BA/MA Applicants

Students in the College may pursue the master of arts degree in the Humanities while working toward an undergraduate degree. Undergraduate students admitted to this program pursue a specific course of study depending on their specific research and professional interests. Students may design their own course of study in any of the departments within the Humanities Division, such as Philosophy, English Language and Literature, or Art History, specializing in a single field or moving across disciplines. Alternatively, they may choose a more directed course of study in a number of fields with specific MA in the Humanities program options, like Gender and Sexuality Studies, Theater and Performance Studies, Cinema and Media Studies, Classics, or Creative Writing.

Undergraduate students who wish to complete an MA in the Humanities concurrently with a bachelor’s degree are required to discuss this option with their College adviser in the Autumn Quarter of their third year and with the director of undergraduate studies in their major, followed by a conversation with the associate director of the MAPH Program and the dean of students in the Division of the Humanities.

Students will be required to take MAPH 30100 Foundations of Interpretive Theory (the MAPH core course). The core starts two weeks prior to the beginning of Autumn Quarter and is only offered in the autumn. In addition to the core, students take eight courses, three per quarter, over the course of the year. One of these courses is MAPH 30200 Thesis Writing Workshop A/MAPH 30400 Thesis Writing Workshop B.

Permission to receive concurrent BA and MA in the Humanities degrees is granted only to those undergraduate students who have demonstrated, in their undergraduate work, a record of uncommon excellence and who are sufficiently advanced in the fulfillment of the undergraduate degree requirements. The academic demands on these students are significant and applicants are carefully reviewed in the context of both the undergraduate major and the MA in the Humanities degree requirements. For further information, please see the College Catalog.

Students interested in obtaining both the BA degree and the MA in the Humanities degree should submit an online application. The application is due by February 15.

The following documents must be on file with the Humanities Dean of Students office before the application will be reviewed:

1. The application
2. Two letters of recommendation
3. Official transcript(s)
4. BA/MA Worksheet: filled out and signed by the College adviser
5. Joint BA/MA in the Humanities Form: top portion filled out
6. Applicants interested in the Two-Year Language Option (TLO) must submit the above materials and a supplemental document. In the supplement, applicants should indicate why they are interested in the TLO and what language(s) they plan to study. 

Applicants are not required to pay the application fee.

Applicants will be interviewed by the MAPH program director. These conversations will focus on the program’s requirements and the applicant’s qualifications and objectives.

Year 1

During the first year, students participating in the Two-Year Language Option (TLO) move through the MAPH year in the traditional manner—a required core course in the Autumn Quarter, seven elective courses, and completion of a thesis in the Spring Quarter. However, BA/MA TLO students must devote at least one of their electives to language study every quarter. Students are eligible for College aid in the first year.

Year 2

In the second year, BA/MA TLO students take nine courses—three electives and six language study courses for a minimum of nine language courses over the two years. Students are no longer eligible for College aid, but, in the second year, TLO students receive a scholarship that covers 90 percent of that year's tuition. To receive this scholarship, students must have completed all nine first-year courses by the start of Autumn Quarter and maintained a 3.5 GPA in those courses.

To receive at the same time both the BA degree and the MA in the Humanities degree requires that the last three quarters of the undergraduate course of study be spent in full-time (three courses per quarter) registration status in MAPH. Students are to register for a minimum of nine graduate courses. For each of the three quarters in which the students are registered in MAPH, they pay tuition at the graduate tuition rate, which is higher than the undergraduate tuition rate. For more information, please see the College Catalog

Students are not eligible for financial assistance from the Humanities Division. However, any awards a student receives from College Aid will continue in the MA year. Students in the TLO may be eligible for funding in the fifth year.

For more information, please email ma-humanities@uchicago.edu or contact Maren Robinson, Associate Director, at marenr@uchicago.edu.