Earth & Environmental Sciences

M.S. in Geology

Objectives

The MS in geology is a two year program with specialization in stratigraphy, paleontology, sedimentology, structural geology, tectonics, plate tectonics, computer modeling, geochemistry and paleoclimatology. Students in this program are prepared for additional graduate work at the PhD. level, or for positions in industry and government. Thesis and non-thesis options are available. The non-thesis option requires a research report and additional course work. The thesis option is recommended for positions in business or government requiring gathering and analyses of geologic data, and for students interested in Ph.D. programs.

 

Admissions

There are 3 categories of admission:

Unconditional - all the admission criteria are met and there are no conditions placed on continued enrollment in the program.

Probationary - Applicants that do not meet the standards for unconditional admission may be considered for probationary admission after careful examination of their application materials. Probationary admission normally requires that the applicant receive a B or better in their first 12 hours of graduate coursework at UTA.

Deferred and Provisional Admission - A deferred admission may be granted when an application is incomplete or when a denied decision is not appropriate. An applicant unable to supply all required documentation prior to the admission deadline but who otherwise appears to meet admission requirements may be granted provisional admission.

International students must have a minimum score of 550 on the TOEFL exam.

For unconditional admission, students must demonstrate that they will likely be successful in the graduate program. The department admissions committee uses the following guidelines to make that judgment:

1. A B.S. degree in an Earth Science discipline with the following courses or their equivalent: Mineralogy, Petrology, Structure, Stratigraphy, Field Geology and Geophysics or Paleontology. In addition, students need a year of Chemistry, Biology, Physics and Calculus.
2. A minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, as calculated by the Graduate School.
3. GRE scores are combined with the other measures of achievement to determine admission. Successful students in the past have scored above the 60 percentile on the verbal, quantitative and analytical writing portions. International students have been successful with somewhat lower scores on the verbal and analytical writing portions.
4. Favorable letters of recommendation from the former university instructors.

These are only guidelines, and students who do not meet the guidelines in one area may be admitted unconditionally if they are strong in other areas, or may be required to take leveling coursework if there are  undergraduate deficiencies.

Degree Requirements

In the first year, a degree candidate must file a degree plan approved by the graduate studies committee, which includes graduate coursework for the program and undergraduate course deficiencies if any. The graduate studies committee may allow graduate course credit for certain undergraduate courses with written approval. Enrollment in Technical Sessions, GEOL 5199, is required each semester a student is enrolled in lecture classes.

For the M.S. thesis option, 24 semester hours of approved graduate level courses are required in addition to the thesis. A thesis proposal, written thesis and thesis defense are required. No more than 3 hours of research courses and one hour of Geol 5199 can be applied to the 24 semester hours.

For the M.S. non-thesis option, a minimum of 36 hours of approved graduate courses are required. A minimum of 3 and a maximum of 6 hours are to be taken in GEOL 5381, Research in Geology. No more than 2 hours of Geol 5199 can be applied to the 36 required hours.