How to Get Your M.A. in Two Years

Georgia State's philosophy M.A. program is designed to be finished in two years. Out of a philanthropic concern for your welfare, we urge you to try to finish up within that time. Why? If you have an assistantship, there is no guarantee that you'll be supported past two years. And if you do not have an assistantship, chances are that you are taking out some loans to live on. Taking out any more loans than is absolutely necessary in order to finish an M.A. in philosophy is, economically, a doubleplusungood idea. And if you go on to obtain a Ph.D. after your M.A. here, you'll probably be in school at least 5 more years. So while we hope that your time with us at Georgia State is wonderful and intrinsically valuable, it should also be short. Our program requirements can more or less be divided into two main areas: (1) taking a certain number of classes, that also fulfill distribution requirements, and (2) writing and successfully defending a thesis. Few people have difficulty finishing the classes expeditiously. Where people get hung up is in finishing the thesis. That's because the thesis is open-ended and largely self-directed. With classes, there is a set meeting time, and a deadline for the final paper, so that, even if you are a habitual procrastinator, you'll probably buckle down at the end and crank out the work that needs to be done. With the thesis, on the other hand, it's easy to put off the work and instead put your time into more immediately pressing matters. In the second year, most people on aid will be teaching Critical Thinking for the first time, and it's easy to allow the various tasks associated with that--preparing for classes twice a week, grading assignments, etc.--to take up almost all of your time. And if you're also taking or sitting in on a couple of classes, it will be difficult to get started on your thesis. What many people do is to let things slide. They might have a vague idea of what they'd like to write on, but they don't begin serious work on settling on a definite topic, putting together a thesis proposal and a committee, and so on, until near the end of the Fall semester of their second year, or even the beginning of the following Spring semester. These people are very unlikely to finish the program in two years, especially because we have a set of deadlines for when drafts of the thesis must be given to your advisor and your committee that fall fairly early in the semester you wish to graduate. And so, the key to finishing in two years is to get started on the work on your thesis early. Our program, basically, involves taking 9 graduate-level classes (excluding Teaching Philosophy, Thesis Research, etc.) that fulfill various distribution requirements, plus writing and defending a thesis. A typical course load at the graduate level is 3 such classes each semester. So think of the program this way: your first year should be dedicated to getting the majority of your classes out of the way, and the second year to writing your thesis. In order to do this, it would be best to have a thesis topic and an advisor selected by the end of your first year in the program, to spend the summer between your first and second years reading and taking notes for the sake of the thesis, plus developing an outline of how your thesis will be structured, and then to hit the ground running at the start of your second year in writing the thesis. But in order to do this, you obviously need to start thinking about your thesis in your first year in the program. That doesn't mean that you need to come in with a thesis topic already in mind. But consider which people you might like to have as your advisor, and then try to take classes with them ASAP. And while you're taking your classes, ask yourself whether any of the material you're studying interests you as a possible topic for a thesis. If so, make sure to write your final paper on that topic. Having a paper already written on your thesis topic to use as a starting point for further work gives you a big head start. If you have a possible thesis topic in mind, but it isn't covered directly in any of the classes offered your first year, do not despair. You may be able to work that topic, in a plausible and natural manner, into a paper for a class on something else. For instance, let's imagine that you're really interested in Thomas Reid, but GSU happens not to be offering a seminar on Reid that particular year. However, if we are offering a class on Hume, you may be able to write your final paper on an analysis of Reid's criticisms of Hume's doctrine of impressions and ideas. (NB: before doing something like this, it would be prudent to run your paper idea past your professor to make sure that it's suitable for the class.) Another option is to try to arrange for a directed readings class on the subject. Getting a majority of your thesis written in the Fall of your second year offers a number of advantages. First of all, if you're applying to Ph.D. programs (most of which have application deadlines around January 1), your thesis advisor will be able to discuss your thesis in some detail in his or her letter of recommendation, which should make it a stronger letter. Secondly, you'll then be able to make any needed revisions in the following Spring semester in a low-key, low-stress way, rather than sweating things out in order to meet deadlines. For those applying to PhD and JD programs, campus visits may eat up some of the Spring, and that can be time-consuming. Also, once you are accepted to a program, the preparations for a move to a new city can be time consuming. The less thesis work you have to do in April or May (or August!), the better off you are. Getting a full draft of the thesis done in your third semester in the program is not a wild pipe dream. GSU's philosophy department does not have hard and fast page requirements for its M.A. theses, but we do not expect (and do not desire) sprawling opuses. An M.A. thesis ought to be a more substantial piece of work than a typical seminar paper, and it will quite likely be longer than a typical seminar paper. But what we really care about in the M.A. thesis is its being a much more polished, professional, and tightly-argued piece of work than a typical seminar paper, rather than its simply being longer. We have had excellent M.A. theses that are 35 pages long. If you put as much time each week into working on your thesis as you should be putting in for two graduate-level classes, then getting a solid draft (or even two) of the thesis done over the course of a semester should be easily achievable--especially if you already have a class paper written on the topic to use as your starting-point. In order to put in that time, particularly if you are also teaching Critical Thinking, It's important to set a writing schedule and designated work times (as opposed to class time/teaching time). Also, you should take at most one class that semester. In fact, taking zero classes that semester might not be a bad idea. And don't audit a lot of classes either. Even if a bunch of classes look interesting, don't deceive yourself into thinking that you'll be able to squeeze in the time to work on your thesis while also taking them. Focus on the thesis. We won't here give much advice on how to make sure that the time you put into your thesis is productive. It will help with writing your thesis to set deadlines for yourself and to meet them, even if the advisor isn't pushing too hard. Lots of good things have been written on how to get done quickly with one's dissertation, and most of that advice also applies, mutatis mutandis, to writing one's thesis. Also, because of the self-directed nature of a thesis, it is excellent practice for writing a dissertation.One brief piece on writing a dissertation we can recommend is "Words on Paper." [The above was written with regular-status, full-time graduate students entering in the Fall in mind. Much of this advice would also apply to e.g., special status, J.D./M.A. track, or part-time students who wish to get through the program expeditiously, but obviously the exact time-line would need to be adjusted.] Return to the degree requirements. Revised 2/18/08