Admission Requirements

• Transcripts
• Statement of purpose
• Sample of written work that demonstrates your philosophical skills
  • Note. Our most successful applicants submit a piece of work they've polished and develop (perhaps under the guidance of a mentor), rather than a copy of a term paper
• Two letters of recommendation
• GRE optional

While most of our applicants have a background in Philosophy, this is not required for admission to the M.A. program. Applicants without a Philosophy degree (or similar) should ensure their applications (esp. the writing sample and letters of recommendation) provide sufficient evidence of potential for advanced philosophical work.

Application Deadline

February 14 (fall admission, full consideration for assistantship)

Application Fee Waiver

• The Graduate College charges an application fee for all applications to graduate programs at OSU.
• The Philosophy Department provides a limited number of fee waivers for applicants who consider themselves to be in financial need.
• To be eligible for consideration for the fee waiver, please send a writing sample to philosophygrad@okstate.edu with the subject heading ‘MA Fee Waiver’ by January 1.
• If there are more requests for waivers than funds permit, waivers will be allocated on the basis of writing sample quality.
• Acceptance to the program is independent of the fee waiver. All applicants must submit a full application (by February 14, see above), regardless of the success of their waiver request.
• Note. The Graduate College has a fee waiver program for OSU Students/Alumni and military personnel.

Program Information

• The M.A. is typically awarded by thesis: 30 credit hours, consisting of 24 hours of course work and six hours of research.
• In some circumstances, students may also earn the M.A. degree by report, or with a creative component.
  • Report. 32 credit hours, consisting of 30 hours of course work and two hours of research. In addition, students who complete the degree with a report must give a public presentation of their work.
  • Creative Component. 32 credit hours of work including the creative component. The creative component may be a special report, an annotated bibliography, a project in research or design or other creative activity as designated by the advisory committee. In addition, students who complete the degree with a creative component must give a public presentation of their work

Degree Requirements

M.A. students have the opportunity to take courses across a broad range of areas (see recently offered courses). Regardless of which degree path they pursue, every student must complete the following courses as part of the M.A. degree requirements.

1. Logic. This is typically fulfilled by taking (or testing out of) Symbolic Logic.
2. Two seminars in History of Philosophy. The seminars must in be in different areas. For instance, Kongzi, but not Aristotle, counts as a different area from Plato. Kant counts as a different area from all three of those.

Independent studies (PHIL 4990 or PHIL 5910) normally cannot be used to satisfy these requirements.

Proseminar

In Fall 2025, the Department is piloting a proseminar. While not yet a formal degree requirement, incoming graduate students will be expected to take this seminar in their first semester. It will focus on building the skills needed for excellent graduate-level philosophical work, as well as on professionalization and how to navigate one's graduate journey.