Master's in Oceanography & Coastal Sciences
The Department of Oceanography & Coastal Studies offers both a Thesis and Professional Master's degree option.
We are always seeking highly motivated and qualified students for our Master's program. If you are interested in Oceanography or Wetland Sciences, we would love to hear from you.
Our non-thesis option is designed for individuals interested in non-research careers (positions in regulatory agencies, management groups) where breadth of coursework may be more valuable than research experience.
Financial assistance is available for qualified applicants. Scroll down for admissions and pre-application information.
Our Master's Degree programs
- 24 semester hours of graduate level courses
- Courses taken in three out of the four core areas
- Six hours of thesis research
- A minimum of 12 credit hours at the 7000 level
- The completion and defense of a Master's thesis
Students looking to receive a professional Master's are admitted through the regular admission procedures of the 海角社区 Graduate School and the Department's Academic Affairs Committee. You may attend full- or part-time., and you must maintain an at least a 3.0 cumulative grade point average.
Requirements:
36 hours of coursework beyond a Bachelor's degree, all of which must be approved by the student's Advisory Committee, including:
- Minimum of 18 hours in courses numbered at 7000 or above6 hours of departmental core courses or approved substitutions
- 9 hours of advanced course work in one DOCS specialized area
- 9 hours in a minor field outside of DOCS
- At least 3 semester hours of advanced field or literature research based on internship or a team project (e.g. OCS 8900, OCS 8901), which demonstrates the student鈥檚 ability to synthesize data and demonstrates acceptable writing skills
- 9 hours of electives (within or outside of department)
A student must pass a final exam, both oral and written, to be given by the Student鈥檚 Advisory Committee. - During the last semester, professional students must deliver an oral presentation of a written research report from the internship or team project, one copy must be turned into the DOCS office prior to graduation.
Course Offerings
For a full list of the courses we offer each semester, please visit . From there, you can search by semester and department to see which courses will be available during a specific time.
For a general list of our available courses and their descriptions, visit the 海角社区 General Catalog and search for 鈥渙ceanography鈥 or 鈥淥CS.鈥
Admissions
All applicants should have a minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.0 and meet all 海角社区 Graduate School Admissions requirements.
Prerequisites
All MS students are required to have successfully completed Calculus I and Calculus II with a grade of C or better. If you have not completed them by time of enrollment, you will be required to do so during your first year. However, it is advisable to have at least the first calculus course completed prior to enrollment.
This requirement can be met by taking MATH 1550 (Analytical Geometry and Calculus I) and MATH 1552 (Analytical Geometry and Calculus II). For a course at another university to count as equivalent to 海角社区's MATH 1550, it should cover limits, differentiation, and integration, not only for algebraic functions, but also for exponential and trigonometric functions. Math 1554 (Calculus II for Life Sciences) may be substituted from Math 1552 with prior committee approval.
For MS students, who have not completed Calculus II by the time of enrollment another quantitative focused course taken during their first year at 海角社区 may be substituted for Calculus II with prior approval of their advisory committee (including but not limited to courses in math, statistics, modeling, computer sciences, etc.). A student may register for those courses on a pass-fail basis with approval of the student's major professor, department chair, instructor of the course involved, and the dean of the Graduate School. The instructor will determine actual quality of work required to obtain a grade of "P".
Professional MS students (i.e. not thesis track) are exempt from the above requirements.
Two semesters of introductory biology for sciences majors courses, equivalent to 海角社区 BIOL 1201 and 1202, completed with a C or better.
Two chemistry courses equivalent to 海角社区 CHEM 1201 and 1202, with a C or better.
One semester introductory course, with a C or better.
One semester introductory course, with a C or better.
Substitutions
The following course substitutions are allowed if prerequisites are not completed prior to 海角社区 enrollment. Students deficient in one prerequisite subject (biology, chemistry, geology, or physics) will be required to register and complete 海角社区 OCS 1005 (Introduction to Oceanography). Students deficient in 2 or more subject areas will be required to register and complete 海角社区 OCS 1005 and one of the following: 海角社区 OCS 2007 (Introduction to Marine Sciences: Geological and Physical); or 海角社区 OCS 2008 (Introduction to Marine Sciences: Life Processes); or 海角社区 OCS 3103 (Global Environmental Cycles), all with grades of 鈥淐鈥 or better or on pass-fail basis. Selection of OCS 2007, or OCS 2008, or OCS 3103 will be based upon the student鈥檚 major professor鈥檚 recommendation and approval of the DOCS Graduate Advisor.
DOCS Pre-Application
All prospective MS students are required to fill out a DOCS graduate program pre-application, using the online, Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF forms located to the right. If you use the Word or PDF form to complete your pre-application, email the completed form to ocean@lsu.edu with the email subject "DOCS pre-app." You will receive a quick reply and may be asked to submit a full application to the 海角社区 Graduate School.
If you would like to have your credentials pre-evaluated send your pre-application (MS Word version or PDF version) directly to Dr. Mark Benfield, DOCS Graduate Advisor, for review and assessment.
If you need additional information, are having trouble with the pre-application, or have further questions, please contact us at ocean@lsu.edu.