BA/MA Thesis Policy

Students completing the joint BA/MA program may write a single MA thesis that will meet both their BA and their MA requirements for the degree, subject to the approval of the Director of Undergraduate Studies in their major and the Faculty Director of their MA program.

The MA thesis is an article-length contribution to the contemporary scholarship, drawing on original research, well-situated against the most recent and influential literatures, employing graduate methods, and conducted to professional standards. Students in the joint BA/MA program must complete all requirements for the MA degree, including any thesis or proposal workshops that their MA program may stipulate. The faculty advisor for the MA thesis and the faculty advisor for the BA thesis may be the same person. The undergraduate major may stipulate additional requirements.

Students who wish to be candidates for June degrees and departmental honors must submit the thesis to the major by the department’s deadline. Departmental approval of the BA thesis is separate from MA program approval of the MA thesis. The MA thesis must be approved by a faculty advisor and preceptor. Students must complete all BA/MA requirements, including the MA thesis, in time to graduate by the August following their full-time BA/MA curriculum.

BA/MA students may begin work on the MA thesis in a departmental BA Thesis Workshop in the Spring of their third year, conducting original research over the summer with appropriate IRB permissions. In such cases, BA/MA students will be assigned an MA preceptor in September, and may submit a faculty-approved proposal early in the Fall quarter.

Students in a five-year BA/MA program in CMES may write a separate BA thesis in their fourth year, meeting all departmental requirements, and develop an MA thesis that satisfies all MA requirements in their fifth year.