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Educational Studies Master's Requirements

Program-Specific Admission Requirements

Personal Statement – One typed page per question:

  • What have you already done professionally or personally of which you are proud? Please include a chronological history of all professional teaching and administration experience, as well as academic honors or achievements you have earned.
  • What are the characteristics, attitudes, values, and/or skills that you think will make you a good candidate for your professional role?
  • Describe several personal and professional goals you would like to achieve in the next five years. Include in your description reasons why these goals are important to you.

Admission Requirements

The applicant must meet the School of Graduate Studies’ current minimum general admission requirements as published in the graduate catalog.

  1. A four-year bachelor’s degree from a recognized college or university
  2. Minimum of 8 undergraduate credit hours of social sciences/humanities
  3. A cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) of at least 2.75 for all undergraduate work or a GPA of at least 3.0 for the junior and senior years of undergraduate work (based on A=4.00)
  4. Three letters of recommendation that address the academic and professional qualities that support you for graduate work
  5. Statement of Goals and Objectives (see below)
  6. Satisfy the School of Graduate Studies’ English Language Proficiency requirements as published in the graduate catalog.

Statement of Goals and Objectives

As part of the application process, the applicant must respond to the following questions:

  1. Describe several personal and professional goals you would like to achieve in the next five years. Include in your description reasons why these goals are important to you.
  2. What are the characteristics, attitudes, values, and/or skills that you think will make you a good candidate for your professional role?
  3. What have you already done professionally or personally of which you are proud? Please include a chronological history of all professional teaching or administration experiences, as well as academic honors or achievements you have earned.

Degree Requirements

A minimum of 30 credits, to include:

Course List
CodeTitleCredits
Core Courses (choose 12 credits with approval from advisor)
EFR 501Psychological Foundations of Education3
EFR 502Issues and Trends in Education3
EFR 503History of American Education Policy and Reform3
EFR 505Educational Equity and Social Change in Schooling3
EFR 506Multicultural Education3
EFR 507Gender, Education and the Environment3
EFR 525International and Comparative Education3
EFR 527Education Policy: Theories Research3
OLEE 562Advance Study in Place-Based Environmental Education3
EFR 590Special Topics in Education1-4
Scholarly Tools (choose two from the list below) (6 credits)
EFR 509Introduction to Applied Educational Research3
EFR 510Becoming a qualitative researcher: techniques, skills and practical methods3
EFR 515Statistics I3
Electives or Internship (6 credits)
EFR 584Internship in Educational Research1-8
Choose 3 credits from Teaching & Leadership (TL), Higher Education (HE), Educational Leadership (EDL)
Thesis or Scholarly Project
EFR 995Scholarly Project2
EFR 998Thesis1-9

Required for all students, regardless of thesis or non-thesis:

  1. A minimum of 30 credits, including both credits required for the major and credits for the independent study, scholarly project or thesis.
  2. At least one-half of the credits must be at or above the 500-level.
  3. A maximum of one-fourth of the credit hours required for the degree may be transferred from another institution.

Thesis Option

  1. Three credits for the Thesis (EFR 998 Thesis)
  2. Preparation of a written thesis is approved by a committee of three faculty. The student’s advisor chairs the committee.
  3. Presentation and defense of the thesis takes place before the final report is sent to the School of Graduate Studies.

Scholarly Project Option

  1. Two credits for the Scholarly Project (EFR 995 Scholarly Project).
  2. Pass a written final comprehensive examination covering the major field and, at the advisor's discretion, any secondary fields.
  3. Preparation of a written scholarly project must be approved by the faculty advisor.
  4. Presentation of scholarly project takes place before the final report is sent to the School of Graduate Studies.

The requirements on this page are pulled from UND’s academic catalog and may not reflect future terms. Updates are published annually in April.

Graduate Admissions Requirements

In addition to meeting these program requirements, you must also meet the UND School of Graduate Studies admissions requirements to apply for this program.

Graduate Requirements

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