Program Overview

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Geography Program Overview

The Master of Science (MSc) in Geography is a thesis-based program that offers students the opportunity to engage in deep scholarship on the relationships between spaces, people, and places. The program is designed to provide students with a judicious mix of coursework and investigation tailored to meet the needs of each student's research endeavor.

Program Structure

• Core Course: History and Philosophy of Physical or Human Geography
• Conference: Students will participate in the annual department conference
• Additional Courses: Topics may include remote sensing, statistical methods, spatial analysis and modeling, fluvial geomorphology, and others
• Thesis: Students will prepare and defend an original research thesis

Program Outcomes

Graduates of the program can pursue careers as cartographers, commercial/residential surveyors, environmental consultants, planning and development surveyors, teachers, planners, demographers, community developers, resource management specialists, municipal advisors, and development officers. A master's degree in geography will also provide the prerequisite for a PhD.

Thesis-Based Program

Students are required to prepare a thesis and successfully defend it in an open oral defense.

Courses and Time Commitment

• Four courses and four graduate research seminars
• Two years full-time; four years maximum

Supervisor and Fees

• A supervisor is required and must agree to oversee the student's research before the student applies for admission
• See the Graduate Calendar for information on fees and fee regulations, and for information on awards and financial assistance

Admission Requirements

GPA and Education

• A minimum of 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 point system, over the past two years of full-time study
• A four-year baccalaureate degree, or equivalent from a recognized institution

Documents and Reference Letters

• A proposal describing the applicant's intended research area
• A C.V.
• Two reference letters

English Language Proficiency (ELP)

An applicant whose primary language is not English may fulfill the English language proficiency requirement in one of the following ways:

• Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL iBT) minimum score of 86
• International English Language Testing System (IELTS) score of 6.5
• Cambridge C1 Advanced or Cambridge C2 Proficiency minimum score of 180
• Pearson Test of English (PTE) score of 59 or higher
• Canadian Academic English Language test (CAEL) overall score of 70
• Academic Communication Certificate (ACC) minimum of B+ in each course
• Duolingo English Test obtaining a minimum score of 125

Deadlines

• For admission on September 1:
  • Canadians and permanent residents: apply by January 5
  • International applicants: apply by January 5

Supervisors

The following faculty members are available to supervise this degree:

1. Shelley Alexander - Accepting Inquiries
   • Human-Animal Relationships, Conservation and Geospatial Science
2. Darren Bender - Unavailable
3. Gwendolyn Blue - Accepting Inquiries
   • Public engagement with science and technology; Science-based controversies (climate change, genomics), Human-animal relations; More-than-human geographies
4. Ryan Burns - Accepting Inquiries
   • Urban GIS, Critical GIS, Digital Humanitarianism, Open Data, Smart Cities, Geovisualization and geovisual analytics, Geographical software studies, Geographic political economy
5. Dianne Draper - Unavailable
   • Sustainability; resources and environmental management and planning, Sustainable tourism, Parks and protected areas, Experiential education
6. Brent Else - Seeking Students
   • Air-sea interactions in the Arctic, Arctic marine carbon cycles, Remote sensing of Arctic marine environments, Arctic marine ecosystems, Improved weather observations for Arctic operations
7. Victoria Fast - Accepting Inquiries
   • Urban GIS
8. Andrea Freeman - Accepting Inquiries
   • Geoarcheology, Pedagogy in Geography and archaeology
9. Geoffrey Hay - Accepting Inquiries
   • GEOBIA - Geographic Object Based Image Analysis, Thermal Imaging: HEAT - Heat Energy Assessment Technologies
10. Dan Jacobson - Unavailable

Related Programs

If you're interested in this program, you might want to explore other UCalgary programs:

• Geography: Course-based Certificate in Geospatial Information Technology, Course-based MGIS, Thesis-based MA, PhD
• Civil Engineering: Course-based MEng, Thesis-based MEng, Thesis-based MSc, PhD
• Geomatics Engineering: Course-based MEng, Thesis-based MSc, PhD
• Geoscience: Thesis-based MSc, Course-based MSc, PhD

The University of Calgary is situated on land Northwest of where the Bow River meets the Elbow River, a site traditionally known as Moh’kins’tsis to the Blackfoot, Wîchîspa to the Stoney Nakoda, and Guts’ists’i to the Tsuut’ina. On this land and in this place, we strive to learn together, walk together, and grow together “in a good way.”