Application requirements

The Graduate School requires as a minimum standard for admission a B average (3.0 on a 4.0 scale) from an accredited college or university. In addition, the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) general test is required for admission. We expect that applicants will have majored in a variety of disciplines as undergraduates, but most have training in at least one of the areas of ecology, resource economics, or public policy. Upper-level undergraduate courses in ecology, conservation biology, and microeconomics are strongly recommended, and applicants who have these courses at an advanced level will be preferred. However, because of the diverse, multidisciplinary nature of the subject area, it is expected that some of the elective courses will serve to fill in breadth where needed.

Prerequisites

Although we accept students with a variety of undergraduate majors, we believe that a minimum of one semester each of college level biology and calculus is essential for all conservation biology graduate students and strongly suggest that deficiencies in these areas be corrected prior to enrollment in the CONS Program. In addition, an upper-level undergraduate course in ecology (such as BSCI 462 or equivalent) is required prior to enrollment in any of the graduate courses in ecology and conservation biology. Most CONS students enroll in Biology 462 their first semester in order to fulfill this prerequisite. A course in principles of microeconomics is suggested prior to enrollment in the natural resource economics core course, and a statistics course will facilitate work in ecology and other areas requiring interpretation of original research. No additional prerequisites are necessary prior to enrolling in the core policy or problem-solving courses, but the problem-solving course normally will be taken after at least two other core courses are completed. Prerequisites for elective courses include those listed in the University of Maryland Graduate Catalog. Because many of the electives are 400-level, chosen to add breadth to the student's training, they will be accessible to individuals with strong undergraduate backgrounds.