How to Apply

The Limnology and Marine Science Program offers both a Master's Degree and a doctoral degree. Students generally have a strong background in the natural and biological sciences. When considering if you should apply to the program you should review the faculty and their research interests to make sure that your interests are compatible with work currently being undertaken by the faculty. You are encouraged to contact faculty with research agendas of interest to you to determine if they will be taking additional students. The program is small and therefore highly competitive. Successful applicants typically have an excellent undergraduate GPA, competitive GRE scores, outstanding letters of recommendation and undergraduate or graduate research experience.

Students must apply online through the Graduate School. Letters of recommendation should be submitted online through the application process. The deadline for fall admissions is Jan. 1. We generally do not accept applications for summer and spring.

Financial Support

Graduate students in the Limnology and Marine Science Program may be supported through research assistantships, teaching assistantships, fellowships, and special grants. Students are encouraged to seek outside funding.

Research Assistantships
Offers are made on the basis of letters of recommendation, grades, and Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) scores. The applicant's interests and experience (as conveyed in the letter of interest) must match the needs of the funding project.

Fellowships
Applicants with outstanding undergraduate records may be nominated for University Fellowships awarded by the University Fellowships Committee. Competition for these awards is very keen.

Teaching Assistantships
Although the L&MS Program does not have teaching assistantships to award, opportunities for TA positions often can be arranged with the home departments of L&MS faculty members.

Submit application and letters of of recommendation online.

Submit the documents listed below electronically to mcpossin@wisc.edu:

We do not require hard copies of printed documents.

We prefer you send materials to us electronically.

Please read the instructions below carefully.

Students should send a PDF (Portable Document Format) scan of undergraduate and graduate transcripts to the email below. If you are admitted, we will require official transcripts.

PDF documents must be less than 3 MB. We will not accept transcript documents that exceed 3 MB because of limits for our file transfers.
We require a statement of interest as part of the UW-Madison online admission application. If this is a problem for you, please inquire to the email below.
We require letters of recommendation to be submitted electronically through the UW-Madison online application website. If this is a problem for you, please inquire to the email below.
Submit GRE and TOEFL scores electronically to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The GRE code for UW-Madison is 1846.

NOTE: Do not send transcripts or any other documentation to the Graduate School. These materials will not be forwarded to your department or program. International applicants: Please do not send financial documents until requested by the Graduate School. This information will be requested upon a positive admission recommendation from the department/program.

If you are applying to more than one program or department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, you must supply transcripts to each program or department.

Send inquires about admissions to:

Freshwater and Marine Sciences Graduate Program
680 North Park Street
Madison, WI 53706-1492