Oct 19, 2019  
2013-14 Graduate Catalog 
2013-14 Graduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Sociology, M.A.

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Brian Hinote, Program Director
(615) 494-7914

The Department of Sociology and Anthropology  offers the Master of Arts with a major in Sociology and a minor in Sociology at the graduate level.

Please see undergraduate catalog for information regarding undergraduate programs.

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), 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.

Conditional admission is possible, but not guaranteed, under the following circumstances:

  1. GRE score is less than acceptable (exception is dependent upon the strength of the other admission criteria);
  2. prerequi­sites are missing or the grade is less than a C. All prerequisites must be completed within the next semester following this conditional admission and prior to enrollment in the twelfth hour of graduate study. If these conditions are not met, the candidate will be dropped from the program and must seek readmission in a subsequent semester;
  3. GPA is less than 2.75 (exception is dependent upon the strength of the other admission criteria).

Application Procedures


Application deadline for the M.A. program is April 1 for Fall admission, September 15 for Spring admission.

 Applicant must

  3. submit official transcripts of all previous college work;
  4. submit letter of interest and goals;
  5. submit an example of written work; 
  6. submit three letters of recommendation.

Degree Requirements

Candidate must

  1. complete a minimum of 36 semester hours in graduate-level courses, 24 of which must be graduate-level Sociology courses, with no more than 6 of the 36 hours at the 5000 level;
  2. complete all required courses with a minimum grade of B-;
  3. complete 6 hours of thesis research (SOC 6640 ); 
  4. submit and successfully defend a thesis.

Curriculum: Sociology

Candidate must complete 36 hours in the following course of study:

Sociology Elective (3 hours)

Electives (12 hours)

  • Chosen in consultation with thesis advisor

Thesis Research (6 hours)

Program Notes

Candidate must

  1. file a degree plan in the College of Graduate Studies prior to the completion of 21 credit hours;

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