General Graduate Program Requirements

Graduate School policies and standards can be found on the Graduate School Policies page. 

The minimum GPA for any graduate program is 3.0. Individual programs may require more than a 3.0 to remain in good standing. 

The minimum grade for a course to be accepted toward any requirement is C. Individual programs may require higher grades for specific courses.

MASTER OF SCIENCE - GEOGRAPHY

The Master of Science in Geography without a concentration offers the most flexibility and is appropriate for students who are focused on human or physical geography as well as those who have interests in human-environment interactions, climate change, land-use and environmental planning, community resilience, cartography, GIS, and geospatial analysis. Students may tailor the program to their individual interests once they complete the core requirements.

• Choices in the core and elective credits will be selected in consultation with the graduate committee to support the research program and student's professional goals. Coursework must be approved by the committee no later than the second semester in residence, but earlier if possible. Per Graduate School policy:
  • At least 20 of the total credits must be taken within the major discipline.
  • At least 20 of the total credits must be in coursework, not research or thesis.
  • At least half of the coursework credits (minimum 10 credits) must be at the 500 level or above.
  • Courses below the 400 level do not count towards the M.S. course requirements.
  • Up to 10 of the 30 or 36 credits may be taken as thesis (GPHY 599).

Degree Options

For the M.S. in Geography, students are required to complete one of the following options. There is no minimum number of thesis credits that must be taken for any of the options.

Thesis Option

This option requires the completion of 30 credits. The student must successfully complete and defend a thesis or one or more papers (i.e., articles) of publishable quality before an examining committee. 

Professional Paper Option

This option requires the completion of 30 credits. The student must successfully complete and defend a professional paper or one or more papers (i.e., articles) of publishable quality before an examining committee. The difference between a thesis and a professional paper is that while the thesis is directed toward advances in the discipline, the professional paper may be directed toward advances in the profession. A professional paper may also consist of one or more papers of publishable quality intended for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. 

Portfolio Option

This option requires the completion of 36 credits. The student must successfully complete a portfolio and written and oral comprehensive examinations.

Course Requirements

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Graduate Research Seminar
Complete one of the following courses, 1 credit per semester:		2
BIOS 594	Seminar
FORS 594	Graduate Seminar (1 cr. per semester)
NRSM 594	Seminar
WILD 594	Graduate Seminar in Wildlife Biology
Graduate Research Design
Complete one of the following courses:		3
GPHY 504 & GPHY 505	Research Design in the Geographical Sciences I and Research Design in Geographical Sciences II
NRSM 500	Conservation and Social Science Methods
GEO 508	Fundamentals of Academic Research
WILD 540 & WILD 541	Research Design and Research Design Lab
Graduate Methods Course
Complete one of the following courses:		3
Quantitative methods
ENSC 474	Environmental Analytics
FORS 538	Ecological Statistics
SOCI 563	Social Data Analysis
STAT 451	Statistical Methods I
or STAT 452	Statistical Methods II
Qualitative methods
SOCI 561	Qualitative Methods
Historical or survey methods
Advanced GIS or computer methods
Additional Graduate Seminar
Complete one of the following courses:		3
GPHY 525	Advanced Physical Geography
GPHY 560	Seminar in Planning
GPHY 580	Seminar GIS & Cartography
Electives and Thesis
Complete 19-25 additional credits chosen in consultation with your faculty advisor according to the selected track.		19-25
Total Hours		30-36