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Core & Distribution Requirements

The core and distribution requirements are described under environmental science curriculum. The remaining hours in the curriculum can come from one of the cores or from diverse perspectives across non-core electives at the direction of the student's graduate advising committee in addition to thesis/dissertation research hours.

Requirements of the Programs

These guidelines generally follow the requirements published in the Graduate Catalog for Biological Sciences (http://www.unt.edu/catalog/grad/biol.htm).

Masters Degree

The MS degree is a research degree that includes the requirement of a scholarly thesis based upon original research. The program consists of 36 hours of graduate-level coursework. The MS degree requires that students take the entire Foundation Core (5 hours) and at least one class from three of the four distribution groups (9 hours) in addition to 6 hours of Thesis (e.g., BIOL5950). Remaining classes may be selected from the distribution groups as electives or from other classes as agreed upon by the student's advising committee.

For information on the Professional Science Master's degree click here.

  • Students must assemble a thesis committee by the end of their second semester.
  • Students must submit a degree plan by the beginning of their second semester.
  • Students must defend a thesis research proposal by the end of their third semester.
  • The proposal defense and thesis defense cannot occur in the same semester.
  • Failure to meet these requirements may result in probation and/or expulsion from the ES program by the ES Executive Committee (EC).

Doctoral Degree

The PhD degree is a research degree that includes the requirement of a scholarly dissertation based upon original research. Students entering the Ph.D. program immediately after a Bachelor's degree are required to take a minimum of 72 hours of graduate-level course work, while students entering the Ph.D. program after the Master's Degree are required to take a minimum of 42 additional hours of graduate-level course work.

The Ph.D. degree requires the entire Foundation Core coursework (5 hours), one to two classes from three of the four distribution groups (12 hours), elective courses as agreed upon by the student's advisory committee, as well as 12 hours of Dissertation (e.g., BIOL 6950).

  • The degree plan should be completed by the end of the student's second semester.
  • Core requirements should be completed by the end of the 2nd year (doesn't mean it can't extend beyond, but student's eligibility for TA etc., may become jeopardized).
  • Comprehensive Exam and Proposal should be completed no later than 3.5 years upon entry (i.e., you have 18 mos. post completion of coursework to complete both qualifiers and proposal).
  • In total, a student should complete all coursework, qualifiers and proposal within 3.5 y of entry into the program.
  • The Comprehensive Exam and Proposal represent separate entities. The oral exam can include the student's proposed research but is not contingent on him/her having completed the proposal. In other words, the oral is open-ended - depending on performance of written exams, general questions or research-related questions.
  • Comprehensive exams include both a written section and a separate oral component. Both should be completed within a defined ~2 week period, with the student deciding how he/she wishes to space the 2 exams out over the defined period.
  • The proposal may be drafted any time but formal submission cannot be completed (i.e., signed off on by all committee members) until a student has completed the Comprehensive Exam. The proposal shall consist of a written document and whether it is to include a presentation by the student (for his/her committee or the academic public) shall be left to the discretion of the student's adviser and committee.
  • Failure to meet these requirements may result in probation and/or expulsion from the ES program by the EC.
Annual Review

At the end of each Spring Semester the ES graduate review committee will meet with students to assess their progress through the program. Review information will be used to guide progress and to make recommendations regarding teaching assistant funding (which is ultimately determined through the Department of Biological Science).