Water Science and Environmental Health Grade Requirements

Updated December 19, 2022.

We will begin accepting applications for fall 2023 admission to co-op in early March. The deadline to apply will be September 1, 2023, but we urge you to apply sooner. 

If you apply to Water Science and Environmental Health (formerly Applied Water Science), you must obtain a minimum GPA of 7.00 overall in your first year to be eligible for an admission interview in the fall of your second year.

You must have completed five credits by the end of August, and no more than 7.5 credits, to be eligible for an admission interview. You must be enrolled full-time in second year as of September.

Assessing Credit Courses

When determining your GPA, we will include only those courses for which we see a numeric grade. We will exclude course letter grades that you have chosen to convert to a “credit" notation.

Note: We consider grades as one of four factors while making admission decisions. We give equal weight to grades, interview performance, work experience, and volunteer and extracurricular experience. We will give special recognition to students who provide numeric grades for all required courses and to those who provide numeric grades for all ten courses. In other words, if you have high marks, it is in your best interest to provide numeric grades and not to convert your grades to a "credit" notation.

We will first review your overall GPA for the fall 2022 and winter 2023 term. In addition:

• If you elected to convert one or more grades to the credit format, we will recognize you as having met academic requirements, along with all other students with the same GPA.
• If you provide numeric grades for all required courses, we will recognize you as having exceeded academic requirements, compared to other students with the same GPA.
• If you provide numeric grades for all required and elective courses, we will recognize you as having reached the highest academic achievement, compared to other students with the same GPA.

Courses Graded as Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (new!)

When calculating your GPA, we will include only those courses for which we see a numeric grade. We will exclude grades from courses such as UU150 that provide only a grade of either satisfactory or unsatisfactory.

We will, however, include courses graded as "satisfactory" when counting the number of courses you have completed.

We may give you slightly less credit for your marks than we give students who provided numeric grades for all ten half-credits.

Didn't Meet the GPA Requirements

If you don't meet the GPA in 2023, we will grant admission interviews only to students who achieved the minimum GPA required by the application deadline.

If, however, you fail to meet the minimum GPA and you petition your department to reconsider any of your grades, let us know your new grades as soon as possible. Submit your petition by Sept. 15, to ensure your department has time to make a decision by Nov. 1. We will not consider requests we receive after Nov. 1.

If after your petition you meet the minimum GPA, we will offer you an admission interview, and will make decisions very soon after. To be eligible, you must also have met the application deadline.