Program Overview
College of Humanities and Social Sciences
General Master's Degree Admission Requirements
View delivery options, start terms and admission requirements.
Location: Candelaria 2285B
Email: HSS@unco.edu
Website: unco.edu/hss/sociology
The master’s program in Sociology equips students with advanced and highly marketable critical thinking and research skills to approach real-world social issues and enact change. Students gain applied experience relevant to any career path including nonprofit administration, leadership, social services, policy analysis, business, and marketing. The program's Social Research Lab offers students opportunities for paid work on client research projects.
Students are strongly encouraged to review the research areas of the Sociology faculty on our website and contact faculty in whose research they are interested. Assistantships including stipends and partial tuition waivers are offered on a competitive basis each semester. Graduate application deadline to be considered for fall semester assistantships is March 1st.
Degree Requirements — 30 Credits
Take all of the following courses:
| SOC 539 | Seminar in Sociological Practice | 3 |
| SOC 552 | Applied Social Theory | 3 |
| SOC 597 | Special Topics in Inequality | 3 |
Take at least one of the following (both recommended)
Choose Thesis or Applied option
During students’ second semester, they select if they would like to complete the Thesis option or the Applied option. Each option requires 6 credits of either thesis hours or internship hours. The thesis option requires six SOC 699 credit hours to be taken in 3-credit increments. For the thesis option, students will complete a thesis project including oral defense of a formal proposal before a faculty committee, defense of the final draft, and formal review by The Graduate School. The applied option requires six SOC 691 credit hours to be taken in 3-credit increments. Students will collaborate to conduct a research project with an internship site under the supervision of their faculty advisor. The applied option culminates in in a Professional Research Report.
Thesis option — 6 credits required in 3 credit increments
Applied option — 6 credits required in 3 credit increments
Elective credits — 12 required
Elective credits may include any 500 or 600 level course in Sociology.