The Master of Arts (MA) Degree
Admission Requirements:
A Bachelor's Degree in Theatre from an accredited college or university. (Students who do not hold a Theatre degree must show evidence of substantial course work and/or experience in theatre to indicate probability of achieving success in advanced theatre studies);
- A grade point average of at least 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale) during the last two years of study for a bachelor's degree, or of 3.0 on a master's degree from an accredited institution;
- A minimum score of 1000 on the combined verbal and quantitative portions of the Graduate Record Examination taken within the last 5 years;
- Specific approval of the faculty and program director within the School of Theatre;
- Applicants must submit a completed School of Theatre application, three current letters of recommendation, current resume, statement of purpose, and writing samples indicating research and analytical skills.
Degree Requirements
The MA degree may be earned under a thesis program or a comprehensive exam program. Students planning to go on for a PhD are advised to pursue the MA with a thesis program. Both options require students to demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language.
The thesis program requires a minimum of 30 semester hours of course work, including thesis credit. A maximum of 6 semester hours of credit may be taken on a pass-fail (S/U) basis to fulfill the 30 semester-hour minimum. Students must submit an acceptable thesis for not less than 3 or more than 6 semester hours of credit. Students may, depending on their circumstances, complete more than 6 hours of thesis credit; however, no more than 6 hours may be applied to the required 30 semester hours of course work.
The comprehensive exam program requires a minimum of 32 semester hours of course work, of which 11 semester hours may be taken on an S/U basis. In either program, at least 12 hours of course work must be at the 5000-level or above. Most students are able to complete all requirements for the MA degree in 3 semesters.