Sociology, M.A.

Admission Requirements

Admission to the Master of Arts in Sociology program requires

1. an earned bachelor’s degree from an accredited university or college;
2. an acceptable grade point average in all college work taken (generally at least a 2.75 GPA);
3. successful completion of at least 18 semester hours of undergraduate sociology courses, which includes the prerequisites of research methods (SOC 3040) or statistics (SOC 3050) and sociological theory (SOC 3060) or their equivalents with a grade of C or better*;
4. completion of the Graduate Record Exam with acceptable scores.

*NOTE: This requirement may be waived by the graduate program director for students with sufficiently high GPA and GRE scores.

Application Procedures

All application materials are to be submitted to the College of Graduate Studies.

Application deadline for the M.A. program is March 1 for Fall admission, September 15 for Spring admission, but applications are reviewed on a continuous, rolling basis by the Admissions Committee and Program Director.

 Applicant must

1. submit application with appropriate fee (online at www.mtsu.edu/graduate/apply.php). Once this initial application has been accepted, the applicant will receive directions on how to enter the graduate portal to be able to submit other materials.
2. submit official scores on the Graduate Record Exam (GRE);
3. submit official transcripts of all previous college work;
4. submit letter of interest and goals;
5. submit an example of written work, preferably in the form of academic writing;
6. submit three letters of recommendation from mentors or colleagues able to speak to your ability to succeed in graduate school in the social/behavioral sciences.

Degree Requirements

The Master of Arts in Sociology requires completion of 36-39 semester hours. In addition, a maximum of 9 hours of thesis research may be required to fulfill degree requirements.

Candidate must

1. complete 36-39 semester hours in graduate-level courses, all of which must be at the 6000 level and 24 of which must be Sociology courses;
2. complete all required courses with a minimum grade of B-;
3. complete 6-9 hours of thesis research (SOC 6640 );
4. submit and successfully defend a thesis.

Curriculum: Sociology

The following illustrates the minimum coursework requirements.