Degree Requirements for the Master of Science
The degree requires 30 credit hours of course work spread over three semesters. Students typically take a four-course load (at 3 credits per course) in the fall and spring of their first year. In the second year, students enroll in a 6-credit thesis seminar.
Distribution requirements for the degree mandate that all DM students enroll in their first year in a first-semester Media Studies Seminar (DM 6043 ) as well as Media Organizations (DM 6033 ) in the fall and Media Law Seminar (DM 7033 ) in the spring. The first-year seminar provides a dual role as a graduate-level course in media studies (complete with a writing-intensive research project) and a forum for students to present creative and technical work for peer review and group critique.
For the remainder of the coursework, the curriculum is:
Fall: Studio courses are offered in Performance, Sound, Cinema, 3D, Interaction Design, Game Design, Web and Networked Media. Students enroll in two of these courses their first semester, based on interest and the thesis project they are considering. Students will enroll in those courses they think will best raise their expertise level in a specialty for which they are well prepared. In addition, they collaborate with colleagues who have complementary skills and interests. While these studio courses are broad in scope (they cover a conceptual theme prevalent in digital media rather than a specific sub-topic), they each require focused production work on a final project.
Spring: Students may choose among three elective courses (“Specials”), which may include an Independent Study course (
) or a 3-credit Internship. “Special” electives, taught by regular and adjunct faculty, are selected each year from a group of possible courses based on the interests of the first-year class. For example, if the entering DM class is specifically interested in Machine Vision (based on its project work in the first-semester seminar), the faculty will “commission” an elective on that topic. Independent Study enrollment is permitted for DM students interested in specific research areas outside of the electives offered. Internships are available for students seeking to gain job experience outside of NYU-Poly in the commercial or nonprofit sector. A final grade for the three credits of an Internship is determined by the faculty supervisor based on consultation with the host-firm internship supervisor, and students submit a 2,000-word report by the last day of the semester (last day of regular exams).
The third semester in the DM program centers on a 6-credit Thesis Seminar in which students develop MS thesis projects and write in a group environment supervised by a faculty member. At the end of the seminar, students prepare and defend their thesis projects before a faculty committee. After a successful thesis defense, students deposit their thesis papers with NYU-Poly and receive their degrees.
