• An earned bachelor's degree from an accredited U.S. institution or a comparable degree from an international institution with a minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 on a 4-point scale.
• Be in good standing at all previous institutions of higher learning. Students who, for academic or disciplinary reasons, are not eligible to register in the college or university last attended will not be admitted for graduate study.
• A score on a nationally standardized graduate admissions test, such as the General Test of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), that is acceptable for the program to which the student is applying (see departmental requirements below). Test scores must be no more than five years old.
• Approval by the department offering the degree to which the applicant is applying.

• A Graduate Record Examination (GRE) verbal score at or above the 50th percentile and a quantitative score at or above the 40th percentile
• Submission of a formal letter of interest, background, and professional goals, including whether the applicant has a preference for the thesis or non-thesis option
• Submission of three letters of recommendation by individuals in professionally relevant fields (waived for graduates of the UWF Department of Environmental Studies) Submission of current curriculum vita (CV)/résumé
• Conditional admission, for instance due to low GPA (below 3.0), may require a student to complete two or three graduate level courses with grades of "B" or better to be fully admitted

Students entering the M.S. program from other bachelor's programs should have the equivalents of the following courses:

• A college-level course in chemistry
• Two upper-level science courses in the geo-, earth, or environmental sciences
• Two upper-level techniques courses, e.g., GIS, aerial photo interpretation, remote sensing, field methods, analytical chemistry, instrumental analysis, etc.
• An upper-level course in statistics or quantitative methods

Students without the equivalents of any of the above courses will be advised to enroll in a suite of appropriate foundational courses prior to being considered for admittance to the M.S. program.

Students having some of the foundational proficiencies may be admitted to the M.S. program with the understanding that the missing courses be taken during the first year of graduate study. Of the foundational proficiencies, only statistics (GEO 5165 or BIO 5176) may be taken for graduate credit and be included in the graduate program of study.