Advancement to Candidacy
All students must satisfy the general requirements for advancement to candidacy, as described in Requirements for Master’s Degrees . In addition, the department requires that the student must:
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Complete all deficiency courses (needed only if admitted with conditional graduate standing);
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Complete at least 18 units of program study coursework;
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Complete the three required core courses;
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Maintain at least a 3.0 GPA in all other courses applied to the Master of Arts degree including any transfer credit;
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Complete a thesis proposal and have it approved by the student’s committee. Submit a thesis proposal approval form (available on the department website at http://anthropology.sdsu.edu) to the graduate adviser;
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Obtain human and/or animal subjects approval (if applicable)
Specific Requirements for the MA degree
In addition to meeting the requirements for classified graduate standing and the basic requirements for the Master of Arts degree as described in Requirements for Master’s Degrees , no grade below a B (3.0) is acceptable for coursework on a student’s program of study (POS) and students must complete a graduate program of at least 30 units. Courses applied to the POS must be at the 500, 600, or 700 level. No more than three units of ANTH 798 (Special Study) or three units of ANTH 795 (Internship) may be applied to the POS. As per University Policy, at least 70 percent of the units used to fulfill the minimum requirements on a master’s degree program shall be letter graded. Accordingly, no more than 9 units of CR/NC courses can be applied to the POS. Courses required to remove undergraduate deficiencies and those used to fulfill the foreign language requirement are in addition to the minimum 30 units required for the Master of Arts degree in anthropology. Details about how to satisfy the foreign language requirement are available on the department’s website. Students will also need to submit an Appointment to Thesis Committee form to the graduate program adviser.
Required Core Courses
Three of the following core seminar courses
Only classified students may enroll in these courses. Students must obtain no less than a grade of B to satisfy program requirements.
Methods Courses
(3 units)
One of the following methods courses:
Electives
(12 units)
Four 500/600/700 numbered elective courses from any department at SDSU determined in consultation with the student’s thesis chair.
Note:
Only 9 units can be taken outside of Anthropology. Students should be aware that some electives may require prerequisites that will not fulfill degree requirements.
ANTH 798 (Special Study; 1-3 units) and ANTH 795 (Internship; 3-9 units) are Credit/No-credit only courses, and may be used toward satisfaction of the degree as electives. However, no more than three units of ANTH 798 or three units of ANTH 795 may be applied to the program of study.
Foreign Language Requirement
To be awarded an M.A degree, students must satisfy the “foreign language requirement.” The department offers four options to meet this requirement: demonstrate upper division competency in 1) a foreign language, 2) statistics, 3) Geographic Information Systems (GIS), or 4) a computer programming language. Because courses which fulfill the foreign language requirement do not need to be 500-level and above and may require prerequisites, these credits are in addition to the minimum of 30 units required for the M.A. degree. Details about the foreign language requirement are available on the department’s website.
Research Requirement
(3 units)
ANTH 797 Research (Credit/No-credit only) Units: 3. Can be taken before or after advancing to candidacy.
Culminating Experience
(3 units)
Plan A
After advancing to candidacy and submitting an approved Appointment of Thesis Committee form (available on the Anthropology Department’s website), student can enroll in:
ANTH 799A Thesis (Credit/Satisfactory Progress/No-credit only) Units: 3
As a requirement for the Master of Arts degree, all graduate students must present their thesis research as an oral examination with all committee members present. Only Plan A, requiring the thesis, is permitted for the Master of Arts degree in anthropology.
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