MEd MESA Program: Degree Requirements

Overall: 32 credits
Required Research Methods Core: 8 credits
Elective MESA Courses: 24 credits
All Elective courses should be approved by program advisor.

Program Coordinator Heading link

Research Methods Core (8 hours) Heading link

  • Research Design in Education (EPSY 509 – 4 hours)
  • Essentials of Quantitative Inquiry in Education (ED/EPSY 503 – 4 hours)

Measurement, Evaluation, Statistics, and Evaluation (MESA) Elective Domain (8 hours) Heading link

MESA courses must be selected from Educational Psychology 500-level MESA courses in consultation with program advisor.

Elective Courses (16 hours) Heading link

Elective courses should be approved by program advisor.

Required Course for Students Taking the Thesis Option (5 hours minimum) Heading link

Thesis Research (EPSY 598 – 5 to 16 hours).  Students electing to complete an optional thesis or research project should earn a minimum of 5 hours in thesis research. For a thesis involving 5 hours, two types of research are appropriate. The first would emphasize the ability to conduct and write up a secondary data analysis. The second would require the student to write a literature review of publishable quality on a chosen topic. This would include a thesis rationale and review of predominant methods used to investigate the phenomena of interest. For those students wanting to conduct original research, 8 hours will be required.

Advising Specifics Heading link

Limits on Transfer of Credits

The specific number of credit hours accepted for transfer is determined on an individual basis. No transfer is automatic.

Maximum Allowed Transfer Credit—No more than 25 percent of the hours required for a master’s degree requiring 32-47 hours of credit, or more than 50 percent of the hours required for a master’s degree requiring 48 or more hours of credit, can be transferred from another institution or another college at UIC.  Transfer credit is considered only for courses in which the student received a grade of A or B.  Credit earned more than six calendar years before admission to the Graduate College is not usually accepted for transfer. Nondegree Credit  Nondegree students who are admitted as degree candidates may, by petition, transfer up to 12 semester hours of graduate-level courses in which grades of A or B were earned.  This does not count towards the limits of transfer credit listed above.

Transfer Credit

Consideration is given to the transfer of credit in three categories.

Previous graduate work for which a degree was not awarded. Graduate work completed elsewhere after admission to UIC and for which a degree was not awarded. Students considering taking graduate work elsewhere during a leave of absence should consult their advisor and director of graduate studies about such plans and the courses that may be considered for transfer. Graduate work completed in the senior year at UIC that was not applied to the baccalaureate.

To be considered for transfer, graduate work must have been completed in an accredited institution approved by one of the regional accreditation associations or by the agencies recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, and must meet quality and content of courses offered at UIC.