Our Master of Science curriculum is designed to acquaint students with the field of human development and family studies and prepare them to do outreach, policy work, teaching and research.

All students take our HDFS Proseminar as an introduction to our faculty and their work, the structure of the graduate program and professional skills and issues. The MS program requires two courses in human development and family theory. Methodology core requirements include one course in statistics and one course in research methods. Students complete their coursework by choosing courses from HDFS and other departments on campus. Finally, all students are required to complete a research thesis and defend it at their final oral examination.