地球科学系还提供理学硕士学位，但只有在完成博士学位的过程中才为MS学位提供资金。
Instruction and research in the Earth Sciences at the University of Southern California are as diversified and distinguished as the University itself. Courses in geology were a part of the curriculum when USC first opened in 1880. Among the geology professors at that time was M. M. Bovard, first president of USC. One hundred years later, the University was led by still another geologist, James H. Zumberge. The Department of Geology enjoyed its first real surge in support and popularity following the Second World War, when enrollments in the department blossomed as veterans returned to academic studies under the G. I. Bill. Still, in 1961, the Geology faculty numbered only six and the department was known only for its programs in marine geology and invertebrate paleontology.