Humanities degrees

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by khurtado, Aug 17, 2010.

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  1. khurtado

    khurtado New Member

    Okay... I'm looking for an online humanities degree--masters. I'm interested in philosophy, religion, art, and classics. Even some behavior or psychology.

    I'd prefer it to be from a brick and mortar school that offers an online program. Also, if there is a university that offers evening classes, that could work as well.

    I'd prefer not to take the GRE, seeing as this will be my second masters, but I will take it if necessary (I've already started to prepare for it...)

    Thanks in advance for the help!
     
  2. Tireman 44444

    Tireman 44444 Well-Known Member

  3. muaranah

    muaranah New Member

    Cal State Dominguez has a humanities program that should interest you.

    If you already have a masters degree from an RA school, you probably will not be required to take the GRE even if it is one of the admissions requirements to the program. After all, you have shown that you can sucessfully do graduate-level work.
     
  4. emmzee

    emmzee New Member

    Here are a couple more general humanities options in addition to CSUDH that muaranah mentioned (prices are approximate for tuition only, not including books/etc):

    American Public University
    APU Degree Program: Master of Arts in Humanities
    APU Degree Program: Master of Arts in Humanities-Capstone Option
    $10,800

    Salve Regina University
    Salve Regina University - Graduate Studies - Humanities: Master of Arts
    $14,220

    Tiffin University
    Tiffin University | Humanities
    $15,000

    You may also want to consider the programs listed in the interdisciplinary & individually designed degrees thread:
    http://forums.degreeinfo.com/distance-learning-discussions/32784-interdisciplinary-individually-designed-degrees.html
     
  5. Here is the link for that California State University, Dominguez Hills M.A. in the Humanities degree that muaranah mentioned:

    HUX Home

    I completed that program a few years ago and found it immensely rewarding.
     
  6. PatsGirl1

    PatsGirl1 New Member

    I have a huge soft spot for the program, and I belong to the Yahoo group for it... I would LOVE to be in this program!
     
  7. Ian Anderson

    Ian Anderson Active Member

    A friend of mine earned the CSUDH Humanities degree with no complaints. I recall that John Bear's wife also earned this degree.
     
  8. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    I did the Humanities Extension (HUX) MA from California State University at Dominguez Hills.

    http://csudh.edu/hux/

    Currently $230/unit x 30 units = $6,900

    Regionally accredited. Physical campus in an un-stylish Los Angeles suburb. CSUDH is probably best known to Angelinos as the location of the Home Depot Center, where the LA Galaxy professional soccer team plays.

    The program is interdisciplinary, incorporating philosophy, history, art history, literature and music. You can specialize in one of them, or do a project that cuts across boundaries.

    Format is correspondence, though I believe that they've added some online components to some classes since I was there. They send you a syllabus and study guide at the beginning of the semester, then you read like crazy and write papers on your own. Everything is assessed by the essays that you submit during the course of the semester, there are no formal exams per-se. Topics are assigned, but defined loosely enough that you can improvise around them according to interest. They welcome and encourage that.

    The biggest program defect is lack of interactivity. You won't have any contact with your professors apart from comments on returned papers, unless you make the effort to contact them. They won't contact you. You will typically have no contact at all with other students.

    Imagine taking all of your classes by independent study, visiting professors during office hours. It's like that.

    There's very little guidance or mentoring. This is most emphatically not a program for individuals who need lots of hand-holding.

    Another problem is that since they don't require applicants to already have a bachelors in one of the humanities, and even if many students do, they won't have degrees in all of the five HUX subjects, the course content can be awfully elementary at times. But since this is independent study, it can be as advanced and sophisticated as students want it to be, I guess. Some professors will push you harder than others.

    The faculty is the real strength of this thing.

    http://www.csudh.edu/hux/faculty.html

    Some of them are full-time CSUDH professors, others are adjuncts that work with HUX specifically. Quite a few are retired professors who live in the LA area and work part-time doing this.

    HUX encourages students, and in some of the emphases actually requires them, to contact professors with kindred interests and to create self-designed classes in specialty areas of particular interest. Students aren't limited by the classes offered in the schedule. Since it's all independent study anyway, HUX lends itself to that kind of flexibility. Some of the professors are really happy when you contact them and express an interest in their subject and will knock themselves out to help you.

    Bottom line: I did my MA for personal interest and intellectual growth. HUX served those purposes very well.

    But the interactivity-deficiencies mean that HUX doesn't really rise to the level of the stronger graduate programs in my opinion. It might not be the best choice for a young academic careerist.
     
  9. litlnemo

    litlnemo New Member

    Nowadays they don't send you the syllabus and study guide, they just have you download it from your class's Blackboard page (though I think that they can make an exception when asked to). The rest of your sentence is still true, though.

    I just finished the CSUDH/HUX MA (well, technically my graduation date is this week!). Based on the original poster's requirements, I'd strongly recommend checking HUX out. I loved the program, though of course it's not perfect and there are some things I'd change if I could... but I think that's true anywhere.
     
  10. Michael

    Michael Member

    About the papers that you have to write for these courses, are they like traditional research papers, or are they more of the personal essay type?
     
  11. cravenco

    cravenco New Member

    I recommend HUX or AMU. Both Universities offers a Masters in Humanities. Or if your inclined, do both!
     
  12. Ian Anderson

    Ian Anderson Active Member

    Congratulations fellow Toro -- welcome to the herd. :fest30:
     
  13. cravenco

    cravenco New Member

    Good to go, Litlnemo!!!!!!
     
  14. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

  15. The papers are traditional research papers, utilizing the Modern Language Association (MLA) citation method.
     
  16. litlnemo

    litlnemo New Member

    Thanks. :) And thank you too, cravenco!

    I just got my diploma in the mail on Monday. I kept telling everyone I wouldn't believe I was done until I got the diploma. But now that I have it, I still don't quite believe it!

    I can't wait until I get the bound thesis copies. That should be nice.
     
  17. Ian Anderson

    Ian Anderson Active Member

    Did you have to take a graduate writing test at CSUDH? I did for my MSQA and scored 11-1/2 out of 12; the head of my dept said it was the highest score he'd seen.
     
  18. litlnemo

    litlnemo New Member

    Yes, I did, but I don't remember my score exactly. I vaguely remember that it was good but I was annoyed it wasn't perfect.

    I hated writing that essay, though.
     

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