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The BA/MS Program in Geography

The Department of Geography offers outstanding undergraduate students at Virginia Tech the option of completing both their undergraduate degree and an M.S. degree in Geography in as little as five years. While only exceptional students can achieve undergraduate and MS degrees in five years, having a portion of your undergraduate coursework count toward your MS degree can shorten the time to receive an MS degree.

(NOTE: You do not have to be an undergraduate major in Geography to enter the BA/MS Program in Geography)

Undergraduates in the BA/MS program take a certain number of 4000-level classes (that have been approved for graduate credit in Geography) and 5000-level classes and have those courses count for both their undergraduate and M.S. degrees.

NOTE: You must apply by April 1 of your junior year (just after completing your 75th credit hour) to be accepted to the program for your entire senior year. Applications in the senior year are discouraged (though not rejected) as they offer no chance to complete the program more quickly than in the regular MS program.

Minimum requirement: QCA of 3.2 or higher.

Students with a 3.2 QCA are allowed to have 6 credit hours from their undergraduate program count for both their undergraduate and graduate degrees, while those with a 3.5 QCA allowed to have 12 credit hours from their undergraduate program count for both their undergraduate and graduate degrees.

Application is allowed after you have completed 75 hours of your undergraduate degree (generally after about 5 semesters). If you intend to attempt to complete the MS program in one additional year beyond your undergraduate degree, you must apply before April 1 of your junior year, and you must enroll in GEOG 5014 during the fall of your senior year.

Procedures:

1) All applicants must take the GREs.

2) Fill out the standard graduate application form, checking the "combined category" on the application form.

3) Deliver to the Geography graduate director the following:

4) The Geography graduate committee will then meet and consider the application in consultation with all Geography faculty with whom the student has had coursework as an undergraduate. An interview with the faculty with whom you would likely work may also be required.

5) If the results of the application process are positive, the Department Head will write a letter to the Graduate School indicating that we accept you for graduate school and will list the courses (6 to 12 total hours) that can count for both your undergraduate and graduate degrees.

(Note: If you take 5000-level graduate classes as an undergraduate, they can still count for your undergraduate requirements (through course substitutions). We can accept for graduate credit the 4000-level classes (that are approved for graduate credit in Geography) that you have taken both before and after you submitted your application.)

6) The Department Head will provide you with all of your materials, and you will hand deliver them to C. J. Dudley, the director of the University Honors Program on the 1st floor of Hillcrest Hall. Then he will take your application materials to the graduate school.

We suggest that you carefully select the hours that you want to count for both degrees. To have any opportunity to complete the master's degree one year after receiving your undergraduate degree. you must take the required GEOG 5014 course during your senior year to develop your research proposal and methodology in a timely manner. Remember that you can take only 9 hours of 4000-level classes for graduate credit. Thus, the more 5000-level classes that you take as an undergraduate, the better off you will be in counting courses for your graduate degree. Consult with your potential advisor and/or the graduate director concerning which classes you select.

Students in the combined program are not eligible for graduate teaching assistantships until they have completed their undergraduate degrees.

If you have additional questions, please contact the graduate director or department head.