Dual Degree Programs
Many students develop dual degree programs during their graduate studies. These programs give students the opportunity to earn two masters degrees in the same time or only a little more time than it requires to earn one. Having two well chosen degrees allows students to focus their work and makes them more marketable upon graduation. Students must be admitted to both departments in order to undertake a dual degree, but this is a simpler process once a student has been admitted to one of the graduate programs at Ohio State.
It is possible for students to arrange their own dual degree programs by working with the faculty in the two departments of interest. Students can tailor programs and find ways to use their classes to fulfill the requirements of both programs. It is easiest, however to work within the frameworks we have already created for dual degree programs with several other departments on campus. We currently have formal dual degree programs with the Departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Geodetic Science; Geography; Public Policy and Management and Natural Resources and with the College of Law. In addition we are redeveloping or working to create programs with the Departments of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics and African American and African Studies, and the Colleges of Social Work and Business.
In a typical dual degree program, students enter Ohio State's graduate school in one of the two programs of interest. They then ask to have their file considered in the other program as well. If admitted to the second program, the student arranges to do a formal dual degree. The student must then fulfill all the requirements of both programs. Normally this means that the elective hours in City and Regional Planning are filled by the required courses in the other department and vice versa. The main negative aspect of doing a dual degree is that it ties up all or nearly all of one's elective classes because of fulfilling two sets of required courses.
In some cases, a dual degree takes no more time than the Masters of City and Regional Planning (MCRP); in some it takes only a quarter longer and in others it might take an extra year or longer (for example, the Law program takes 7 semesters because the Law School is on semesters rather than quarters). In all cases, however, doing the two degrees simultaneously takes less time than doing each one separately.
Students should discuss the idea of a dual degree with their advisers early in their graduate careers in order to determine whether a dual degree is in their best interests and if it is, to be sure they fulfill all the requirements.
Dual degree programs currently exist with:
- Civil Engineering
- Joint program in Urban Transportation See Professor Philip Viton (C&RP) or Mark McCord (Civil Engineering) for further details.
- Environmental Science
- See Professor Maria Manta Conroy for details.
- Geography
- See Professor Hazel Morrow-Jones for details.
- Landscape Architecture
- See Professor Jane Amidon for details.
- Law
- See Professor Kenneth Pearlman for details
- Public Policy and Management
- See Professor Jennifer Evans-Cowley for details. llustrative curriculum (from PPM website).
- Social Work
- See Professor Hazel Morrow-Jones for details.