The Department of Geosciences offers a wide range of courses leading to the Degree of Master of Science in Atmospheric Sciences. Applicants to the Master's of Science Program must have earned a Bachelor's Degree or its equivalent. Applicants to graduate school will be evaluated based upon their Grade Point Average (GPA), Graduate Record Exams (GRE) scores, and letters of recommendation. A GPA of 3.0 or better in the last 60 hours and commensurate scores on the verbal, quantitative, and analytical writing sections of the GRE is generally considered acceptable for admission. Individuals with a lower GPA but elevated GRE's may also be admitted. Letters of recommendation are also given considerable weight in the evaluation process. All non-native English-speaking students must take the TOEFL examination and receive a score of 550 or better for the paper exam, 213 or better for the computer exam, and 79 or better for the internet-based exam.

All application forms, transcripts, test scores, and three letters of recommendation should be sent to:

Sylvia Marshall
Advising Assistant
Geosciences Department
Rm. 312 SR1
University of Houston
Houston, Texas 77204-5007

Questions pertaining to application documents, procedure, and status should be addressed to the advising assistant, Sylvia Marshall (smarshall@uh.edu).
Questions pertaining to academic program and requirements should be addressed to the graduate advisor, Xun Jiang (xjiang7@uh.edu).

Deadlines

All students: Complete applications for Fall semester admissions must be submitted for review no later than February 1.  Complete applications for Spring semester admissions must be submitted for review no later than September 1. Students applying for financial support (Teaching Assistantships, Research Assistantships, Fellowships, etc.) should have all of the required forms, letters, scores into our departmental office by the deadlines stated above. Additional funding may be available for late applicants. 

Please do not send any material to the office of admissions.

Rules

A minimum of 30 credit hours is required for graduate students pursuing the M. S. Degree in Atmospheric Sciences. Twenty one (21) hours must consist of 6000 level atmospheric sciences courses (including 6 hours of thesis credit), and the remaining 9 hours can be selected approved courses outside the area of atmospheric sciences, but relevant to the degree program. No more than 6 hours of approved 4000 or 3000 level courses and no more than 6 hours of special problems courses can be counted towards the required 30 hour minimum.

A maximum of 6 semester hours of graduate level course work may be transferred from other institutions, with the approval of the graduate director and provided that they were taken as part of a graduate degree program, the grades are B or higher, and the courses were taken within the last 5 years. In order to insure breadth, each student is required to take at least one course from the three Atmospheric Sciences Graduate Core Categories: 1. Atmospheric Dynamics and Physics, 2. Atmospheric Chemistry, and 3. Atmospheric Measurement and Modeling. An average of B must be maintained in courses taken for graduate credit. A grade of C+ or lower in four courses (12 hours) renders the student ineligible for any advanced degree at the University of Houston.

All graduate students in the Atmospheric Sciences program will be required to have the necessary background in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. Some graduate courses listed in the Master’s proposal explicitly require prerequisite courses, e.g. MATH3363, MATH2431, MATH2433, GEOL3378, GEOL1340, BIOL3445 or their equivalent at other institutions. All other courses require consent of instructor.