MS Program

This page describes many of the details about the Planetary Sciences Track within our department’s Physics MS program. Visit the PhD page for information on our PhD program.

A very good source of information about the program is our Graduate Program Handbook – 2024/25: Physics MS and PhD, Planetary Sciences Track. The most recent version is dated on May 26, 2024. More info can be found at the Graduate Catalog webpage about our track and the department’s webpage the whole graduate program (not just our track).

Applying to the Program

For information on general UCF graduate admissions requirements that apply to all prospective students, please visit the Admissions and Registration section of the Graduate Catalog and the Physics Master’s/Doctoral Handbook. Applicants must apply online.

Information about admission to the Planetary Sciences track itself can be found in the Graduate Catalog’s pages about the Ph.D. and M.S. programs. There is information also on the Physics Department website and in particular on the admissions page.

All requested materials must be submitted by the established deadline(s). There is a page with UCF’s application requirements. Requirements for our program in particular are in the Graduate Catalog. Note that we no longer require a GRE score. Our admissions committee recognizes the limitations in the ability of the GRE test to predict success in graduate school. (Background info about this topic is here and here.)

If you are an International Applicant and want to ask about either (a) getting a waiver for the application and/or the WES/Josef Silny transcript evaluation, or (b) having us assess whether your application would be competitive for our typical applicant pool: Please contact us — planets@ucf.edu — by June 1st for a Spring Admission or by November 1st for a Fall Admission. You must send us (i) your CV, (ii) an unofficial transcript, (iii) your application essay, (iv) a clear indication of why you are interested in an MS instead of a PhD, and (v) a clear indication of which 1 to 3 faculty with whom you are interested in working. (If you are concerned about information on your transcript being sent insecurely by email then you can provide us with a link to e.g. Dropbox, Google drive, etc. instead.)

Note that the statement of goals/essay/personal statement is particularly important. In particular:

Applicants should identify one or more projects/areas they would be interested in pursuing as a potential dissertation topic.
- This should include discussion of their specific project interests in their applications.
Applicants should identify specific faculty with whom they are interested in working.
- Note that the global planetary-science community maintains a list of faculty looking for new students.
- If your favorite UCF scientist is not on that list, that’s OK! We still want you to apply. But in that case it very much helps to have contacted beforehand the faculty you’re interested in. We highly recommend attempting to have a conversation with potential research mentors.
- Keep in mind that Physics Department graduate students can have UCF faculty in other units as their research advisor. Several of our students work with faculty in FSI and CREOL.
Applicants should check out the advice and suggestions for the application essay found on our Jobs page.
- We need detail about an applicant’s research experiences to fully evaluate your application.
- We will want to know: what did YOU do, what problems did you face, and how did you handle them?
- Applicants with no research experience in planetary science, geophysics, astronomy, or astrophysics are rarely, if ever, accepted.
Applicants to the MS program should clearly state why they are interested in an MS degree instead of a PhD degree.
- Often this involves describing career goals.

Applicants should identify one or more projects/areas they would be interested in pursuing as a potential dissertation topic, and discuss their specific project interests in their applications. It helps to also have contacted beforehand faculty or researchers who might advise them. Students can always change projects once in the program, provided that another project is available. More advice and suggestions about applying to our program can be found on our Jobs page. In particular, applicants should closely follow the application essay instructions on that page! We need detail about an applicant’s research experiences to fully evaluate your application. We will want to know: what did YOU do, what problems did you face, and how did you handle them? Applicants with no research experience in planetary science, geophysics, astronomy, or astrophysics are rarely, if ever, accepted.

Note that students must be specifically admitted to the Graduate Planetary Sciences track. External applications and petitions to switch from the existing Physics graduate program are considered by the Planetary Graduate Committee.

Admission to the track requires a Bachelor of Science or equivalent, typically in physics, astronomy, geology, geophysics, geochemistry, atmospheric sciences, biology, mathematics, or planetary sciences. Those without full academic preparation in relevant natural sciences may be required to complete specified coursework in addition to the core program, as determined by the Planetary Graduate Committee at the time of admission or their Supervisory Committee at a later date. Petitions to switch from the existing Physics graduate program shall be in the form of a letter to the Planetary Sciences Graduate Committee addressed to the track’s Graduate Coordinator. The letter should include the request to join the Planetary Sciences Track, the student’s degree goal (Master’s or Ph.D.), the name of the student’s planetary sciences advisor, and a brief description of their expected area of research.

Note that just meeting minimum UCF admissions criteria does not guarantee program admission. Admission is based on the applicant’s abilities, past performance, recommendations, match of this program and our faculty’s expertise to the applicant’s career/academic goals, the applicant’s potential for completing the degree, available positions, and other factors.

The application deadlines are as follows:

Admission semester:	Fall Priority	Fall	Spring
Domestic applicants	December 1	July 1	December 1
International applicants	December 1	December 1	July 1

If you are applying for Fall Admission: We prefer to receive complete applications by December 1, so please do not wait until July 1 (domestic) to complete your application. We of course look at all applications that are submitted by the deadline, but even a great application may be rejected if it is submitted so late in the process that we simply do not have any more open slots for new students.

If you are applying for Spring Admission: Please contact us ahead of time to see if it is worth it to apply. For academic, logistical, and financial reasons, we usually do not admit many students to start in the Spring, so in many cases it is just more sensible for you to apply for Fall Admission instead. Please get into contact with the faculty here with whom you are interested in working, and ask them if they are planning on adding students in the Spring semester. If they are not, then it is unlikely that you’d be admitted. Alternately, send email to our general address — planets@ucf.edu — with any questions or concerns you have about Spring Admission.

More generally if you are applying to our MS program: Note that even if you are not sure that your career goal is a PhD, it is almost always better to apply to our PhD program instead of our MS program. Since we have no non-thesis option, the research requirements for an MS are basically the same as those for the PhD candidacy exam. The coursework is nearly identical as well. So there is little practical difference in the work you would do here for the first 2-3 years, and it is always possible to leave with an MS if you do decide that that is your preference. Furthermore, we tend to prioritize funding for students whose ostensible goal is the PhD. If you are certain that an MS is your wish, then please explain clearly in your essay/personal statement why that is, and what your post-degree career goals are. Send email to our general address — planets@ucf.edu — with any questions or concerns you have.

Note that funding for Master’s students is generally not available, but there may be exceptional cases where GTAs and GRAs are available. To have any chance of securing funding from the department or from UCF, the application for admission must be submitted by December 1. Fellowships are unlikely for applications received after this date. We evaluate applications in December, January, February, and March each year and make most admissions decisions and funding commitments (GRAs and GTAs) then. Officially, we can admit as late as July (domestic) for Fall enrollment, and we can admit for Spring enrollment, but such cases are atypical. Since June is UCF’s official cutoff for Fall, that is listed as the application deadline, but those seeking financial support should apply by December 1.

Graduate students may receive financial assistance through fellowships, assistantships, tuition support, or loans. For more information, see Financing Grad School, which describes the types of financial assistance available at UCF and provides general guidance in planning your graduate finances. The Financial Information section of the Graduate Catalog is another key resource.

Note that UCF does have a policy regarding parental leave for GTAs and GRAs; paid leave is provided for up to six weeks.

About the Program

Curious about what it’s like to be in our graduate program? Read the interviews with some of our current grad students!

Courses in the Program

The Planetary Sciences track in the Physics MS program requires a minimum 33 hours of graduate course work as directed by the student’s supervisory committee. This must include at least 15 credit hours of required courses, 6 hours of thesis preparation (AST or PHY 6971) with the remainder being elective courses and directed research chosen in consultation with the supervisory committee. At least half of the total credits must be at the 6000 level. No more than 6 hours of independent study may be credited toward the master’s degree. The master’s degree in the Planetary Sciences track includes a thesis and its defense. There is no non-thesis master’s degree in the Planetary Sciences track. Other electives are added as teaching schedules permit. The Graduate Catalog also has info about some of these courses.

Total Credit Hours Required: 33 Credit Hours Minimum beyond the Bachelor’s Degree. These are divided by by required courses (15), electives (12), and thesis (6), as follows:

Required Courses: 15 Credit Hours

The core is designed to give students a broad foundation in the planetary sciences and a rapid training in the data analysis techniques that will be necessary for a successful research and publications. Students choose 5 out of the 6 core courses listed below:

AST 5151 – Physics of Planetary Processes (3 credit hours)
PHY 6246 – Classical Mechanics (3 credit hours)
AST 5765C – Advanced Astronomical Data Analysis (3 credit hours)
AST 5263 – Advanced Observational Astronomy (3 credit hours)
AST 5154 – Advanced Planetary Geophysics (3 credit hours)
AST 5165 – Planetary Atmospheres (3 credit hours)

Elective Courses: 12 Credit Hours

There is some flexibility in choice of electives; the student should discuss electives with their supervisory committee. Some typical options are:

AST 6938 – Special Topics in Planetary Science (3 credit hours)
AST 6112 – Origin and Evolution of Planetary Systems (3 credit hours)
AST 5334 – Extrasolar Planets and Brown Dwarfs (3 credit hours)
AST 5038 – Astrobiology (3 credit hours)
AST 5145 – Advanced Asteroids, Comets, and Meteorites (3 credit hours)
AST 6156 – Current Topics in Planetary Science (3 credit hours)

Other Electives

PHZ 5505 – Plasma Physics 3 Credit Hours
MAP 6469 – Bayesian Analysis & Approximation Theory 3 Credit Hours
PHY 5524 – Statistical Physics 3 Credit Hours
PHY 5346 – Electrodynamics I 3 Credit Hours
PHY 6347 – Electrodynamics II 3 Credit Hours
PHY 5606 – Quantum Mechanics I 3 Credit Hours
PHY 6624 – Quantum Mechanics II 3 Credit Hours
OSE 5041 – Introduction to Wave Optics 3 Credit Hours
OSE 5312 – Light Matter Interaction 3 Credit Hours
OSE 5203 – Geometrical Optics 3 Credit Hours
EEL 5820 – Image Processing 3 Credit Hours

Thesis

See our PhD program page for info about the courses and the typical cycle of course offerings.