Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences (MAPSS)

General Information

The Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences (MAPSS) is a one-year program of graduate studies leading to the A.M. degree. MAPSS offers a wide variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary opportunities for advancing academic or career goals, while allowing flexibility unusual among graduate programs. MAPSS makes the resources of a great university available for student-centered and highly individualized programs of graduate study. Each student works closely with the director and an assigned preceptor on all aspects of the program, from designing a customized curriculum, to defining the area of scholarly research, to writing the thesis. MAPSS provides every student with a vibrant and collaborative intellectual community and core-course training in social science theory. Students meet a social sciences methods requirement and choose seven additional courses from the full range of regular doctoral and graduate professional offerings of the departments and committees of the Division of Social Sciences and of the other divisions and professional schools of the University.

The program is well suited for those who wish either to take advantage of the resources of several disciplines to study a problem or area of interest, or to strengthen their training and achievement in a single discipline. Some MAPSS students acquire skills and knowledge for careers that make use of the social sciences; others prepare for further graduate work or professional training. The program provides students with an opportunity to explore fields in the social sciences in which they may have limited background before making a major professional or educational commitment.

MAPSS offers sophisticated counseling and application support to students who have vocations for doctoral or professional school study. MAPSS graduates have received and presently pursue doctorates in all of the University of Chicago's social science departments and committees, as well as Ph.D., J.D., and M.D. degrees in the various professional schools. They are likewise welcomed into advanced study at other major research institutions in the U.S. and abroad.

Graduates of the program also enter or return to a wide range of careers for which the MA is increasingly the entry-level degree. Such careers include community organizing, contract research, business consulting, teaching, counseling, publishing, health care, government service, public affairs, non-profit administration, arts and museum curation. A national network of MAPSS alumni, in concert with the University's office of Career Advising and Planning Services, enthusiastically assists current students in identifying career possibilities and securing challenging positions.

Admission

Applicants for the Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences are expected to meet the graduate admissions requirements of the division. Submission of Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores is normally required for financial aid consideration and strongly encouraged for all applicants. TOEFL scores must be submitted by all applicants from foreign countries and are recommended for foreign student graduates of American colleges.

Applications are due by December 28 for admission to the autumn quarter of the next academic year. Applicants for the Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences are expected to meet the graduate admissions requirements of the division. Submission of Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores is required. Applicants from non-English-speaking countries must also submit TOEFL scores of a minimum of 600 (paper exam) or 250 (computerized exam) with minimum section scores of 60/25. MAPSS is designed to be completed in one academic year (three or four quarters on a full-time basis). All financial aid is merit based, and the MAPSS program offers partial tuition scholarships on a highly competitive basis. Persons with flexible daytime schedules may make part-time arrangements, but such students will not be eligible for financial aid.

We urge you to use the online graduate application link at http://grad-application.uchicago.edu. Please read ALL the instructions before beginning your application. The application is available in September for the admissions competition, with matriculation in September of the following year. A paper application is mailed only upon special request. The Office of Admissions must receive ALL materials supporting your application by the appropriate deadline. Materials should not be sent directly to the Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences office.

For more information, you may contact:
The Office of Admissions, Division of the Social Sciences
The University of Chicago
1130 E. 59th Street, Foster 107
Chicago, Illinois 60637
Phone: 773-702-8414
Facsimile: 773-834-3509

Or the MAPSS Departmental Office at:
5828 South University Avenue, Pick 301
Chicago, Illinois 60637
Phone: 773-702-8316
Facsimile: 773-702-5140
mapss@uchicago.edu

You could also contact Diana Gray, Student Affairs Administrator at: 773-702-8312 or dgray@uchicago.edu.

Program Requirements

Course Work

The nine courses must include the core course and meet the methods requirement, as described below. The core course, "Perspectives in Social Science Analysis", provides a critical understanding of the major theoretical approaches used by professional social scientists. It supplies all MAPSS students with a common technical vocabulary and evens out their foundational preparations across the various disciplines. Because "Perspectives" is offered only in the Autumn Quarter, students may not begin the MAPSS program in any other quarter.

Students must also fulfill a social sciences methods requirement. MAPSS offers courses in historical and ethnographic methods. Survey research methods courses are sponsored by the Division of Social Sciences. Dozens of other methods courses -- from statistics and policy methods to interview and case study methods -- are available to fulfill the requirement in any given year. Students may also fulfill the requirement by demonstrating prior methods course work.

Students select courses with the guidance and approval of a MAPSS preceptor and the MAPSS director. The full-time graduate student registers for three courses each quarter, and completes the nine-course requirement in three quarters.

The Master's Paper

Students write the paper under the supervision of a regular faculty member in the University and a preceptor, both of whom provide a written evaluation and a letter grade upon its completion. The Master's paper may be based upon: empirical research testing a social science hypothesis or deploying a specified social science perspective; a theoretical critique of existing social science literature on a selected topic; systematic survey or evaluation research; or any other topic acceptable to the faculty sponsor, the preceptor, and the program director. During the winter quarter, preceptors hold regular thesis proposal writing workshops. Any faculty member from any school, division, or department of the University may serve as the thesis paper sponsor. In any two academic years, as many as 240 individual faculty members supervise MAPSS papers.

A selection of M.A. paper titles may further suggest the range of research interests accommodated within the MAPSS program.

• "Democratic Leadership in Athens and its Role in Thucydides' Political Thought."
• "Holocaust Representation and Memory: The United States' Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C. and the Belt Hashoah-Museum of Tolerance, Los Angeles."
• "The Cloning Debate: A Cultural Psychology of Morality."
• "Joint Attention, Attention, and Word Learning."
• "Queer Nation and the Use of Culture and Symbolism in Contemporary Social Movements."
• "Mothers of Capital: the Intersection of Globalization, Naturalization, and Indian Immigrants in Chicago's South Asian Diaspora."
• "Learning to Listen: An Investigation into Variables that Augment Perceptual Learning."
• "The Gift Horse: International Post-Disaster Aid Reconstruction and its Hidden Consequences."
• "Everyday Work: The Moral Economy of a Bosnian Black Market."
• "Post-Philosophical Politics in a Literary Culture: A Critique of Richard Rorty's Twenty-first Century Narrative."
• "Multinationals, Labor, and the Chinese State: A Comparative Case Study of Motorola and McDonald's in China."
• "Sacred Travel Sites in Cyberspace."
• "Resolving Trauma Through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission."
• "What Does Neuroscience Reveal About the Phenomenon of Freud's 'Compulsion to Repeat'?"
• "Chinese and Creole, an Identity in Transition: The Chinese community and associations in Jamaica, West Indies."
• "To Make Georgia Howl: Just War Theory and the Strategy and Tactics of William Tecumseh Sherman, 1861-65."
• "Toward the Eradication of the Trafficking of Women: Rectifying Rights and Rescue in Theory and Practice."
• "Beyond the Pale of Sovereignty: the Problem of 'Indigenousness' as the Basis of Citizenship in the Post-Colonial African State."
• "Truman, MacArthur and the Untold Story: 1949-1951."
• "Vertebral Wedging of the Lumbar Vertebrae in Primates: Possible Evolutionary Implications for Bipedal Locomotion."
• "The Application of UN Refugee Policy: A Case Study of Tanzanian Refugee Policy toward Burundian Refugees from 1993-2002."
• "Labor Unions in a Global Economy: Changes, Challenges, and Opportunities."
• "Psychological Distress and its Relation to Ethnic Identity among Korean American Youth in Chicago."
• "British Public Opinion and "Open" Diplomacy During the Greek War of Independence, 1821-1829."
• "The Public Housing Reform Act of 1998: A Case Study in the Creation of Public Policy in America."
• "Mourning, Memory and Memorialisation: Gender and First World War Commemoration in Britain and France, 1918-1929."
• "Lost Souls-the Persistence of Traditional Belief in Haitian Immigrants' Perceptions of Mental Illness."
• "The Political Economy of Finance and Corporate Reform in East Asia."
• "American Indian Powwows in the 21st Century: Creating Cultural and Ethnic Identity and Community through Dance."

Individual Courses of Study

Because there are as many specific courses of study as there are individual MAPSS students, it is impossible to identify "typical" curricula. Such freedom and flexibility, in a context of extraordinary faculty, university, and peer resources, compose the uniqueness of MAPSS among American graduate programs. Prospective applicants who may feel daunted by the prospect of a designer M.A. degree are urged to view the sample curricula below and navigate the course offerings in the University's online time schedule (http://timeschedules.uchicago.edu/) Some students compose a curriculum wholly from among general courses and seminars; others prefer a program of considerably greater concentration. Some take most or all of their courses in a single department or discipline; others combine courses from as many as four or five different disciplines in order to address a particular research problem. Cross-disciplinary faculty committees maintain specifically ordered course sequences, such as those in Gender Studies and the Committee on Human Rights. The University of Chicago is especially receptive to such multi-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary projects. Most faculty hold appointments in more than one teaching unit, many graduate courses are cross-listed, and the graduate workshop system brings students from many departments together over common research topics. For nearly 75 years, MAPSS has contributed significantly to this distinguished Chicago tradition.

Preceptors

Students work closely with one of the preceptors in the Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences (MAPSS). Preceptors guide students in defining their areas of academic specialization as well as in choosing courses. Preceptors also assist students in selecting faculty sponsors for their A.M. papers and take an active role in guiding and evaluating the research and writing of these papers.

Further Information

For application and financial aid information: Office of the Dean of Students, Division of the Social Sciences, The University of Chicago, 1130 East 59th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, telephone: (773) 702-8415. For additional information about the program: Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences, The University of Chicago, 5828 South University Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, telephone: (773) 702-8316, or email: mapss@uchicago.edu.

This text was last revised on 1/10/2005.