Master of Professional Studies: Requirements for the M.P.S. Degree

Requirements for the M.P.S. (Agriculture and Life Sciences) Degree

Satisfactory completion of a minimum of 30 credit hours related to the candidate's professional interest, as agreed upon with the Special Committee.

(a)   Twenty credit hours must be taken within the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and at least 24 credits must be in courses numbered 400 or higher, except with the approval of the college M.P.S. Committee. A petition for exceptions may be submitted by an individual student or by the Director of Graduate Studies for the field.

(b)   A maximum of 6 of the required 30 credit hours may be earned through the student's problem-solving project (see item 3).

(c)   A maximum of 6 credit hours earned outside the program, at Cornell University or elsewhere, may be counted toward these requirements at the discretion of the student's Special Committee. These credits must be appropriate to the subject of study and completed not more than five years before admission.
Completion of a minimum of 2 registration units. One unit must be earned by carrying a minimum of 12 credit hours in a single semester. In certain circumstances, a second unit of residence credit may be earned by accumulating the remaining credit hours in the School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions at Cornell University or through transfer of credit (see item 1c).
Satisfactory completion of a problem-solving project under the supervision of the Special Committee. This project may be an action program, the development of a plan of attack for a pertinent problem, the development of materials or methodology suited to the student's situation, or the development and execution of research appropriate to the profession. A formal project report must be submitted to and approved by the candidate's Special Committee. A copy is presented to the college M.P.S. Committee and will be placed in Mann Library. Examples of project titles are listed elsewhere in this web site.
A minimum grade point average of 2.5 (minimum of 18 credit hours with letter grades at Cornell).
Completion of the degree within four years of admission. Because some fields of study have special requirements, students should check with the field's Director of Graduate Studies for specific details.