The Department of Philosophy offers a program of study leading to the Master of Arts degree. Those who complete this program find themselves to be extremely well prepared for advanced work in leading doctoral programs in philosophy or for teaching philosophy at the community college level.
Some outstanding features of the department’s M.A. program are:
The department’s M.A. program is ranked second in the nation among terminal M.A. programs in philosophy by The Philosophical Gourmet Report.
The department is typically able to offer six Graduate Assistantships to each incoming class. The Graduate Assistantships pay full tuition and a stipend, which was $10,300 for the 2007-2008 academic year. (The department also has a very small number of tuition waivers, which can be awarded to members of each incoming class.)
Over the past decade, the department has awarded 96 M.A. degrees. Seventy (70) of these 96 graduates chose to apply to Ph.D. programs in philosophy. Of these 70 graduates who applied to Ph.D. programs, 66 (or 94%) were admitted to a Ph.D. program in philosophy. Of the 66 who were admitted to a PhD program, 49 (or 70%) entered one of the top-fifty Ph.D. programs in the United States (as ranked by The Philosophical Gourmet Report), and 13 entered Ph.D. programs that The Philosophical Gourmet Report considers to have “niches of excellence." Seven (7) of our 96 graduates over the past decade immediately entered teaching positions in philosophy at area community colleges upon completing the M.A., and eleven (11) entered graduate or professional programs in fields other than philosophy. The remainder have pursued a variety of career paths, having been greatly enriched by their experience at NIU. Please see our detailed placement record for further information.
All members of the faculty are actively publishing scholars who also have a deep commitment to graduate teaching. Of the eleven graduate faculty, two are Presidential Research Professors and one is a Presidential Teaching Professor. The high quality of faculty research ensures that students receive instruction in the most recent developments in the discipline.
Faculty make a special effort to get to know the students in the program on an individual basis and take an interest in each individual's progress and success. The collegial atmosphere in the department encourages student-faculty interaction, and the manageable size of the program allows for individualized attention to each graduate student. The size of the program and faculty members' concern for each student have repeatedly been cited by current students and alumni as a major strength of the program.
Each year the department hosts several speakers in its colloquium series. Some of the most distinguished philosophers in the United States and from abroad have presented these colloquia. Prior to the presentations, the speakers are scheduled to meet with groups of graduate students, providing students the opportunity to engage in informal discussion with philosophers of international renown. The high caliber of the colloquium speakers and the quality of the discourse during the sessions have contributed significantly to the quality and national recognition of the M.A. program.
The department does not require a baccalaureate degree in philosophy for admission to the M.A. program. Indeed, over the years, many students without baccalaureate degrees in philosophy, but with excellent academic credentials, have been admitted to the program. This has enabled some very capable students, who discovered philosophy late in their undergraduate careers, to pursue graduate study in philosophy, and many of them have subsequently gone on to highly respected Ph.D. programs in philosophy.
Since there are no specific course requirements in the M.A. program, students can tailor their studies to their individual needs and goals. If a student has particular strengths or weaknesses in certain areas, the student's individual program of study can take these into consideration.
In order to receive the M.A. degree, each student must pass a rigorous four-part comprehensive examination covering metaphysics and epistemology, ethics, and the history of philosophy. The comprehensive examination is a particularly noteworthy strength of the program, for it ensures that all graduates have a solid foundation in all major areas of philosophy. The majority of graduates report that passing the comprehensive examination has given them a sense of major scholarly achievement and has provided them with a breadth of depth of knowledge necessary for success in Ph.D. programs in philosophy. Indeed, over the years, a number of doctoral programs have waived their own doctoral comprehensive examination for NIU M.A. graduates because the department's comprehensive examination so closely resembles their own for doctoral students. In addition, deans and chairs from area community colleges at which NIU graduates have taught consistently report that our M.A. graduates are exceptionally well prepared to teach philosophy at the community college level.