Geographic Information Science Post-Baccalaureate Certificate

The Post-Baccalaureate Certificate Program in Geographic Information Science was established in 2001 to meet the demand for people with expertise in GIS. The GIS Certificate program is a 15-credit post-baccalaureate professional program that offers advanced training in Geographic Information Science (GIS). Students are required to take five graduate-level GIS classes including GTECH 71000 (Introduction to GIS), GTECH 73200 - Advanced GIS (Advanced GIS), and three other GTECH or related courses. Students who are interested in GIS development are encouraged to take two programming-oriented classes (GTECH 73100 and GTECH 73300 ). Students planning a career in GIS applications are encouraged to choose from the wide range of applications courses. Students interested in remote sensing may take the sequence of GTECH 71100 through GTECH 71300 courses.

Courses taken to fulfill the requirements of the GIS certificate program may also count towards fulfillment of the Geography MA degree. This happens automatically for GIS certificate students who concurrently enroll as MA students. For students who enroll in the GIS certificate program prior to enrolling in the MA program, the student must request the transfer of credits. The GIS Certificate program does not accept transfer credits to satisfy the minimum 15 credits required for the program.

As the GIS certificate program is a non-degree program, GIS certificate students are considered “non-matriculated.” Enrollment in the GIS certificate program does not guarantee eligibility for financial aid or for a student visa. For more information contact the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis).

Geography Department

Admission Requirements

For applicants who are currently matriculated and in good standing in a graduate-degree program at Hunter College, there is one requirement to be considered for admission:

The student must have passed a college-level statistics course that covers hypothesis testing and simple statistical modeling techniques.

All other applicants must meet the following minimum requirements in order to be considered:

The student must hold a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited institution, comparable in standard and content to a bachelor’s degree from Hunter College.
The student must demonstrate the ability to pursue graduate work successfully. In general, the minimum requirements for consideration are a B-minus average in the undergraduate record as a whole and a B average in the major.
The student must have taken a college-level statistics course which covers basics such as hypothesis testing and simple statistical modeling techniques.

Requirements for the Certificate

Completion of the post-baccalaureate certificate program in GIS requires a minimum of 15 credits, which include:

Required courses (6 cr.)
GTECH 71000 - Introduction to Geographic Information Science
GTECH 73200 - Advanced GIS
Electives (9 or more cr)
GTECH 70200 - Multivariate Statistics in Geography
GTECH 70500 - Spatial Data Analysis
GTECH 71100 - Earth from Above
GTECH 71200 - Remote Sensing of Environment
GTECH 71300 - Digital Image Processing
GTECH 72100 - Advanced Cartography
GTECH 72200 - Automated Cartography
GTECH 73100 - Computer Programming for Geographic Applications
GTECH 73300 - GIS: Modeling and Problem Solving
GTECH 785XX - GIS Applications
Equivalent GIS applications courses offered through other Hunter departments such as Public Health, Sociology, or Urban Planning.

Minimum GPA Requirement

3.0 average or better on all core and elective courses. Additional elective courses may be added to this list or may be used as substitutes with the approval of the GIS Certificate adviser.

Application Deadline

For fall semester: July 1 (April 1 for international students)
For spring semester: January 1 (November 1 for international students)

Return to: Geography Department