Five-Year BA/MA Program

This program provides specially selected Sociology majors with an opportunity to earn both a B.A. and M.A. degree in five years.

This is approximately one year less than normally required to earn both degrees. Graduates of this program will be well prepared to enter the labor force, a professional school or pursue a Ph.D.

To apply to the BA/MA program, a student:

• must be a declared undergradute Sociology or combined Sociology-Anthropology major;
• must be a Junior based on credit hours earned;
• must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.3 for all course work at Loyola;
• must have earned a 3.5 GPA in at least five sociology courses at Loyola (three of which must be at the 200 level or above);
• must complete all of the undergraduate requirements (120 credit hours including core and major requirements;
• should apply for admissions to this program between January 15 and March 15 of her/his junior year;
• must submit a writing sample and three letters of reference from professors. At least one of the letters must come from a full-time faculty member of the Sociology Program
• are encouraged to take the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), but are not required to submit scores.

Once admitted to the program, students may apply up to nine credit hours taken in their senior year toward the thirty graduate hours required by the department for the M.A. degree. These nine credit hours must include a minimum of two and up to three pre-approved courses at the 400 level or above. One course may be taken at either the 300 level. Students must achieve at least a 3.0 GPA in all their graduate course work and complete the required course sequence for one of the tracks in the M.A. program, either the regular M.A. track or the applied M.A. track. The tracks are summarized below.

Students interested in the five-year BA/MA program are invited to meet with the Graduate or Undergraduate Program Director for more information.

REQUIREMENTS

BACHELOR OF ARTS DEGREE (4 YEARS)

• 14 sociology courses x 3 hours = 42 out of 120 hours required to graduate
• Of the 14 sociology courses, only two may be 100-level; the student must take all
  required courses in the B.A sequence: Soc 205, 206, 301, 365.
• At least two of the fourteen courses must be graduate-level courses taken in the senior year.
• Students who earn a grade of B or better in both courses will qualify for distinction in the undergraduate major, even though the courses also count toward the M.A. degree.  
• If the student intends to do the applied MA track, she/he is advised not to take the undergraduate internship (SOCL 380) but to take the graduate internship instead (SOCL 494).
• The BA/MA program requires three more sociology courses than the eleven normally required for a B.A. sociology major. The three extra courses must be graduate-level courses (one may be at the 300-level). Consequently, BA/MA students will have three fewer nonsociology electives than ordinary B.A. students.
   

MASTER'S OF ARTS DEGREE (5TH YEAR)

During the fifth year, students will take 7 graduate-level sociology courses (both elective and required)  x 3 hours = 21 hours out of 30 hours required for the MA degree.

+ Either thesis or portfolio

 Only one independent research/directed study course counted toward M.A.