Admission
Your admission as a PhD
degree-seeking applicant has been based on your
prior academic record and letters of
recommendation. Requirements for admission to the
doctoral program in Environmental Sciences are a
bachelor’s or master’s degree in science,
mathematics, engineering, or environmental science;
a grade point average of 3.0 or above on a 4.0
scale; and a combined score of at least 1000 on the
GRE General Test. International students must score
a 525 or above on the TOEFL. To have been admitted
with Full Standing in the program a student
must have satisfied the following departmental
requirements:
Biology.
Applicants must have a bachelor’s or master’s degree
in a biological science, a grade point average of
3.5 or above for the highest degree earned, and a
minimum combined score of 1000 on the GRE General
Test and 4.0 on the analytical writing portion. In
addition, a graduate faculty member must have agreed
to direct the student’s doctoral program and
financial support must have been identified for a
stipend and for research needs.
Chemistry.
Applicants must have a bachelor’s degree in
chemistry that has been certified by the American
Chemical Society or course work equivalent to this
degree. Applicants must have one year each of
general, organic, and physical chemistry; one
semester of analytical and inorganic chemistry; one
semester of instrumental analysis; and three
semesters of calculus.
If an admitted student
did not fully meet the above requirements they were
admitted with one of the following classifications.
Provisional Standing:
This classification indicates the in the opinion of
the appropriate department and the Director of
Environmental Sciences the student did not qualify
for Full Standing and that specific deficiencies
must be removed before the completion of 15 graduate
hours. Deficiencies may be either (1) insufficient
undergraduate grade average, (2) insufficient
background preparation for the specific field,
indicating the necessity for certain prerequisite
courses as preparation for pursuing the proposed
graduate program, or (3) lack of satisfactory scores
on admission tests. The student must apply for
reclassification after having satisfactorily removed
all deficiencies and met any special conditions or
requirements as stated on their admission form. The
form for reclassification is included in the
appendix of this Handbook.
Special Standing:
Students who declare a non-degree graduate objective
or transient students who have been admitted to
graduate schools of other institutions are assigned
to Special Standing. This classification enables a
student to enroll for graduate credit in certain
academic areas but it does not guarantee that such
credit will be counted toward a degree objective.
When a student in Special Standing has been
reclassified to Provisional or Full Standing, a
maximum of 9 semester credits earned in Special
Standing may be counted toward a degree objective
provided approval is given by the department in
which the student wishes to concentrate, the
Vice-President for Research and Graduate Studies and
the Director of Environmental Sciences. A student
classified as Special Standing whom has already
completed 9 hours should file for reclassification
or admittance before additional course work is
undertaken. It should be noted that since Special
Standing students are not at that time potential
degree candidates, they may be denied permission to
enroll in certain courses.
