MA Program

Prospective Students

• To apply for the MA in Archaeology, visit Cornell’s Graduate School Admissions.
• Applications for 2027 admissions are due January 18th. 2027.
• For a description of the field, see the Graduate School’s Archaeology Field Description.
• Questions about the MA program in Archaeology should be sent to the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS). 
• Students considering applying to graduate school in archaeology are encouraged to read Professor Adam T. Smith’s informative blog post on the subject.
• For full details on the MA Program, download the Graduate Student Handbook.

The MA Program in Archaeology at Cornell is designed to provide students with an intensive orientation to the field, appropriate to both students with BA degrees in the liberal arts who have considerable experience in archaeology and those seeking to build a solid foundation for future work or study. The goal of the program is to offer students the intellectual resources and institutional support necessary to prepare them for successful admissions to top tier PhD programs and for careers beyond academia.

Cornell Archaeology supports a diverse array of interests, ranging from material culture studies to public archaeology, museum studies, archaeological science, and archaeological method and theory. Archaeology at Cornell is deeply committed to multidisciplinary studies. Faculty in Archaeology belong to the fields of Anthropology, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, City and Regional Planning, Classics, Fiber Science and Apparel Design, History of Art, Landscape Architecture, and Near Eastern Studies.

The ideal trajectory toward the MA should result in the completion of all requirements within 12-18 months, although extensions to 24 months are allowed when warranted by a student’s research program.

Students in the MA program in Archaeology design their course of study with the guidance and approval of the Graduate Affairs Committee and in consultation with their advisors. During their first year in the program, students are expected to take four full courses each semester, as well as the 1-credit Craft of Archaeology. We offer a wide range of courses in archaeological method and theory, as well as regionally focused courses covering the Americas, Mediterranean, Southwest Asia, and Eurasia. A full list of Cornell’s Archaeology course offerings can be found at the Courses of Study page. The following courses are required:

• ARKEO 7000: CIAMS Core Seminar in Archaeological Theory and Method (typically offered in the Fall semester);
• 1 course at the 6000+ level devoted to Archaeological Method;
• 2 additional archaeology courses at the 6000+ level;
• A course in Research Design in the Spring semester. This can be either ARKEO 6250: Archaeological Research Design or ARKEO 8901: Master’s Thesis.
• ARKEO 6100: The Craft of Archaeology (a 1-credit course typically offered in the Spring semester)

Only one of the courses may be taken S/U. All the rest must be taken for a letter grade.

If a course is not available in a given area of interest, students may speak to relevant faculty to discuss the possibility of an independent study during their time in  residence. Students are advised to take no more than one independent study, but exceptions can be made in consultation with the Graduate Affairs Committee or the Special Committee.

Conferral of the MA in Archaeology also entails the satisfactory completion of a thesis, the MA exam, and 2 semesters in residence (i.e., taking courses on the Ithaca campus).

Each student’s course of study is guided by the Graduate Advisory Committee. There is thus no single model for a program of study. One possible model for a 2-semester curriculum would be:

* See section on language below

Courses in italics are typically taken in that exact semester; others can be switched around based on our course offerings and student preferences

Each student’s tailored course of study is developed in close consultation with faculty advisors. Entering students receive guidance initially from the temporary advisor assigned to them upon admissions and from the Graduate Advisory Committee (GAC). Composed of the DGS, CIAMS director, and one additional faculty member, the role of the GAC is to provide advice until such time as the Special Committee is constituted and to provide any assistance that might fall outside of the academic purview of the special committee (e.g., issues pertaining to the Graduate School, TAships, etc.).

Please note that the Graduate School requires all students to have registered an advisor online via Student Center by the 3^rd week of the fall semester. If you have not selected a Special Committee chair by this time, you should select the DGS or the advisor who was assigned to you in your letter of admissions. Once a Special Committee has been formed, you can remove the temporary member or alter their status as needed.

You should officially constitute a Special Committee, including the Chair and one or more Minor Member(s) by the end of Fall semester. The Special Committee is ultimately responsible for all decisions regarding a student’s academic trajectory. The committee chair must be a member of the Field of Archaeology; the second member can be chosen from the Graduate Faculty at large, in consultation with the Chair. Students may add additional committee members or change the composition of their committees at any time if needed.

There is no language requirement for the Archaeology MA. However, the Special Committee can advise language study as appropriate. In particular, for some MA research papers – where relevant primary sources or key scholarly literature are not available in English – it will be necessary for students to demonstrate suitable minimum language ability (as advised by the Special Committee) at least by the time of their MA defense. Many students use Cornell coursework to enhance their skills in relevant research languages.

The final thesis for the MA in Archaeology should present a piece of original research on a topic of empirical, theoretical, or methodological importance. It must not exceed 30 pages including tables, figures, bibliography and notes (using standard formatting in accordance with graduate school requirements). It should aim to be similar in quality and scale to those published in professional archaeological journals.

Early in the spring semester, students must submit to their Special Committee a short (maximum 4 pages) prospectus (research proposal) detailing the focus of their thesis.

After submission of the MA research paper an oral examination is convened with the Special Committee and any other Archaeology Field members who choose to attend.  

As you move toward completion of your MA thesis, it is important to be aware of Graduate School requirements that impact scheduling. The Graduate School stipulates a filing deadline for MA candidates who wish to graduate during a given semester. The final possible date for the MA exam is about 2 weeks before the filing deadline. The Graduate School’s A3 form scheduling the MA exam must be filed with the GFA for Archaeology (Laura Sabatini) at least one week prior to the exam. And the defense draft of the MA thesis must be circulated to your committee no later than 3 weeks prior to the exam. As you plan for the completion of your degree, please consult the Graduate School’s timeline: https://gradschool.cornell.edu/academics/thesis-dissertation/understanding-deadlines-and-requirements.

The average time to degree for the MA in Archaeology is four semesters, but many students finish in three semesters or even one calendar year. The duration of the degree depends in large measure on the time needed to develop and complete the MA thesis. Students spend the first two semesters fulfilling coursework requirements. The summer after the first year is dedicated to fieldwork or other thesis-related research. In the fall of Year 2, most students turn their full attention to writing the thesis, and typically go on in absentia status to conduct research away from Ithaca, which costs significantly less than the full tuition paid while taking courses. Those who wish to take additional coursework in the second year to deepen their training in a given area are permitted to do so. Upon completion of the thesis, students take the MA exam. This is the final requirement of the degree, and is usually held in the fall or spring semester of the second year. In some cases, as when students are able to begin thesis research prior to entering the program, or otherwise make swift progress on the thesis during the first year, it is possible to complete the requirements of the degree in the summer after the first year.

Tuition & Stipend

We make every effort to help our students manage the costs of the MA in Archaeology by maintaining competitive tuition rates and offering various funding opportunities. Our MA students pay the graduate research tuition rate of the Cornell’s contract colleges, currently $20,800 a year ($10,400 per semester). To further defray these costs, each year several teaching assistantship packages are awarded on the basis of merit to incoming MA students at the point of admission. These packages are “half-TAships”, which cover half the cost of tuition and health benefits, and include a half-stipend during the semester that the student TAs. 

Occasionally, other opportunities arise for MA students to work as teaching assistants for other departments. We make every effort to identify and secure such positions for our students.

Fellowships

For those who do not receive TAships, in the first year of the program CIAMS provides fellowships of $2,500 in the fall semester, and an additional $2,500 in the spring semester to students who remain in good academic standing. 

Research Assistantships

Students are sometimes able to work as assistants to faculty, supporting research in labs and on individual projects. If you are interested in a research assistantship position, inquire with your Special Committee to see if any such opportunity is available.

Research Grants

CIAMS is also pleased to sponsor various grant programs, including the Hirsch Graduate Travel Scholarship and the CIAMS Research Grants. Our Funding page provides details on eligibility requirements, funding levels, and deadlines. 

Conference Grants

The Graduate School provides conference grants to all graduate students who are invited to present papers or posters at professional conferences. Award amounts are based on geographic location, not actual expenses. The Graduate School tries to fund most requests from students who meet the criteria for eligibility. Only one award will be considered during a single academic year, which is from July 1 through June 30. For information and deadlines, please refer to the Conference Grant Application found on the Graduate School website. Students can also apply to CIAMS to supplement a Conference Travel grant from the Graduate School.

External Funding

Our students are encouraged to apply for external funding in support of graduate training. Nationally, although funding opportunities for MA students are limited, in the past, our students have received fellowships from the American Association of University Women (AAUW) and various scholarships for postgraduate scholar-athletes. We understand that some students may need to maintain part-time employment (either on or off campus) while in our program. We are supportive of such arrangements to the extent that they comply with Graduate School regulations.  

CIAMS alumni follow a range of career paths. Approximately half of the students in our MA program (49 per cent) go on to pursue a PhD in Anthropology, Classics, or Near Eastern Studies. A number of our alumni (23 percent) choose to work in the heritage sector, from cultural and national resource management, to laboratories and libraries. For others still, CIAMS is a stepping stone to careers in education, information technology, or other fields (23 percent). Some of our students (6 percent) choose to pursue additional master’s degrees in such diverse fields as Conservation, Roman History, and Education.

The CIAMS MA is quite beneficial for subsequent PhD work. We have a very high success rate of PhD placement. From 2007-2018, 85 percent of all students who applied to at least one PhD program were admitted. A full 100 percent of all students who applied to multiple PhD programs were admitted. Our students have gone on to pursue PhDs at such institutions as Brown University, University at Buffalo, Cornell University, Johns Hopkins University, McGill University, University of Oregon, Southern Methodist University, University of Kentucky, University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Yale University. CIAMS provides students with the training, guidance, and support necessary to be competitive for PhD admissions.