Accelerated Political Science (BA)/Security Studies (MA)

Location(s): Manhattan Campus

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The accelerated Accelerated Political Science (BA)/Security Studies (MA) will provide high-performing undergraduates the opportunity to pursue an accelerated MA/Master of Arts in Security Studies degree with early admission to the graduate program as well as the ability to count nine credit hours of coursework in their graduate program toward their undergraduate degree.

Application Process

The application process will be the same as for applicants that are seeking the stand-alone M.A. in security studies, but they will not be required to have completed their undergraduate degree. The earliest that students can submit applications for admission is at the January submission deadline during their junior year (after five semesters). A completed application requires the following materials:

A statement of objectives
Three letters of recommendation
A transcript from each academic institution since high school
A writing sample

Admission Requirements

Undergraduate students applying for the accelerated program are required to have completed a minimum of 75 credit hours towards their bachelor degree. The following requirements must be met for admission into the accelerated program:

The student must be seeking the bachelor’s degree.
The student must have completed a minimum of 75 credit hours toward the bachelor degree at the time of application for admission to the accelerated program.
The student’s cumulative undergraduate GPA must be at least 3.000.
The student must meet all other Graduate School admission criteria as outlined in the Graduate School Handbook and any graduate program specific requirements.
A student who has completed all coursework for the bachelor’s degree is not eligible for the accelerated program.

Program Specific Admission Requirements

The program requires a total of 150 credit hours including 120 undergraduate hours and 30 graduate hours.

However, a maximum of 9 credit hours from the graduate degree can also be counted towards the undergraduate degree, effectively reducing the total number of hours to 141.
Graduate courses must be completed with an overall GPA of at least a 3.0 GPA.
At least 18 of the hours on the graduate program of study must be at the 700 or above level.

Course Requirements

Security Studies (MA)

Overlapping Courses

Students may select up to 9 credits from the list of courses below to satisfy the requirements for both their undergraduate and graduate degrees. These courses should be listed at the 600-700 level.

POLSC 625 - East Asian Politics Credits: 3
POLSC 626 - African Politics Credits: 3
POLSC 630 - Politics of Russia and the Former Soviet Union Credits: 3
POLSC 642 - International Conflict Credits: 3
POLSC 700 - Research Methods in Political Science Credits: 3

Graduation Requirements

After completion of all undergraduate program requirements, including the up to nine (9) overlapping graduate credit hours that are counted toward the bachelor’s degree, the student must apply to be awarded the bachelor’s degree.
After receiving the bachelor degree, the student is eligible to be fully admitted into the master program portion of the accelerated bachelor-master program.
To complete the second part of the accelerated program, the student must complete all master program requirements with a graduate cumulative GPA of at least 3.000.

Kansas State University

Course Catalog