Master of Social Science

Students must be enrolled full time during one year (three quarters with a minimum of 12 units per quarter) and complete 36 units (nine courses) of course work. The course work consists of seven core MaSS program graduate courses (400 series), and two elective courses either at the graduate (200 series) or upper division (100 series) level. All courses must be taken for a letter grade.

Students must complete the 36 units (nine courses) as follows:

Fall Quarter

Winter Quarter

Spring Quarter

Teaching Experience

Not required.

Field Experience

Not required.

Capstone Plan

Students are required to complete a capstone paper. Students must obtain approval of their topic and research plan from the Academic Program Director. Three faculty members will serve as readers for each paper; readers will be designated by the end of the winter quarter. Faculty readers will provide feedback and evaluate the final submission to determine the student’s satisfactory fulfillment of this requirement.

Thesis Plan

None.

Time-to-Degree

The normative time-to-degree is three quarters. The time line for the master’s degree is described in the Course Requirements section.

Termination of Graduate Study and Appeal of Termination

University Policy

A student who fails to meet the above requirements may be recommended for termination of graduate study. A graduate student may be disqualified from continuing in the graduate program for a variety of reasons. The most common is failure to maintain the minimum cumulative grade point average (3.00) required by the Academic Senate to remain in good standing. Other examples include lack of timely progress toward the degree and poor performance in core courses. Probationary students (those with cumulative grade point averages below 3.00) may be subject to immediate dismissal upon the recommendation of their department. University guidelines governing termination of graduate students, including the appeal procedure, are outlined in Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA.

UCLA is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and by numerous special agencies. Information regarding the University's accreditation may be obtained from the Office of Academic Planning and Budget, 2107 Murphy Hall.