Psychology

I/O Terminal Masters Option

 

UM-St. Louis also offers a terminal M.A. option within the I/O Psychology graduate program. Terminal masters students take 45 hours of courses, essentially the first 2 years of courses in the doctoral program. There is no thesis requirement. Note that completion of the terminal M.A. does not qualify one for admittance into the doctoral program. Assistantships and tuition waivers are currently not available to terminal M.A. students.

Because resources are limited and the program is geared primarily toward doctoral training, only 1-2 terminal masters students are admitted in any given year, and in some years we are unable to admit any terminal masters students. Given that approximately 4 doctoral students are admitted each year, this means that there are relatively few terminal masters students in the program at any given time.

Terminal masters and doctoral students are enrolled together in most of the courses taken by terminal masters students. In other words, terminal masters students take most of the doctoral I/O courses offered in the first two years of the program. Terminal masters students are free, however, to take some elective courses that are not generally taken by doctoral students (these courses are generally offered in the College of Business). Additionally, terminal masters students are not required to complete an empirical research thesis, whereas doctoral students are required to do so (in addition to the dissertation).

Admissions
The only formal administrative requirements for acceptance is the completed application, which includes the application form for admission to graduate school, transcripts of all previous undergraduate and graduate work, GRE test scores (applicants are NOT required to take the psychology subject test GRE), and three letters of recommendation. All of these data, plus other relevant information, are used in making the final decision concerning admission. Note that being weak on one admission criterion may be compensated for by being strong on others.

Generally speaking, the admission standards for terminal masters applicants are slightly lower than those for doctoral applicants. However, because terminal masters students are required to take a number of first- and second-year doctoral courses, the admission standards are still quite high (to ensure that terminal masters students can perform adequately in those courses).

While having been an undergraduate psychology major is helpful, it is not required for admission into the program. However, all students must have completed the following four undergraduate courses (or their equivalent): Introduction to Psychology, Statistics, Research Methods, and Introduction to I/O Psychology.

The application deadline (for admission in the Fall) is January 15 . Applications must be made through Graduate Admissions. To apply, you can access Online Application Forms or, if you would like to receive application forms in the mail, please call or e-mail the Graduate Admissions Office (314-516-5458 or gradadm@umsl.edu).