Graduate Certificates

These admissions requirements apply to both the Shelter Medicine and Animal Shelter Leadership Graduate Certificates.

Graduate Certificate Admissions

Graduate Certificate Minimum Requirements for All Applicants (Domestic and International)

  • A baccalaureate degree in any subject from an accredited institution with an upper-division GPA of 2.0 or better
    OR
    A DVM or VMD degree from a regionally accredited institution or its international equivalent
    OR
    Students currently enrolled in a DVM or VMD degree program from a regionally accredited institution or its international equivalent

UF requires that students accepted into a Certificate Program must show a GPA of >2.0 to be considered. However, a GPA of >3.0 is needed for future enrollment into the MS degree. Before applying for admission to the Certificate Program, please contact us if your transcript shows a GPA lower than a 3.0.

Domestic applicants: please submit official transcripts from all colleges and institutions attended to the UF Office of Admissions. If unable to submit electronically, please mail to:

University of Florida
Office of Admissions
201 Criser Hall – PO Box 114000
Gainesville, FL 32611-4000

Additional Requirements for International Applicants

  • Original, official transcript/mark sheet and diploma/degree certificates from prior institutions.
    • Documents must be in the native language from each university or college attended. If the native language for the documents is not English, a certified, literal (exact) translation is required.
    • Please mail these documents to:

University of Florida
Maples Center for Forensic Medicine

Attn: Dr. Jason Byrd
4800 SW 35th Drive
Gainesville FL – 32608

    • If you would like this document returned to you, please include a return shipping label and return packaging with it.
    • Please download this checklist PDF to include with your package.
  • For a person whose native language is not English or for an applicant who graduated with a bachelor’s degree from a non-English speaking country, minimum TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) scores are 550 for the paper-based, 213 for the computer-based, or 80 for the internet-based exams.

    For more information on the necessary scores for English language skills tests, please visit this website.

Transfer of Credits

No more than 3 credits of coursework taken as a UF non-degree seeking student can be applied toward a Certificate. Coursework taken at other universities cannot be transferred for credit toward the Certificate. And you must have earned a grade of B or higher in a course that is part of the Certificate program that the student is applying for admission.

In order for the credits to be applied towards the certificate, the following criteria have to be met:

  • The student must be formally admitted to the certificate program.
  • The non-degree coursework grades must be a B grade or higher.
  • The coursework taken as a non-degree seeking student must pertain to the certificate program the student is admitted to.

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