Admissions

Graduate Study in Earth and Environmental Sciences

Ours is a vibrant, cohesive department practicing at the highest standards of scholarship. Faculty and students work together at the doctoral or masters-to-doctoral levels to pursue studies that address fundamental questions in the Earth and environmental sciences, spanning deep geological timescales to human and societal timescales. The Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences offers the following graduate degrees:

The Ph.D. in Earth and Environmental Sciences

The Ph.D. in Earth and Environmental Sciences provides comprehensive training for students who wish to become professional scientists and/or to teach Earth and environmental sciences at the university level. This is generally a five-year program and includes full funding. The Ph.D. program is for students with a M.S. degree or whom are aimed specifically at the Ph.D. Note that all students without an M.S. degree will earn the M.S. as part of the Ph.D. curriculum. EES accepts Ph.D. applicants directly from undergraduate study as well as applicants who have already completed a M.S. degree in the field. 

The M.S. to Ph.D. Pathway in Earth and Environmental Sciences

The M.S. in Earth and Environmental Sciences is a two-year, research-intensive program for students seeking a M.S. degree, with at least an interest in continuing into the Ph.D. program. EES is not currently recruiting students who seek only a terminal M.S. Please inquire if you are unsure which program to apply to.

Applying to the EES Program

Application is made to the Graduate School. We encourage students to view the Graduate School Catalog and apply via the Graduate School Online Application. The deadline for receipt of graduate applications is January 1st. Applications to EES may be accepted at a later date, but financial aid decisions are generally made in late January. Applications received by the deadline therefore have the best chance of success. When applying to our program, you should also contact the professor(s) with whom you would like to work. It is very important to connect with a potential faculty mentor prior to applying for best chance at admission.

 For the 2025 admissions cycle the following faculty are actively recruiting to their lab groups:

• Dr. Guilherme Gualda (g.gualda@vanderbilt.edu)
• Dr. Susannah Morey (susannah.m.morey@vanderbilt.edu)

Note: Our other graduate faculty members are not actively recruiting at the moment, but all graduate faculty are always looking to be connected with talented students. More information about all EES department faculty can be found here. To receive support connecting with a potential faculty mentor, applicants should submit our 2025 EES Graduate Program Potential Applicant Survey.

Application Details

As part of our effort to create a more equitable application process and to increase access to graduate education in the geosciences, we have instituted the following policies with the support of the Vanderbilt Graduate School:

• The GRE exam requirement has been eliminated from the graduate application and will not be considered in our evaluation process. 

NOTE: In Vanderbilt’s online application system, applicants for the graduate program in EES should select Natural Sciences & Mathematics as your Area of Study and Earth and Environmental Sciences as your Program. 

You will need to submit a statement of purpose as part of your application and the application prompt is relatively general. We are providing the following prompt as guidance for the statement of purpose:

“Pursuing graduate studies in science requires that students continually make use of their curiosity, creativity, and perseverance. Please describe your personal development in relation to these qualities, broadly or through specific experiences. Please also discuss what motivates you to pursue graduate study, including your research interests, and why Vanderbilt EES would be a good intellectual fit for you.”

The deadline for all language waiver requests is December 1st. We cannot guarantee that requests received after this deadline will be applied to applications prior to the January 1st application deadline. 

Application Fee

Our program is highly competitive and admits a very small percentage of applicants each year. The department awards a limited number of application fee waivers to highly qualified applicants that demonstrate the potential to be successful in the Vanderbilt EES PhD program and will be conducting research that aligns with our actively recruiting lab groups. To qualify for a departmental fee waiver, applicants must first correspond with the faculty advisor leading the actively recruiting lab group for the upcoming year. Applicants must also confirm that they are not eligible for a Graduate School fee waiver. Graduate School fee waiver information can be found here.

Please complete this form to request a fee waiver.

The deadline for all fee waiver requests is December 1st. Fee waivers will only be applied to applications that are complete by the January 1st application deadline.

Inquiries

All interested applicants should submit our 2025 EES Graduate Program Potential Applicant Survey to subscribe to our mailing list, request language waiver support, receive support connecting with a potential faculty mentor, RSVP for a Zoom information session, or submit a specific question. For any inquiries related to EES Graduate Admissions, please contact eesgradadmissions@vanderbilt.edu, but note that response priority will be given to those who submit a survey form. Due to limited staffing during the holiday season, applicants are encouraged to submit all application questions prior to December 15th for best response times.