Education Studies, EdM
Shape your future in education with UB’s flexible and interdisciplinary master’s program, designed to meet your unique interests and professional goals. Customize your focus area, explore diverse courses and prepare for an impactful career.
Customize Your Degree
Our master's program in education studies can be taken as is or designed and tailored to meet your interests, as well as your professional and academic needs. This program is targeted for those whose goals are broad, interdisciplinary and flexible. Pursue a focus area that allows you to take maximum advantage of courses and resources in GSE. Create your own multidisciplinary focus area from within our school and across our departments.
Specialize in Your Passion
Being a Division I athlete while in a master's program is the equivalent of working two jobs. Taji Johnson has accepted this challenge to be both excellent on the field and in the classroom. Johnson is currently in pursuit of his EdM in education studies with a focus on counseling. His passion lies in mental health, particularly for athletes, and his career goal is to become a sports psychologist, working with collegiate and professional athletes on their mental health and mental performance.
Points of Distinction
This program offers the unique flexibility to create a personalized focus area tailored to your specific interests and career aspirations. This means you can design a curriculum that integrates courses from various departments, allowing you to explore a wide range of topics within education.
Experience a broad, interdisciplinary approach that empowers you to explore diverse areas within the field of education. With the flexibility to select courses across multiple disciplines, you can customize your learning experience to suit your unique interests and professional goals.
This adaptable structure allows you to engage with a wide range of educational topics, offering you the opportunity to create concentrations in English, math, music, counseling and more. You'll work with an expert advisor to create the best course of action to achieve your ideal master's degree.
Program Overview
| Academic credential granted | Master of Education (EdM) |
|---|---|
| Credits required for completion | 32 |
| Time to completion | 3 to 6 semesters |
| Course delivery | On campus |
| Application deadline | Priority Deadlines Spring: Nov. 1, then rolling until Jan. 10 Fall: Feb. 1, then rolling until Aug. 10 |
Graduates of this program customize their degrees specific to careers in:
- Counseling
- English education
- Music education
- Math Education
- You are required to complete a minimum of 32 credit hours of graduate study (16 of those 32 credit hours are required to be taken within GSE).
- A maximum of 6 hours of transfer credit of graduate courses, completed with grades of “B” or above from an accredited institution, may be included in your program if approved by your advisor and the department.
- You are required to pass a comprehension exam or complete a master’s project or thesis.
- You are required to maintain continuous registration.
A baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution is required.
Who should apply to this program:
- Option 1 — Non-Teacher Certification — Apply to this program if you have substantial academic content background (30 hours of content area minimum) and are not interested in obtaining a recommendation for New York State teaching certification. Completing this program without certification allows you to teach outside of New York State, internationally and within schools that do not require certification.
- Option 2 — Teacher Certification — Apply to this program if you have initial teacher certification in a content area (e.g., English, math, music, social studies, sciences, early childhood/childhood education) and you are interested in getting the master’s degree towards professional certification in your content area. GSE will work with you to create a plan of study so your coursework prepares you for institutional recommendation for professional teacher certification in New York State.
- Option 3 — You have broad interests in a range of issues related to education, curriculum, instructional technology, learning sciences or other issues related to what happens in classrooms. This program is flexible enough for you to take a range of courses that will give you the background to work in a range of education-related professions.
Submit your completed online application, which includes:
- Application fee: A $50 non-refundable application fee, submitted electronically through UB's ePayment system.
- Contact information for two individuals.
- Unofficial transcripts from all colleges attended. (UB transcripts are automatically submitted for current UB students and alumni.)
- Personal statements: Please upload as two separate documents on your application.
- Statement one: Please outline your reasons for applying to UB's teacher education program. Include a discussion of one or two pivotal experiences that have brought you to the profession of teaching, your professional objectives (both long- and short-term), and how the graduate program is aligned with your goals. (250 to 300 words)
- Statement two: In Multiplication is for White People: Raising Expectations for Other People’s Children (2013), Lisa Delpit wrote: “We can educate all children if we truly want to. To do so, we must first stop attempting to quantify their capacity. We must be convinced of their inherent capability, humanity, and spiritual character ... we must learn who our children are — their lived cultures; their interests; and their intellectual, political, and historical legacies.”
Discuss how these ideas resonate with your personal or prior experiences. Then explain how they align with your personal and professional values, especially when it comes to engaging with diverse communities and student populations. (400 to 500 words)
Applicants to the master's degree program (professional certification) must have applied for, or received, New York State initial teacher certification in the matching certification area. If application for teacher certification is in process, proof of such application must be submitted. If already certified, a copy of proof of teacher certification is required.
Former/Maiden Name: Please provide us with your former/maiden name if you have one. When requesting transcripts, please ask the sending institution to indicate your current name and former/maiden name.
Admission Decision: The admissions decision will be communicated to you as soon as review is complete. The decision is based on a number of factors and is the result of a thorough and deliberate process. All decisions are final and cannot be appealed.
In order to be compliant with FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), we are prohibited from discussing the admissions decision with anyone other than you, the applicant.
In-State Residency Tuition
In order to qualify for the in-state residency tuition rate, you must provide residency documentation indicating you have lived in New York State (NYS) 12 months before your semester start date.
If accepted, you will need to upload three documents to qualify for the in-state tuition rate. See Required Documents for Residency Application for more information.
International Applicant Additional Requirements
- Official original proof of your degree
- A copy of your passport biographical page
- Official test scores—dated within two years of submitting your application—for either the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) or PTE (Pearson Test of English) Academic.
- TOEFL minimum score is 250 for computer-based test, 600 for paper- based test and 96 for internet-based test
- IELTS minimum score is 7.0 overall
- PTE minimum score is 55 overall
- Financial documentation: International graduate applicants must document their ability to pay for all costs incurred while studying in the U.S.
- An official bank statement
All financial forms and supporting documentation with required signatures must be uploaded with your application and dated within one year of your intended enrollment date.