- An individualized studies degree that combines multiple areas of professional interest to create a customized graduate program tailored to your personal professional aspirations.
- Design two or three concentration areas from graduate courses in more than 50+ master's degrees.
RIT's master's in professional studies enables you to create an individualized plan of study tailored around your personal and professional goals. The degree offers you the opportunity to draw upon graduate courses from more than 50 of RIT's master's degree to gain the advanced knowledge and skills necessary to respond successfully to new and emerging career opportunities.
What Can I Do with a Degree in Individualized Studies?
In short, anything you want. The World Economic Forum recommends that to prepare for the jobs of the future, workers must possess a broad, multidisciplinary skill set. RIT offers a wide variety of fields of study to combine for your customized degree. Your advisor will help customize your plan of study based upon your experience, interests, and academic and career goals.
An individualized studies degree is the freedom to craft a master's degree around your interests, career goals, and professional aspirations. You'll work with dedicated, professional academic advisors that will help you develop a plan of study around the topics that interest you most. And your plan of study will be crafted toward the professional goals you set. You'll choose two to three concentration areas, that consist of four to five courses each, in topics that will provide you with the skills you need to further your career or launch a new professional endeavor.
RIT's Master's in Professional Studies: On-Campus and Online
The master of science in professional studies degree is unique in that you will pursue two to three strategic areas of study, also known as concentrations, with faculty distinguished in those specialized fields. You'll take courses along with other students who may be majoring in those subjects. You'll get the benefit of acquiring substantial knowledge in multiple areas within one degree. The professional studies degree can be completed on campus or online, and through full- or part-time study.
You'll begin your studies with Contexts and Trends, the program's foundation course. You'll explore your professional career objectives and research RIT's portfolio of graduate programs to identify courses that best match your professional and personal goals.
Once you decide upon the areas you want to study you'll create two or three concentrations. These concentrations make up the required course work for the degree program. Each concentration is a selection of courses drawn from existing RIT graduate programs. Credit hours not required to fulfill a concentration area may be used as electives. All electives and transferred graduate courses need to be integrated into the proposed plan of study. With certain concentrations, the degree may be completed entirely through online learning.
Here's just a sampling of the concentrations you may choose:
- Applied Statistics
- Business Analytics
- Business Management
- Communication and Digital Media
- Computer Science
- Cybersecurity
- Data Analytics
- Design Thinking
- Environmental, Health and Safety Management
- Finance
- Health Informatics
- Health Systems Administration
- Human Computer Interaction
- Human Resource Development
- Industrial and Systems Engineering
- Information Sciences and Technology
- Lean Six Sigma
- Manufacturing Leadership
- Marketing
- Product Development
- Project Management
- Service Leadership and Innovation
- Supply Chain Management
- User Experience Design
This individualized studies degree also includes a capstone project. This is an applied, hands-on project directly related to your customized plan of study.
Students are also interested in: Project Management Adv. Cert., Workplace Learning and Instruction Adv. Cert.