Admissions Procedure

Admissions Procedures

Applications for admission to the graduate programs of the UMass School of Marine Sciences are processed at UMass Dartmouth by the Office of Graduate Studies. Please send your application and its associated materials to that campus. After you have applied, contact UMass Dartmouth with any questions. Their contact information is at the bottom of this page.

Students considering entry for the fall semester must be aware of the following dates:

December 15th:
Students who are interested in obtaining a TA must have a completed application and all other appropriate forms sent to the Graduate Office. Prospective students who are not interested in receiving a teaching assistantship are highly encouraged to apply at this time as well.

January 15th:
Admissions Committee will have evaluated all applicants and will send a revised list of all prospective students to the SMS faculty. Any revisions and reconsiderations to the list will be made within a week

February 1st:
The Dean will send final acceptance letters to students who are being awarded a TA, as well as those students who have sufficient funding and an SMS advisor.
The Dean will send conditional letters of acceptance to students who have found an advisor, but have a lack of funding.
The Dean will send letters of deferral to qualified students who have been waitlisted, due to having no apparent advisor and inadequate funding.
The Dean will send letters of rejection to students who do not meet the standards of the school.

March 1st:
Students should be receiving their acceptance, deferral, and rejection letters between February 1st and March 1st. Students who have been accepted with funding and an advisor are expected to reply within one month of receiving the letter.

April 15th:
All students accepted with funding and an advisor must reply by this date, in order to be able to enter into the SMS program.

May 1st:
The admissions committee will evaluate all acceptances and deferments from students who had to send in their applications by April 15th. Depending on the number of students admitted, the Admissions Committee will consider the following, in order:
1) Students who have an advisor, but no funding.
2) Students who have no advisor or funding.

May 15th:
The Dean will send final letters of acceptance and rejection to the two groups of students listed above.

June 15th:
Students who are accepted by or after May 15th have until this date to reply, in order to enter into the SMS program. All admission decisions are closed by this date.

Students considering entering in the spring semester must be aware of the following dates:

September 1st:
Students must have a completed application and all other appropriate forms sent to the Graduate Office.

September 30th:
Admissions Committee will have evaluated all applicants and will send a revised list of all prospective students to the SMS faculty. Any revisions and reconsiderations to the list will be made within a week.

October 15th:
The Dean will send out acceptance and rejections letters by October 15th.
Accepted students are encouraged to reply promptly.

November 15th:
All students who are accepted must reply no later than this date, in order to enter into the SMS program. All admission decisions are closed by this date.

Those who apply out of sequence will automatically be placed in the next cycle of admissions.