Application Deadlines and Requirements

Complete and submit the online application. There is a $75 non-refundable application fee. You may submit your application fee online by credit/debit card.

Submit your current resume, which should highlight your professional, academic, and service experiences and interests. We encourage applications to include all positions held (including recent internships), degree and non-degree coursework completed (including certificates and MOOCs), as well as volunteer or community activities.

Your application will include essays addressing the topic(s) listed below. Responses may be as long or as short as you feel necessary. (Please compile your responses into a single document but keep them as separate essays.)

• Degree students (3 essays):
  1. Please describe how your professional and academic background has prepared you to enter the online Master of Science in Applied Geosciences program at Penn.
  2. Describe in conceptual terms the curriculum you hope to pursue as an online MSAG student.
  3. How do you expect to apply the expertise you would gain in the online MSAG program?
• Certificate students (2 essays):
  1. How will this certificate improve your skills and benefit you in your career?
  2. What has been your educational and work path that led you to apply for this certificate?
• Individual course-takers (1 essay)
  1. How will this course improve your skills and benefit you in your career?

Unofficial transcripts from each post-secondary school you have attended need to be uploaded through the online application system.

Note: If you don’t yet have your transcripts and wish to work on other parts of the application while you wait, you can temporarily bypass the transcript section. To do so, upload something in each transcript slot such as a simple Word document that briefly indicates why the transcript isn’t there (such as “official transcripts have been sent to Penn” or “waiting for unofficial transcripts to arrive”).

GRE

Standardized test scores are not required for admission to the online Master of Science in Applied Geosciences. However, you may choose to submit standardized test scores, such as the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), in support of your application. Request that your scores report for the GRE test be forwarded to the College of Liberal and Professional Studies, using ETS institutional code 2986.

TOEFL/IELTS

A strong command of the English language is necessary for successful study at Penn. A TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) or IELTS (International English Language Testing System) is required for applicants whose native language is not English.

TOEFL: The minimum TOEFL scores required for admissions consideration are: Internet Test (iBT) = 100; with no subscore below 24, and listening/speaking score of 25+; Computer-Based Test (CBT) = 250; Paper-Based Test (PBT) = 600.

To locate a testing site near you or schedule an exam, visit the TOEFL website. Please note the at-home TOEFL is accepted. Official TOEFL scores must be sent electronically from ETS to the University of Pennsylvania’s College of Liberal and Professional Studies (LPS), testing school code: 2986.

IELTS: The minimum score for consideration is a 7.0 composite, with a listening/speaking score of 7.0 or higher, and no other subscore below 6.5. 

You may upload an official or unofficial copy of your IELTS test to the standardized test score section of your application or email it to lps-admissions@sas.upenn.edu. To locate a testing site near you or schedule an exam, visit the IELTS website.

This is a strict requirement for the Master of Science in Applied Geosciences application process to ensure all students who enter the Applied Geosciences Program can be successful in a fast-paced learning environment. In rare occasions, someone might qualify for an exemption, however, the following are not considered sufficient for exemption: working in the US for many years, having a degree from a school where the instruction was in English, and/or working or living in an English-speaking country. Exemption requests will ONLY be considered AFTER your application has been submitted and all other application materials have been received; the exemption review will naturally add additional time to your application review process, which may impede your ability to schedule and submit the required test scores by the application deadline if your exemption request is declined. For those reasons, even if you feel you have mitigating factors that would qualify for exemption, we strongly recommend that you take the TOEFL or IELTS if English is not your native language, as it will strengthen your application and ensure its timely processing and completion. If you have questions about how this requirement impacts you, please email lps-admissions@sas.upenn.edu.

• Degree applicants are required to submit two letters of recommendation.
• Certificate students and individual course-takers are required to submit one letter of recommendation.

Letters should come from individuals in a position to evaluate your professional and/or academic work, such as a supervisor or professor, and who know of your desire to study geoscience at the advanced level. Recommendations may be submitted online (preferred) or by mail. For online recommendations, please follow the instructions in the Recommendations section of the online application.

Applicants who have attended a college or university outside the US are required to have a course-by-course credential evaluation (with grade point average and course levels) performed by an outside evaluation service. Credential evaluations will be reviewed by our administrators, and the determination of degree equivalency to US degrees is at the discretion of the College of Liberal and Professional Studies. The following evaluation service is acceptable:

World Education Services Inc. (WES): WES must complete a course-by-course evaluation of all post-secondary credentials. The course-by-course evaluation should include the comparability level of your education and list each of your courses along with the equivalent US marks and credit. Please select the WES basic course-by-course evaluation (with grade point average and course levels) and request that WES send your evaluation to Penn College of Liberal and Professional Studies Admissions. The school can be found by searching the University of Pennsylvania and then selecting College of Liberal and Professional Studies. The evaluation becomes an official academic record and sole property of the University upon its receipt. For additional information about the WES application and their review process, please visit the WES website.

The World Education Service will provide instructions for how to request and submit the required academic documents for review, and the process can take several weeks to complete. We encourage you to begin this process at least eight weeks in advance of the application deadline.

Please note that this service charges a fee for the evaluation.