Masters in Earth Sciences

Welcome!

Welcome to the Master of Science in Earth Sciences, a degree offered by the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Geographical Sciences or EEGS. 

Start by reading the UNC Charlotte Course Catalog description of the MS where you will learn about the Research and the Course-Only options. If you are an undergraduate science major at UNC Charlotte, read about the Early-Entry MS Program. 

Read below to find detailed descriptions of Deadlines, the Application, Funding, and what you can do with an MS Earth Sciences degree. You can even get a glimpse of what recent MS graduates worked on.

If you are an out-of-state or international applicant, we encourage you to carefully examine the tuition and fees charged by UNC Charlotte. If you are an international applicant, you must review the University’s guidance on Cost of Attendance. 

If you are already in the MS Earth Sciences program here, study the Degree Requirements and Academic Policies for all graduate students and our EEGS Graduate Student Resources, and you should be talking with (or at least listening to) your faculty research advisor or other EEGS faculty, other graduate students, and the MS Earth Sciences Graduate Program Director, Dr. Brian Magi.

Deadlines

February 15 – Fall semester Priority Deadline

October 1 – Spring semester Priority Deadline

The February 15/October 1 Priority Deadlines are most relevant for Research MS or Course-Only MS applicants who wish to be considered for Teaching Assistantship (TA) funding (see Funding below). If you plan to apply after February 15/October 1 and are interested in TA funding, we strongly encourage you to start by emailing the MS Graduate Program Director Dr. Brian Magi to learn about whether TA funding is still available and whether the program is already at capacity.

If you are not interested in TA funding, the Priority Deadlines are less critical. For the Research MS, we still recommend applying as close to the Priority Deadline as possible because a faculty match is a key element in being admitted (see Application below) and each faculty member has a limited capacity for taking on new students. For the Course-Only MS or Early-Entry MS Program, we recommend submitting your application by May/November to receive full consideration for admission to the Fall/Spring semester. The final application deadlines are set by the UNC Charlotte Graduate School, but we do not recommend applying that late.

Application

Applications must be submitted through the UNC Charlotte Graduate School and the required materials are: a Statement of Purpose with a CV/resume, unofficial transcripts, and 3 letters of recommendation. The Course Catalog description states that the GRE is required, but it has actually been optional since Spring 2023. Below, you will find a description of what we expect in your Statement of Purpose, and your application more generally. 

Your Statement of Purpose is important. First, it is often the introduction of who you are to faculty in our department. Second, it is an example of your writing and your voice. As you are writing it, read a draft aloud to someone who will provide you with substantive feedback. Read it aloud to yourself as well. Avoid using AI generated text – faculty are good readers and we can tell when we are reading AI generated sentences. In your Statement of Purpose, you should describe what aspects of Earth Sciences are interesting to you, your background and preparation (noting that we look for applicants with significant preparation in the Physical Sciences), and why you think UNC Charlotte, the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Geographical Sciences, and the MS Earth Sciences program are good matches for your interests. Providing a CV/resume is not explicitly required, but we strongly recommend you spend time preparing one to include at the end of your Statement of Purpose. 

For applicants to the Research MS (see MS Pathways below), a strong Statement of Purpose will directly identify who you would like to work with in the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Geographical Sciences, and why you would like to work with them. So, before submitting your application, review faculty research and contact faculty whose research resonates with your interests. Ask those faculty about upcoming openings in their research group, and what kind of research projects they are working on, and whether they think you are prepared to undertake graduate research. Set up a meeting! Why is this so important? Because, while our faculty review all application materials, admission to the Research MS is contingent on a faculty advisor agreeing to supervise your research. Reach out to faculty before applying. 

For applicants to the Course-Only MS (see MS Pathways below), we recommend that you directly state your interest in the Course-Only MS pathway as a part of your Statement of Purpose because there is no “checkbox” in the application that lets our faculty know. 

If you are an undergraduate at UNC Charlotte pursuing a BS and have completed at least 75 credits with a GPA of at least 3.2, consider applying via the Early-Entry MS Program. If admitted, up to 9 credits can be double-counted for both your undergraduate and your MS degrees, and you can complete up to 6 additional credits of graduate coursework while you are finishing your undergraduate degree. Talk to EEGS faculty about this program because of the note above about how a Research MS is contingent on a faculty advisor agreeing to supervise your research.
Once you submit your application, EEGS faculty review all of your materials holistically, and consider how they collectively provide evidence that you would be successful in our Master of Science program.

Funding

If you are admitted to the MS Earth Sciences program, you may or may not be offered funding in the form of a Teaching Assistantship (TA) or a Research Assistantship (RA). TA funding is from the university itself, and the stipend requires 20 hours per week of work in which you teach lab sections of our large introductory courses in geology, meteorology, or physical geography, or sometimes work with faculty in junior or senior level courses. The TA funding stipend is $17,250 per Academic Year (Fall and Spring semester), and the university pays the in-state part of the tuition. RA funding is typically from a faculty grant for directed research, and is an $18,250 per Academic Year stipend. Faculty with grants may have funding for summer research as well – a graduate RA can be paid for up to 40 hours/week in summer if there is funding available, and the summer pay rate is determined by the Academic Year RA stipend = $18,250/9 = $2,028/month for 20 hrs/week or $4,056/month for 40 hrs/week. Check with faculty with similar research interests about other sources of funding. Note also that many graduate students opt to work a job outside of the university to help fund their pursuit of an MS degree. Funding, no matter whether it is a TA or RA or an off-campus job, is always competitive.

Regardless of the funding source, carefully review UNC Charlotte tuition and fees to determine what graduate school will cost. This is particularly important if you are an out-of-state or an international applicant. Before applying to the MS Earth Sciences program, international applicants absolutely must review the financial and administrative requirements, which includes details such as the Financial Certification Form and Cost of Attendance estimate.

MS Pathways

If you are admitted to the MS Earth Sciences program, then there are 2 ways to pursue your degree. 

1. Research MS: This is the most traditional and common way to pursue your MS. You will work on coursework and, with the guidance of a faculty mentor and subject-expert, on a research project focused on a topic in geology, hydrology, atmospheric science, remote sensing, spatial analysis, or environmental science. Your capstone will be a Masters Thesis or Project. Visit the faculty webpages for more on research in our department, and visit the Recent Theses webpage for a glimpse of research completed by recent MS graduates. Research MS students typically finish in 4 semesters. 

2. Course-Only MS: You will work on your MS through 3-4 semesters of graduate-level coursework, and the capstone will be a Comprehensive Exam that itself is based on the coursework you completed.

The Research MS and the Course-Only MS are fully described in UNC Charlotte Course Catalog and you should carefully read everything to understand milestones and timelines to finishing. Read the description of the Degree Requirements and Academic Policies to learn about important details related to, for example, grading in graduate coursework and the GPA expectations of all graduate students to maintain good Academic Standing.

Beyond an MS Degree

Graduates of our MS program are prepared for a wide variety of careers! Below are some career paths that the MS degree can help you be better positioned for. 

• Environmental consulting in ecosystem restoration, hydrology, geology, air quality, water quality, climate, energy resources, or energy planning
• Meteorologist in government, military, or private industry
• Climatologist in city, state, regional, and federal agencies
• Geologist in environmental, energy, or mining industries, or government agencies
• Environmental regulation in federal, state, and local agencies (US EPA, NC DEQ, Mecklenburg County Stormwater or Air Quality, or similar in other counties)
• Environmental educator in K-12 schools, colleges, Parks and Rec, in NC or elsewhere
• Non-profit staff (CleanAIRE NC, Riverkeepers, for example)
• Advisor on science policy at all levels of government

Furthermore, our MS Earth Sciences prepares students for PhD programs in Atmospheric Science, Geology, Geosciences, Geography, Earth Sciences, or Environmental Sciences. The Department of Earth, Environmental, and Geographical Sciences is home to a PhD in Geography, and we work closely with the Infrastructure and Environmental Systems and the Public Policy PhD programs at UNC Charlotte, but there are also PhD programs around the country and even the world.

Contact

If you are still reading, congratulations! You made it to the bottom of this gloriously informative webpage and the secret word is alletun. If you get into our MS program and tell the MS GPD this secret word in your first semester, he will find a fresh container of “alletun” spelled backwards for you because it’s a very healthy way to begin a graduate program. Equally as importantly, if you have any questions about what you read above, contact the MS Earth Sciences Graduate Program Director, Dr. Brian Magi. He (I) wrote everything here.

Masters in Earth Sciences Logo Credit: Patrick Jones