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.