Letter to Prospective Graduate Students
Thank you for your expression of interest in the graduate program of the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation. We have a very diverse and exciting graduate studies program. Degrees are offered at the Master of Science level, with thesis or non-thesis options, and at the Ph.D. level.
A key element of admission to the Department’s graduate program is identifying a major professor. The major professor is the key academic mentor and advisor for a graduate student, and is a critical part of a student’s graduate education. Applications are only evaluated by the Department after a potential major professor expresses interest in the student! As a prospective student to the Department, you are responsible for contacting professors to determine their interest and the availability of openings to work under their guidance. Agreement by a professor to forward your application for consideration by the Department is contingent on the availability of space, support funds, and faculty time by the individual faculty member. For information about prospective graduate advisors visit the WEC website at www.wec.ufl.edu and the home pages of WEC faculty.
Research conducted through the Department, and hence our graduate studies program, is as diverse as our faculty expertise. Ongoing program areas include conservation biology, landscape and restoration ecology, wildlife ecology, human dimensions of natural resource management, and tropical conservation. The many specialties within these program areas are described in the research section of the WEC website at www.wec.ufl.edu.
Affiliated faculty can be found in the Center for Latin American Studies, the Florida Museum of Natural History and the U.S. Geological Services Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, to name a few. Field research, within Florida as well as in the Latin America and Africa, is a special strength of our faculty.
Students applying for admissions into our graduate program are evaluated based on their previous academic performance, GRE scores, academic goals, letters of reference, and personal, professional, and academic experience. Although there is no specific m inimum admission criteria for prior GPA or for GRE scores, most successful applicants to our graduate program have a GPA of 3.2 or higher on a 4.0 scale for all upper-division undergraduate work, and a combined score of 1200 (Verbal and Quantitative portions) of the Graduate Record Exam (GRE). International students must have a score of 550 on the paper-based (or 213 on the computer-based) TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language); unless English is the native language or a degree has been obtained from an institution in an English-speaking country. Applicants for the Ph.D. must have completed a Master’s degree. The total academic and professional background of prospective students is carefully evaluated by a selection committee. For additional information, see: http://www.wec.ufl.edu/academics/grad/admission.php.
Financial support for graduate student stipends and research within the Department comes basically from state-funded assistantships, fellowships, and external research grants or contracts. Please note that application for assistantship support is considered separately from that of admission. The state assistantships, which are relatively few, are usually awarded in early March for the following fall semester. The assistantships from external funding usually become available when a grant or contract is awarded to an individual faculty member or group, and thus have no schedule of availability. The amount of funding for assistantships and fellowships varies by program; many assistantships and fellowships include tuition waivers.
If you are not able to apply online and need a hardcopy of the application you should email your request to graduateprogram@wec.ufl.edu. Please send your mailing address and state in the subject line: hard copy of application needed. If you do not request a hard copy one will not be sent to you just by receiving this email reply.
Or write our Student Services Office, attn: Ms. Claire Williams, Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, P.O. Box 110430, Rm. 117 Newins-Ziegler Hall, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611 (Phone: 352-846-0635; Again, thank you for your interest in the Department of Wildlife Ecology & Conservation. To check the status of you application go to http://www.isis.ufl.edu/.
Sincerely,
Wiley M. Kitchens,
Professor and Graduate Coordinator
