Non-Thesis and Thesis

The Master of Science program has both a non-thesis option and a thesis option. The non-thesis option requires 36 hours of course work (24 hours of sociology course work and no more than 12 hours in two other related disciplines). The thesis option requires 24 hours of course work and 6 thesis hours. 

Required Courses

Required courses in the master’s degree are:

• Graduate Theory I
• Research Design
• Graduate Social Statistics I

​Students select the remaining courses in collaboration with their major professor.

Final Course Work

In the last semester of their required course work, non-thesis students will take a comprehensive final examination covering two areas: (1) methods and statistics and (2) theory. For thesis students, successful defense of their thesis constitutes the final comprehensive examination.