Master's Degree Rules and Requirements
- Martin Walls
- Allison DeVoe
Time to Degree Completion
You must meet all requirements for the master’s degree within seven years. If you do not meet this requirement, you may petition your program faculty for reinstatement of credits that were completed outside the seven-year time frame.
Continuous Registration Requirement
You must be continuously registered at Syracuse University during each fall and spring semester. If you are not registering for course work, you must register for GRD 998: Degree in Progress for 0 credit hours.
For the first four semesters, there is no fee to register for GRD 998 other than a student activity fee. You will be charged a $500 fee plus the student activity fee when you register for the fifth semester of GRD 998 and beyond.
This $500 fee indicates continuing engagement in a graduate program; it recognizes the continuing use of faculty, staff, and institutional resources, even during periods when courses are not being taken. It is designed to encourage you to enroll in courses on a continuous basis so that you complete your degree program expeditiously. Finally, it maintains your active status in the program
Leave of Absence (LOA)
If circumstances are such that you have to register for GRD 998 for an extended period of time, you may take a one-year Leave of Absence. If you feel you need more than one year, you must take a permanent Leave of Absence.
If you decide that you want to resume your studies in the School of Education, you can contact your faculty advisor to be readmitted. A Leave of Absence cannot be taken retroactively.
Initial Teacher Certification Master's Degree Requirements
Students seeking a master’s degree in initial teacher preparation programs may have a set of liberal arts pre-requisite requirements.
It is expected that students will enter the program with most of these requirements completed. Students who do not complete all the requirements cannot be recommended for certification.
Information on selecting appropriate courses is available at NYSED Coursework to Satisfy Unmet Requirements.
Students must satisfactorily complete the teacher performance assessment during student teaching in order to graduate and be recommended for teacher certification.
Also Required:
Workshops in violence prevention, child abuse and abduction, substance abuse, the Dignity for All Students Act (DASA), and school and fire safety.
As a culminating experience, students complete an intensive exam or a portfolio demonstrating evidence of professional competence.
Procedures for the Master’s Degree
You are assigned a faculty advisor upon entry into the program. Consult your faculty advisor regarding degree requirements for the specific master’s program that you intend to pursue.
Check with your faculty advisor for any other graduation requirements that may be specific to your program, e.g., Safe and Healthy Learning Environments class or prior New York State teacher certification.
Program of Study
The master’s Program of Study form should be filed as soon as possible in a student’s first semester of study. An approved Program of Study must match courses listed on your official transcript.
To file a master’s Program of Study form, obtain your faculty advisor’s signature and email the form to the SOE Office of Academic and Student Services.
After the form is approved by the Assistant Dean, you and your faculty advisor will each receive a copy via e-mail. The original copy remains on the file in SOE’s Office of Academic and Student Services to be monitored as you proceed with your program.
Culminating Experience
Discuss with your faculty advisor what options are available or required for your required master’s culminating experience: intensive examination, portfolio, thesis, or other options that may or may not be possible for your program, and what these requirements entail. Except for the thesis option, these requirements generally carry no degree credit.
Intensive examinations are designed by your faculty advisor and/or other faculty in your program and are generally given once each semester. The examination itself carries no credit. Check examination dates with your faculty advisor.
Check with your program before you enter your last semester to see if you need to file a Request for Master’s Thesis, Exam, or Portfolio Presentation form for your exam, portfolio, or if only a verbal notification is required.
You have three chances to pass an intensive examination. After the second failure, you must take six additional credit hours of course work, selected in consultation with your faculty advisor, before the third attempt. Rewrites or retakes of the exam can affect the actual conferral date of your degree.
Your faculty advisor will send results of exam/portfolio/ thesis to the Office of Academic and Student Services.
A master’s thesis (not available in all programs) usually constitutes three to six credit hours of the total credit hours for your degree. You will register for these credits using EDU 997. Your faculty advisor and a thesis committee, selected from faculty in your area, will assist you in developing, writing, and defending your research.
Research Using Human or Animal Subjects
If you are conducting research involving human or animal subjects, you must file an application with the Institutional Review Board (IRB) or the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (ACUC) and receive approval to conduct the study.
The policies and forms for human or animal research may be found at Office of Research Integrity and Protections.
Awarding of Master’s Degree
Completion of your coursework and other requirements determines the appropriate degree award date.
Syracuse University awards degrees and certificates four times a year (May, June, August, and December) but has only one graduation ceremony, in May.
If you complete all requirements by May, June, or August deadlines and wish to participate in the ceremony in May, you must file your diploma request no later than the end of January of that year.
If you complete all requirements by the deadlines for the December graduation date, you are eligible to participate in the following May’s ceremony. In this case, you should file your diploma request no later than the end of September before your graduation date.
Submit a diploma request before your last semester via MySlice.
The diploma request is used for four purposes: to enter your name for an anticipated degree date; to initiate an audit of your academic program requirements; to allow you to indicate special instructions for mailing and imprinting your diploma; and to insure your receipt of commencement information.
Diplomas are mailed approximately eight weeks after your degree is certified. Be certain to provide an address that will be valid at that time.
Official degree-bearing transcripts may be ordered once the degree is posted by the University Registrar. The degree is never posted until the degree date, and often takes longer while we wait for grades, missing paperwork, etc.