Philosophy, M.A. at Georgia State University

Programme overview

Georgia State has one of the most highly regarded terminal M.A. programs in philosophy in the country, with strong placement into prestigious Ph.D. programs and a lauded teacher-training program. In addition, the department has developed three areas of research strength:

Faculty: College of Arts & Sciences | Department: Philosophy | Duration: Most students finish in two years, although some take three. | Study mode: full-time | Intake: Except under unusual circumstances, we admit new students only in the Fall semester. VIEW ADMISSIONS DEADLINES Admissions Deadlines Extended Deadline: July 15 Our deadline for being considered in the initial round of admission and funding decisions is February 1. All application materials must be re | Location: Atlanta, GA, United States

What you will study

Most students pursue the thesis option, which requires 27 hours of coursework and six hours of thesis research, culminating in a thesis defense. The non-thesis option requires 33 hours of coursework. In addition to the total number of credit hours, students must fulfill some requirements such as a course in symbolic logic, a course in the history of philosophy, a course in value theory, and a course in metaphysics and epistemology. In the neurophilosophy track, students must take six credit hours of courses in other disciplines related to the empirical study of the mind, such as psychology or neuroscience.

Official programme page

Application information

Entry requirements

Who May Apply A student need not have an undergraduate major in philosophy to be admitted to the MA Program. As long as an applicant’s philosophical background is adequate preparation for graduate-level work in philosophy, not having a philosophy major is no bar to admission. (We do not have a strict definition of what counts as ‘adequate preparation,’ but something like 4 or 5 classes in philosophy would normally be a lower bound.) We sometimes have applicants who have never taken philosophy classes before (or have taken just one or two classes), having majored in some other field, but who have read philosophy on their own and have an interest in pursuing graduate studies in philosophy. We do not admit students in this sort of case: some prior academic background in philosophy is necessary for admission. However, these students are urged to enroll as postbaccalaureate students at Georgia State, or at another university or college if coming to GSU is inconvenient, in order to take additional undergraduate classes.

Tuition is charged per credit, so the total depends on the modules you register for each year. Current fees are listed in the official fee schedule.

Graduate programmes (degree, certificate, non-degree and transient): $50 non-refundable application fee; Executive MBA and Executive Doctorate in Business Administration: $100; graduate re-entry: $25. Deadlines vary by college and programme.

Apply through the official page: https://graduate.gsu.edu/future/admissions/

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