Master of Science Degree Program

The M.S. in Physics at UMass is a course-based program with no thesis required. While there are general requirements on number and types of courses and credits, there are no specific core courses required to earn a degree. This allows students maximum flexibility to design a curriculum that suits their needs. Typically, students use the M.S. as one to two purposes.

• A "springboard" to a Ph.D. program: For students still trying to decide if a career in Physics research is for them, the M.S. provides an opportunity to complete graduate level coursework and engage in some research without the long term commitment(5-7 years) of a Ph.D. program. For students who are clear in their desire to pursue a Ph.D. and possibly a career in academia, it provides an opportunity to build understanding and professional connections, and create a stronger application to a Ph.D. program.
• Training for industry, government, or education: An M.S. in physics with an emphasis on specific subfields, modeling, or instrumentation provides critical training for job in industry and government. Students interested in a career in secondary education may also seek an M.S. in Physics with an emphasis on pedagogy. In either case, the student and their faculty advisor together design a course sequence and professional training that builds the appropriate skills and experience.

Please note that students enrolled in the M.S. program are ineligible for teaching or research stipends at any of the Five Colleges. If research in Physics is your goal, please consider applying directly to the Ph.D. program.

Program Requirements

• A mimimum of 30 graduate credits taken(course number 500 or higher);
• At least 12 credits shall be at 600-level or higher;
• At least 21 of the credits must be in Physics;
• At least 21 of the total credits must be for a letter grade, and the GPA must be at least 3.0. Note that the Graduate Program Director must provide approval before a course may be taken as Pass/Fail;
• Independent Study credits are allowed, up to a maximum of 6 credits. All Independent Study credits must be approved by the Physics Graduate Program Director, who will ask that a comprehensive plan be drawn to ensure that the credits earned reflect a sufficiently high level of study or training and the means of evaluating performance are appropriate;
• A maximum of 6 credits of graduate-level coursework taken at UMass or at another institution may be transferred to the UMass M.S. program. Courses taken at Pass/Fail cannot be transferred and the mimimum grade for transferable credits is a B. There are important other limitations to how the transferred credits can be used: please see Graduate Schools Graduate Student Handbook https://www.umass.edu/graduate/handbook for more details (see section on Education Research for transfer credit polices).

Additional Information

Additional information for prospective students can be found on this page: https://www.umass.edu/physics/graduate/MSprogram