PH.D. IN APPLIED PHILOSOPHY
II: M.A. EXAMINATION

Must be completed in the spring semester of the second academic year, or the fourth semester of the program (excluding summer semesters). Students are eligible to take the examination only if they are making “normal progress” in their course work, as determined by the Director of Graduate Studies with the advice of faculty.

The Examination

There are two parts to the Examination:

  (1) The “M.A. Essay” must be submitted to the Director of Graduate Studies early in the fourth semester of the program (excluding summer semesters).

  (2)The “M.A. Research Skills Test” is written early in the fourth semester of the program. The test is in two parts, Value Theory and General Philosophy. Students have two hours in which to write each part of the test, and all students write at the same time. Each part consists of two passages; students choose one of the passages from each part of the test and write a philosophical essay about the passage. The tests are scheduled and designed by the Graduate Director in consultation with the Graduate Committee.

Grading and Assessment

(1) The M.A. Skills Tests and the M.A. Essays submitted in any one semester are reviewed by a single three person M.A. Examination Committee selected annually by lot from among members of the department. There is no oral examination. The membership of the Examination Committee in a given semester is not announced until after the deadline for submission of the M.A. Essays and after the Skills Tests has been written.

  (2) The Skills Tests are subject to “blind” review by the Examination Committee; the M.A. essays are subject to “blind” review insofar as possible.

  (3) The Examination Committee discusses and grades the Skills Tests, and then the essays, and determines for each student, by majority vote, whether the student should be permitted to proceed in the PhD program and/or be awarded the MA. There are four possible results: (a) MA and eligible to proceed, (b) MA and eligible to retake the examination, (c) terminal MA, (d) failure. The examination can be retaken only once.

  (4) Students have the right to appeal decisions of the Examination Committee to the Departmental Graduate Committee. The Graduate Committee would appoint a subcommittee containing no-one from the Examination Committee to consider all such appeals. There is no appeal within the department beyond the Graduate Committee.