Master’s Study: Preliminary Results: Draft April 2012
We have about 7000 graduate and professional students. Of those, almost 3000 are master’s students. Our PhD programs have been well studied as have PhD programs nationally. Less is known about master’s programs. This is partly because of the wide range of master’s programs. The Council of Graduate Schools has tried to develop a taxonomy, but the variety of master’s programs is enormous. Some require a thesis; others do not. Some are coursework only while others required master’s papers or internships. Some are professionally oriented while others prepare students for doctoral studies. Many are part time. Numbers of credit vary dramatically from 30 to 60+. Not only are there many types of programs, but programs within a single discipline lack consistency. Thus, there is no way to rely on national benchmarks for time to degree. Further, we have an ever increasing number of dual master’s degrees and Accelerated Master’s programs, for which time to degree will necessarily differ from single or post-baccalaureate master’s.
We decided, therefore, to ask each of our 133 master’s programs to tell us the expected time to degree for their programs. While the most common expected length was two years, times ranged from 12 months to 49 months. About a third have only fulltime students while the average percent of fulltime students across programs is 78%. There is a modest positive correlation between Time to Degree and the percentage of fulltime students (r=.25). Forty-four percent are supported by assistantships. About half have a thesis option, but only 32% of programs require a thesis. Programs that require a thesis have a much lower two year completion rate: 27.9% versus 45.1% for those that have no thesis. Time to degree is slightly longer for thesis programs: 2.28 versus 2.09 years. Twelve percent require an internship; 36% more have an internship as an option. Slightly more than half (54%) consider their program to be professional. Professional programs have about the same two year completion rate as non-professional: 41.3% versus 43.9%. Median time to degree is also similar: 2.20 years for professional; 2.17 for non-professional. Programs ranged in size from one enrolled student to 264, with an average of 28. Fifteen programs have more than 50 students; 4 more than 100 (MIS, Public Health, MBA, and SIRLS). There was a small negative correlation (r= -.13) between the size of the program and Time to Degree, suggesting that larger programs may have slightly shorter Time to degree, probably because they are less likely to require a thesis. (We lack completion and Time to Degree data for MBA because of the differences in the various MBA programs.)
Table 1 below shows the expected time to degree, the actual time to degree, and the two year completion rate for each program that had more than 10 students in either Fall 2010 or Fall 2011. Blanks are shown in programs too new to have data. Median Time to Degree is for students completing in years 2005-2011. The mean of these medians is 2.26, just slightly longer than mean expected time to degree of 2.14. Looking at actual Time to Degree versus expected Time to Degree, a number of programs have shorter actual time to degree. That can result from students bringing in non-degree credits or transfer credit, so that is not necessarily an indication of effectiveness. If actual time to degree exceeds expected by a significant margin, that indicates the need for a program to look more deeply into their data and their practices. Completion rates are for entering students, 2005-2009. Completion rates vary from 0% to 100%, with a mean of almost 42%.
Table 1. Master’s programs with more than 10 students in either Fall ’10 or Fall ‘11
Fall enrollment / ActualPrimary Major Acad Plan Desc / 2010 / 2011 / # completing within 2 yrs / Median Time to Degree (yrs) / Expected yrs to complete
Architecture MAR / 45.60% / 2 / 3.5
Anthropology applied archeology MA / 23 / 24 / 18.60% / 2.5 / 2
Accounting MAC / 67 / 52 / 87.80% / 1 / 1
Aerospace Engineering / 26 / 20 / 37.50% / 2 / 2
Agricultural & Biosystems Engr / 12 / 15 / 22.20% / 2.5 / 2
Agricultural & Resource Econ / 25 / 29 / 28.10% / 2.5 / 2
Agricultural Education MAE / 18 / 17 / 35.40% / 2 / 3
American Indian Studies / 21 / 25 / 30.40% / 2.5 / 2
Animal Sciences / 13 / 8 / 50.00% / 2 / 2
Applied Biosciences / 5 / 11 / 60.00% / 2
Architecture MS / 42 / 52 / 1.5
Art / 42 / 40 / 4.10% / 3 / 2
Art Education / 29 / 23 / 20.60% / 3 / 2.5
Art History / 22 / 15 / 20.00% / 2.5 / 3
Atmospheric Sciences / 13 / 12 / 12.00% / 2.5 / 2.5
Biomedical Engineering / 15 / 8 / 44.40% / 2 / 2
Business Administration / 255 / 237 / 69.90% / 2
Chemical Engineering / 10 / 9 / 100.00% / 1 / 2
Civil Engineering / 15 / 6 / 24.20% / 2.5
Civil Engr & Engr Mechanics / 20 / 26 / 2
Classics / 34 / 28 / 25.00% / 2.5 / 2
Communication / 11 / 8 / 36.80% / 2.5 / 2
Computer Science / 26 / 21 / 76.00% / 2 / 2
Creative Writing / 52 / 49 / 65.50% / 2 / 2
Dance / 13 / 13 / 87.50% / 2 / 2
East Asian Studies / 10 / 11 / 80.60% / 2 / 2
Educational Leadership / 41 / 37 / 22.80% / 2
Educational Psychology / 16 / 21 / 33.30% / 2 / 2
Educational Technology / 24 / 28 / 54.50% / 2 / 2
Electrical & Computer Engr / 86 / 68 / 23.60% / 3
Engineering / 31 / 22 / 60.00% / 1.5 / 1.5
Engineering Management / 2 / 10 / 2
English / 26 / 23 / 18.20% / 3
English As A Second Language / 17 / 13 / 90.20% / 2 / 2
Environmental Engineering / 15 / 12 / 64.70% / 2 / 2
General Biology / 14 / 8 / 2.70% / 5.5
Geographic Info Sys Tech / 32 / 1
Geography / 23 / 26 / 43.20% / 2.5 / 2
Geosciences / 29 / 27 / 30.60% / 2.5 / 2.5
German Studies / 8 / 10 / 46.20% / 2 / 2
Higher Education / 39 / 48 / 70.40% / 2
History / 22 / 18 / 30.00% / 2.5
Hydrology / 22 / 26 / 8.70% / 2.5 / 2
Info Resources & Library Sci / 264 / 233 / 39.60% / 2 / 2
International Security / 20 / 2
Journalism / 10 / 13 / 0.00% / 2.5 / 2
Landscape Architecture / 53 / 61 / 4.90% / 3 / 3
Language, Reading & Culture / 44 / 38 / 38.70% / 2.5 / 2.5
Latin American Studies / 29 / 28 / 45.30% / 2.25 / 2
Management / 46 / 40 / 85.50% / 1.5
Management Information Systems / 130 / 166 / 78.80% / 1.5 / 1.5
Materials Science & Engr / 25 / 15 / 30.80% / 2.5 / 2
Mathematics / 17 / 9 / 10.50% / 2 / 2.5
Mechanical Engineering / 35 / 29 / 54.50% / 2 / 2
Medical Pharmacology / 9 / 11 / 29.00% / 2.5 / 2
Mexican American Studies / 16 / 14 / 31.60% / 2.75 / 2
Mid School Math Teaching & Lead / 30 / 34 / 0.5 / 3
Mining Geol/Geophys Engr / 5 / 10 / 21.40% / 2.5 / 2
Music / 75 / 67 / 40.90% / 2.25 / 2
Natural Resources / 65 / 61 / 14.00% / 2.5 / 4.1
Near Eastern Studies / 35 / 33 / 29.30% / 2.5 / 3
Nursing / 2 / 87 / 43.60% / 2.5 / 1.5
Optical Sciences / 95 / 91 / 28.20% / 2.5 / 2
Physiological Sciences / 25 / 24 / 50.00% / 2 / 2
Planning / 25 / 31 / 43.60% / 2.25 / 2
Public Administration / 81 / 80 / 54.20% / 2 / 2
Public Health / 179 / 219 / 39.50% / 2.5 / 2
Rehabilitation / 49 / 39 / 69.60% / 2 / 2
Russian / 13 / 13 / 41.90% / 2.5 / 2
School Counseling / 31 / 27 / 50.00% / 2 / 2
Secondary Education / 26 / 24 / 55.60% / 2 / 1
Soil, Water & Environ Sci / 24 / 23 / 29.30% / 2.5 / 3
Spanish / 24 / 27 / 26.70% / 2.5 / 2
Special Education / 82 / 57 / 49.40% / 2 / 2
Speech, Language & Hearing Sci / 52 / 49 / 66.70% / 2 / 2.5
Systems Engineering / 21 / 13 / 55.30% / 2 / 2
Teaching & Teacher Education / 98 / 86 / 67.30% / 1.5 / 3
Theatre Arts / 15 / 14 / 32.30% / 3 / 3
Means / 39.3 / 38.44 / 42.20% / 2.25 / 2.14
min / 2 / 6 / 0.00% / 0.5 / 1
max / 264 / 237 / 100.00% / 5.5 / 4.1
In addition to questions about expected time to degree, we also asked other questions pertaining to best practices. These are summarized in Table 2.
Table 2. Best Practices
Yes / NoAre students provided with a written set of expectations about academic requirements and expected progress? / 86
(92%) / 11
Other than course grades and results of written or oral examinations, do you provide a formal assessment of each student’s academic progress at least annually? / 57
(61%) / 36
Do you collect job placement data of your recent graduates? / 65
70% / 28
Do you provide incoming students with job place data of recent graduates? / 29
(34%) / 57
Clearly there is room for improvement.
We believe these data are a starting point for programs to better evaluate their master’s programs and to find ways to improve both Time to Degree and completion. It is clear no one size fits all with regard to master’s programs, but all programs can set and communicate realistic expectations.