Degree Requirements

• Candidates for the MA degree in applied sociology earn a minimum of 36 semester credits, at least 27 of which must be in courses offered in the program. To graduate, students must have an overall grade point average of 3.0 (students may be placed on probation if their GPA falls below 3.0).

•Core Courses. Fundamentals of Applied Sociology (Soc 600), research methodology (Soc 650 and 651), and two courses out of the following: Complex Organizations (Soc 601), Social Policy (Soc 640), Social Problems (Soc 620), or Applied Social Theory (Soc 605).

•Specialty Courses. Students specialize in a substantive area by taking at least two courses from one of the following areas: medical sociology, criminology/corrections, social policy/evaluation research, or interdisciplinary programs in forensic services, dispute resolution, gerontology, or counseling.

•Practical Experience. Students are expected to complete an internship in a human services, health, or criminal justice setting or to complete the seminar on teaching. The requirement can be waived for those with prior experience or for those who complete the graduate teaching seminar.

•Teaching Seminar. All students who receive a Teaching Assistantship must enroll in our graduate seminar on the sociology of teaching. Course open to all interested students.

•Capstone. Students must complete an MA thesis—a 9 credit independent research project leading to a thesis and supervised by a 3-person committee; an MA research paper—a research experience developed in a 6-credit seminar that results in an article-length and professional quality research paper; or a comprehensive exam—a 6-hour exam covering research methods, social theory and policy, and the student’s area of concentration.