The School’s admission standard for the MSc program is the same as the University and requires a four-year, honours science degree with a minimum B- (70-72%) average during the final two years (4 semesters) of full time undergraduate study. Meeting the minimum requirement (B-) does not guarantee entrance; depending on other criteria (e.g., letters of reference, standardized test scores, academic background relevant to the area to which the applicant has applied, degree of work experience in related fields of study) students may be considered for admission with provisional status. Students on provisional status must obtain a “B” average (70%) in at least two graduate courses during their first two semesters of study to continue in the program. Provisional students will be funded at the same level as regular students.

The MSc thesis program requires:

• At least 1.5 graduate course credits, including one mandatory 0.50 credit course (Research Seminar in Environmental Sciences).

• Completion and defense of a thesis on research carried out under the direct supervision of a core faculty member.

The thesis and the oral defense of the thesis are evaluated on a pass/fail basis. An acceptable MSc thesis consists of a defensible account of the student’s research. The project is expected to represent a well-defined research problem, or hypothesis, and should be planned such that the clarity of the underlying rationale, the appropriateness of the technical approach, the research, and the critical evaluation of the results could normally be completed and the thesis defended within six semesters.