Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Earth Sciences

Simon Fraser University

Other English Language Requirements accepted: A minimum TOEFL score of 580 (paper-based).

The minimum University requirements for admission to a doctoral program are as follows.

i) a master’s degree from Simon Fraser University or its equivalent from a recognized institution;

ii) a bachelor's degree, with a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.5/4.33, or a grade point average of at least 3.67/4.33(A-) based on the last 60 credits of undergraduate courses. All graduate work is also considered. Individual graduate programs may set a higher admission grade point average. Students admitted directly from a bachelor's degree must complete at least 50% of the course work units required for the relevant department's master's program if no course work is required as part of the doctoral degree;

iii) completion of at least 75% of the course work units required for the relevant department’s master’s program, with a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.5. All graduate courses, whether completed at this University or at an equivalent post-secondary institution, shall be considered in the calculation. A student wishing to be admitted under this category (transferred to PhD) must have completed all of these requirements and initiated the transfer request within the first 6 semesters at SFU.

Submitted evidence that the applicant is capable of undertaking substantial original research. Normally, such capability will be judged from letters of reference from qualified referees, and the completion of a master’s thesis or other scholarly work.

Applicants normally will be required to achieve a minimum score of 7.0 on the International English Language Test System (IELTS - the academic NOT the general test) with a minimum of 6.5 in each section. The Test of English as a Foreign Language(TOEFL) may be used as an equivalent test provided a score of 93 or better is achieved with a minimum of 20 in each section (TOEFL-internet based exam), or TOEFL 580 and the Test of Written English(TWE) 5.0 (paper-based).