Human Development - Cornell University

Human Development from Cornell University is a Campus Master Family studies degree that prepares you for a Human Services career. The Department also offers two types of Master's degrees . One is offered as a preliminary to more advanced graduate work for students who have already been admitted to the Ph.D. program, but who want to earn a Master's degree before they finish the Ph.D. Students who opt to earn a Master's before earning the Ph.D. are offered five years of funding that includes both the Master's and the Ph.D. The other Master's degree is offered as a one year program and can be (though need not be) treated as an extension of a four-year undergraduate degree. Each student's progress is supervised by a Special Graduate Committee of two faculty members to be chosen by the student from among Human Development graduate field faculty with compatible interests. In this two semester program, the student takes at least two courses in each semester and supplemental course work that culminates in a final written, capstone project. The particular form the capstone project takes can vary and might include, for example, an extension of the honor's thesis (for those who are treating the M.A as an extension of the undergraduate degree) or conducting an empirical research project, writing a review or conceptual paper, evaluating a program, etc. Graduate education at Cornell is based on a Special Committee, which consists of two faculty members for the Master's degree . Special Committee members are chosen by the student from among graduate faculty whose research interests are compatible with the interests of the student. The Special Committee in conjunction with the student decides which particular courses the student will take. It also decides what form the capstone project will consist of. Both decisions are aimed at taking account of the student's professional and academic goals. Neither the Department nor individual faculty will be able to fund students (by providing tuition, insurance, and a stipend) during the fifth-year Master's degree. Students can treat the two-semester Master's degree as an opportunity to gain additional research experience and to burnish their credentials in a way that will prepare them to apply for further study for a Ph.D. in departments of Human Development (including this one), in Psychology, Sociology, and in related disciplines such as Public Policy, Nutrition, Law, Education, Medicine, or Public Health, where some knowledge of human development is professionally useful. For those students who are already at Cornell, and who decide to treat this program as an extension of the four-year undergraduate degree, the student may begin to take graduate level courses in her senior year and to begin working on a project that will lead to finishing a Master's degree with an additional two semesters beyond the Bachelor's degree. View more details on Cornell University . Ask your questions and apply online for this program or find other related Family studies courses.