• Catholic Bioethics - Moral Theology for Bioethics; Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Healthcare Leadership; Catholic Bioethics and Social Justice
• Research Ethics - Research Ethics; Current Debates in Research Ethics; Emerging Issues in Research Integrity (permission required), or one of the following: Empirical Bioethics, Global Bioethics, Independent Study
• Public Health & Systems Ethics - Public Health Ethics; Social Determinants of Health or Advancing Health Equity Practice; Organizational Ethics I or Organizational Ethics II
  
  *Indicates Hybrid Course  

Learn more about program curriculum HERE.

To apply for admission to the doctoral program, the following documents are required from domestic applicants:

• A completed online admission application.
• Official undergraduate and graduate transcipts.
• Three letters of recommendation (graduates of Loyola's MA in Bioethics program requires one new letter from a source external to the program).
• Statement of Purpose (a brief, one page statement that explains your interest in this program. Why are you applying? How will you integrate this degree into your career?)
• Writing Sample

Applicants to the doctoral program should possess the following:

• Completion of a Master's degree in bioethics with a GPA of 3.67 or higher.
• Exceptional candidates who have an advanced degree in another discipline may be considered for admission. An applicant who lacks an advanced degree in bioethics should make a strong case for their suitability for the doctoral program. An applicant who lacks any background in bioethics should consider starting in the master's program and then potentially matriculating into the doctoral program.
• Evidence of scholarly ability (e.g. publication in a peer-reviewed journal). Because peer-reviewed publication is a major outcome of the program, evidence of writing ability at a publishable level is a major admission criterion.
• Evidence of ability to participate in practical ethics activities (e.g. participation on an ethics committee, institutional review board, conflict of interest committee or other similar activity, conducting ethics consultations, providing ethics leadership)

International applicants must have all transcripts evaluated and must provide the Graduate School Administration office with the evaluation. Learn more. All international applicants must submit a score from the TOEFL exam. International applicants should allow 1-2 months for transcript evaluations to be processed by Educational Credential Evaluators or Educational Perspectives. Learn more about Graduate School admission policies.

Learn more about Graduate School admission policies HERE.

Tuition information can be found HERE.

Financial Aid information can be found HERE.

Visit the graduate application website, select Biomedical Sciences and then Bioethics. There is no fee for online applications. Contact Robbin Hiller for more information.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Application deadlines for all programs are: January 5 (Spring), May 1 (Summer) and August 1 (Fall). International applicants should allow 1-2 months for transcript evaluations to be processed by Educational Credential Evaluators or Educational Perspectives. Contact gradapp@luc.edu with questions.