Graduate study requires high academic achievement, and it will extend your experience and capabilities within the advanced, specialized areas of your chosen field. While the emphasis of all master's programs within the Medaille Graduate Division is on preparing you for professional practice, you will develop a thorough understanding of research and research methodology. A common objective of all Medaille Graduate Programs is to develop the capacities you will need for independent study and research, so that critical inquiry is made a viable mode for improving your practice throughout your career. While students pursuing graduate studies are admitted and enrolled in the School of Adult and Graduate Education and are subject to the policies of the college's Graduate Handbook, each graduate program has specific requirements; therefore, check the individual program handbook.
GRADUATE COURSEWORK DEFINED Graduate coursework is more rigorous than undergraduate coursework, and requires a great deal of critical thinking. More is expected of the graduate student than of the certificate or undergraduate student, especially in regard to reading and writing. Graduate coursework is more self‐directed. Students choose, under the guidance of faculty, an area that they feel they need to know more about, and they study that area. Graduate coursework is more attentive to research. Students look into conducting, as well as reading, original research. Graduate coursework is a community of learners, rather than only a teacher‐student relationship. Graduate students are assumed to have reached an intellectual maturity that puts them at a place where the role of the instructor is different. Instructors need to guide and mentor the mature student in the direction that the student has identified. Graduate coursework encourages students to be involved in local, state, and national leadership issues. Graduate study emphasizes effective, positive change so that students will be leaders of their communities on a local, state, and national level. Graduate study is not simply remembering information; it is also constructing knowledge. The community of learners encourages new insights and creates new knowledge in the field.
ACADEMIC ADVISING Each graduate student at Medaille is assigned a to work with a Program Director (in Psychology or Mental Health Counseling Programs) or an academic advisor (in the Education Programs) who will assist the student in developing realistic educational, career, and life goals. Working together, the student and advisor will evaluate and modify these goals as needed throughout the student's course of study. Graduate program advisors are available during registration periods and throughout the academic year for consultation. Program Director/Advisor Roles and Responsibilities To assist students in developing an academic plan that satisfies graduation requirements. 4 http://www.medaille.edu/academics/catalogs/graduate/0910