5th-year Master's Program
Highly qualified undergraduates with majors in the Department of Philosophy may be able to complete a Master’s degree in a fifth year at Carnegie Mellon in one of the following programs:
Ideally, students apply for the program in early January of their junior year, allowing them time to take courses that would count for the master's program in their fourth year.
Any course that has a graduate-level section (80-405/705; 80-411/711 for example) may count toward the master's program – credit for courses is decided on an individual basis in consultation between the Director of Graduate Studies and the individual course instructor. For any course in which a student earns an “A” grade and the instructor believes that they did graduate-level work, credit will be given toward the master's.
Preferably, a student would finish their undergraduate degree with six (6) courses that would count toward the master's degree, allowing them the 5th year to complete either six (6) more courses, or four (4) courses and their thesis.
Each semester, a master's student may have the opportunity to earn a $5,000 stipend for grading one course or a $6,000 stipend for serving as a teaching assistant for a course.
Master of Science in Logic, Computation & Methodology
The M.S. program in Logic, Computation, and Methodology offers unique opportunities for studies in areas where the department has distinguished formal research strengths. These are the same research areas that are open to Ph.D. candidates. It is well suited for students who are looking to enhance their training in selected areas of Formal Philosophy, in order either to pursue a vocation outside academe, e.g. designing expert systems for consulting firms that specialize in AI methods, or to prepare for further graduate study in Analytic Philosophy, Cognitive Psychology, Computer Science, Mathematics, or Statistics.
Students enrolled in the 5th year M.S. in Logic, Computation & Methodology are required to take:
- Core Seminar (80-600)
- Formal Logic Sequence (80-616) (if not already completed earlier)
- Formal Methods (80-618) (if not already completed earlier)
Master of Arts in Philosophy
The M.A. Program in Philosophy provides exciting opportunities to pursue post-graduate studies in Philosophy for students with a degree in Philosophy who wish to continue their work in a more focused and advanced way, as well as for students with a degree in another field who wish to add a concentration in Philosophy. Two areas of specialization are offered in line with the distinctive strengths of the Philosophy Department that are not reflected in its other graduate degree programs, namely Ethics, Social and Political Philosophy, and Philosophy of Science. The latter specialization offers emphases in Mathematics, Psychology, Physics, and the Social Sciences.
The course of study for the 5th year M.A. in Philosophy is very flexible, and can be tailored to a student's interests and background. For more information, please contact the Academic Program Manager.