The M.A. in enables students to discover whether they should pursue the Ph.D. and prepares them for admission to doctoral programs as well as for a wide variety of careers. As the only graduate program in philosophy at a public university in Louisiana, one of its aims is to assist students who have not had the opportunity to complete an undergraduate philosophy degree. The M.A. in philosophy should help such students to develop the necessary background as well as to determine whether to pursue doctoral level studies. The faculty, therefore, welcomes qualified and motivated students who lack extensive undergraduate work in philosophy.

There are two avenues to the M.A. in philosophy: thesis and non-thesis. Students who enter the M.A. program with adequate or ideal preparation should bear in mind that writing an M.A. thesis at the end of three semesters of course work can be just the right exercise of independent thought and philosophical initiative to complement a period in which their philosophical thinking has been nurtured by instructors.  At the same time, a variety of factors may combine to indicate that the non-thesis route to the M.A. would be the better course.