Residence

In partial fulfillment of the residence requirement for the degree of Master of Geoscience, the student must complete 9 resident credit hours during one regular semester or one 10-week summer semester. Upon recommendation of the student's advisory committee and with approval of the Office of Graduate Studies, a student may be granted exemption from this requirement. However, such a petition must be approved prior to the student's registration for the final 9 credit hours of required course work.

Full-time staff members of the University or of closely affiliated organizations stationed at the campus at College Station may fulfill total residence requirements by completion of less-than-full course loads. Specific authorization for such programs must be granted in advance by the employing agency. Employees should submit verification of their employment at the time they submit their degree plan. See Registration.

Student's Advisory Committee

After receiving admission to graduate studies and enrolling for course work, the student will consult with the head of the department concerning appointment of the chair of his or her advisory committee. The student's advisory committee for the master's degree will consist of no fewer than three members of the graduate faculty representative of the student's fields of study and research. The chair or one of the co-chairs of the advisory committee must be from the student's "home" department. The "home" department must be one of the two areas of specialization comprising the major. At least one or more of the members must be from a department other than the student's "home" department.

The chair, in consultation with the student, will select the remainder of the advisory committee. The chair will then notify the tentative members of the advisory committee, giving the student's name and field of study, and request that they consider serving on this committee. The student will interview each prospective committee member to determine whether he or she is willing to serve. Only graduate faculty members located on the campuses at College Station, Galveston, Texas A&M University-Temple Campus or Institute of Biosciences and Technology-Houston may serve as chair of a student's advisory committee. Other graduate faculty members may serve as co-chair with an individual located at College Station or Galveston. The chair of the committee, who usually has immediate supervision of the student's degree program, has the responsibility for calling meetings at any other time considered desirable.

If the chair of the student's advisory committee is unavailable for an extended time in any academic period during which the student is involved in activities relating to an internship, thesis, dissertation or record of study and is registered for 684, 692 or 693 courses, the student may request, in writing, that the department head appoint an alternate advisory committee chair during the interim period.

The duties of the committee include responsibility for the proposed degree plan, any professional study or project, and the final examination. In addition, the committee as a group and as individual members is responsible for counseling the student on academic matters, and, in the case of academic deficiency, initiating recommendations to the Office of Graduate Studies.

The committee members' signatures on the degree plan indicate their willingness to accept the responsibility for guiding and directing the entire academic program of the student and for initiating all academic actions concerning the student. Although individual committee members may be replaced by petition for valid reasons, a committee cannot resign en masse.

Degree Plan

The student's advisory committee, in consultation with the student, will develop the proposed degree plan. The degree plan must be completed and filed with the Office of Graduate Studies following the deadlines imposed by the student's college, and no later than 90 days prior to the date of the final oral examination. No exceptions are allowed.

This proposed degree plan must be typed and submitted on the official form as it appears on the website at vpr.tamu.edu with endorsements by the student's advisory committee and the head of the student's major department.

Additional course work may be added to the approved degree plan by petition if it is deemed necessary by the advisory committee to correct deficiencies in the student's academic preparation.

Credit Requirement

The minimum requirements for the degree are 36 hours of course work and a satisfactory final comprehensive oral examination. Students are required to take at least 18 hours of credit in Geosciences in two areas of specialization. The areas of specialization for this degree are Atmospheric Sciences, Geography, Geology and Geophysics and Oceanography. A specialization consists of at least 6 credit hours. In addition, students are required to complete a 6 credit hour supporting field in a discipline other than the two specialization fields.

Limitations on the Use of Transfer, Extension and Certain Other Courses

Some departments may have more restrictive requirements for transfer work. If otherwise acceptable, certain courses may be used toward meeting credit-hour requirements for the master's degree under the following limitations.

Exceptions will be permitted only in unusual cases and when petitioned by the student's advisory committee and approved by the Office of Graduate Studies.

Transfer of Credit

A student who has earned 12 hours of graduate credit in residence at Texas A&M University may be authorized to transfer courses in excess of the limits prescribed above upon the advice of the advisory committee and with the advance approval of the Office of Graduate Studies if these courses are not available at Texas A&M University. Courses taken in residence at an accredited U.S. institution or approved international institution with a final grade of B or greater might be considered for transfer credit if, at the time the courses were completed, the student was in degree-seeking status at Texas A&M University or at the institution at which the courses were taken, and if the courses would be accepted for credit toward a similar degree for students in degree-seeking status at the host institution. Otherwise, the limitations stated in the preceding section apply. Course work in which no formal grades are given or in which grades other than letter grades (A, B, C, etc.) are given (for example, CR, P, S, U, H, etc.) is not accepted for transfer credit. Courses appearing on the degree plan with grades of D, F or U may not be absolved by transfer work. Credit for thesis research or the equivalent is not transferable. Credit for course work submitted for transfer from any college or university must be shown in semester credit hours or equated to semester credit hours. An official transcript from the university at which the transfer course work was taken must be sent directly to the Office of Admissions and Records.

Courses completed at other institutions are not included in computing the GPR.

Foreign Languages

There is no specific language requirement for the Master of Geoscience degree.

Internship

Students who undertake a professional internship in partial fulfillment of master's degree requirements after completing all course requirements for the master's degree must return to the campus for the final examination. The final examination is not to be administered until all other requirements for the degree, including any internship, have been substantially completed.

Time Limit

All degree requirements must be completed within a period of seven consecutive years for the degree to be granted. A course will be considered valid until seven years after the end of the semester in which it is taken. Graduate credit for course work which is more than seven calendar years old at the time of the final examination (oral or written) may not be used to satisfy degree requirements.

Application for Degree

Graduate degrees are conferred at the close of each regular semester and 10-week summer semester. Candidates for advanced degrees who expect to complete their work at the end of a given semester must apply for graduation by submitting the electronic application for degree to the Office of the Registrar and by paying the required graduation fee at the Fiscal Department no later than the Friday of the second week of the fall or spring semester or the Friday of the first week of the first summer term. The electronic application for degree can be accessed via the website degreeapp.tamu.edu.

Final Examination

The candidate must pass a final examination by dates announced each semester or summer term in the Office of Graduate Studies Calendar. To be eligible to take the final examination, a student's GPR must be at least 3.000 for courses on the degree plan and for all courses completed at Texas A&M which are eligible to be applied to a graduate degree, and there must be no unabsolved grades of D, F or U for any course listed on the degree plan. To absolve a deficient grade, the student must have repeated the course at Texas A&M University and have achieved a grade of C or better. All course work on the degree plan must have been completed with the exception of those hours for which the student is registered. Additionally, all English language proficiency requirements must be satisfied prior to scheduling the examination.

The final examination covers all work taken on the degree plan and at the option of the committee may be written or oral or both. The examination is conducted by the student's advisory committee as finally constituted. Unless otherwise authorized by the Office of Graduate Studies, the final examination for the master's degree must be administered on the campus at College Station. Persons other than members of the graduate faculty may, with mutual consent of the candidate and the major professor, attend final examinations for advanced degrees. Upon completion of the questioning of the candidate, all visitors must excuse themselves from the proceedings. A positive vote by all members of the graduate committee with at most one dissension is required to pass a student on his or her exam. A department can have a stricter requirement provided there is consistency within all degree programs within a department.

The candidate is not eligible to petition for an exemption from the final examination. A request for permission to hold and announce the final examination must be submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies a minimum of 10 working days in advance of the scheduled date for the examination. Examinations which are not completed and reported as satisfactory to the Office of Graduate Studies within 10 working days of the scheduled examination date will be recorded as failures. A student may be given only one opportunity to repeat the final examination for the master's degree and that must be within a time period that does not extend beyond the end of the next regular semester (summer terms are excluded). No examination may be held prior to the mid-point of the semester or summer term in which a student will complete all remaining courses on the degree plan.