Master's Field Work Information and Manual
Master's Degree Requirements
Admissions Procedures
The University of Maryland offers two programs for those who are interested in receiving their Masters degree in Student Affairs. Learning outcomes of the Master's program, general curriculum requirements, along with a more detailed description of each program are provided below.
Learning Outcomes
Graduates from the Master of Arts (M.A.) or Master of Education (M.Ed.) degree program will have professional entry-level competencies in each of the following areas:
- defining the role and functions of student affairs work in higher education
- interpreting research significant to the profession and conducting related research at an elementary level
- identifying factors affecting human and organizational behavior
- translating theoretical knowledge about the development of organizations and individuals into meaningful practices of the profession: counseling, instruction, supervision, program design, administration,research
- developing multicultural competence to engage with diverse students with effectiveness and confidence
- performing the functions of program assessment, design, implementation, and evaluation as appropriate for individuals, student services offices, and organizations.
Revised Degree Requirements:
New degree requirements for Fall 2012 include additional options and modifications from the current curriculum presented below. This document contains the finalized curriculum for students pursuing a Master of Arts or Masters of Education degree who enrolled for Fall 2012 and beyond.
Current Program Goals and Themes:
Students wishing to graduate with Master of Arts or Masters of Education degree who enrolled prior to 2012 must have completed the following course requirements. Please refer to the Revised Degree Requirements in the section above for degree requirement revision.
General Degree Requirements
Students wishing to graduate with either a Master of Arts or Master of Education degree must have completed the following course requirements:
EDCP 615 Counseling I: Appraisal & Assessment - 3 credits
- EDCP 610 Professional Orientation: College Student Personnel - 3 credits
- EDCP 771 The College Student: Student Development Theories - 3 credits
- EDCP 888A Apprenticeship in Student Personnel Services - 3 credits
- EDCP 789Z/741 Seminar in Multicultural Development - 2 credits
- EDCP 655 Organizational Leadership in Student Affairs (Capstone) - 3 credits
- EDCP 616 Counseling II: Theory and Practice - 3 credits
- EDCP 618 Pre practicum lab - 2 credits
- EDCP 619B Practicum in College Counseling - 3 credits
- EDMS 645 Quantitative Methods I - 3 credits
- EDCP 799/798 Research Design & Proposal Writing Seminar - 2 credits
(M.A. students register for 2 credits of EDCP 799)
(M. Ed. students register for 2 credits of EDCP 798) - Elective: One course of your choice to enrich your program - 3 credits
Master of Arts degree (M.A.)
In addition to the the learning outcomes of the program, the Master of Arts programs is designed to provide research experience for its graduates. As a result, students seeking to graduate with this degree must have completed the following requirements:
- successful completion of a Master's Thesis
- successful completion of one additional statistics course and four additional research thesis credits
Master of Education (M.Ed.)
In addition to the learning outcomes of the program, the Master of Education program is designed to provide opportunities for students seeking to concentrate on specified areas within the College Student Personnel Program. As a result, students seeking to graduate with this degree must have completed the following requirements:
- successful completion of a seminar paper
- successful completion of two courses of a professional concentration to explore topics to their professional practice or research
Additional Elective Courses Available
In addition to degree requirements, students may choose to take other courses for personal interest. Common course offerings are listed below:
- EDCP 611 Career Counseling
- EDCP 617 Group Counseling
- EDCP 775 Facilitating Student Learning in Higher Education
- EDCP 789D/694 Student Leadership Development
- EDMS 647 Introduction to Program Evaluation
- EDHI 651 Higher Education Law
- EDHI 660/661 Retention Theories/Retention of College Students
- EDHI 662 Research on Ethnic Minorities
Additional Information & Requirements
Duration:
Each student is an individual with different talents, family and work responsibilities. Program requirements are designed so that full-time students can complete their program in four semesters. Students may also enroll part time during some or all of their program to extend program completion to three years. All programs must be completed within 5 years. The program will total 40 credit hours.Comprehensive Examinations:
All candidates for either the Master of Arts (M.A.) or Master of Education (M.Ed.) degree are required to successfully complete and pass a comprehensive examination. For both degree options, the masters comprehensive examination consists of the successful completion of a research proposal. The research proposal is a body of work that proposes an empirical study that is conceived of by the student and developed in conjunction with the course: EDCP 798/799, Masters Research Seminar. The proposal includes three chapters: I) introduction; II) review of literature and theory; and III) study methods. Full-time students generally enroll in EDCP 798/799 during the fall semester of their second year, and complete their comprehensive examination at the end of the same semester.Full-time versus Part-time
It is possible to do the masters and doctoral program part-time. However, almost all students are full-time and we encourage full-time enrollment when possible. Still, we aim to admit the strongest group of students regardless of status, so we fully consider applications from part-time Ph.D. students.
