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Courses for this program are 100 percent online: no campus visits are required.
Your degree requires 120 credit hours, which may include transfer credits from other regionally accredited institutions.
The courses you take will include:
- MU general education requirements;
- College of Arts and Science Degree Requirements, including:
- Arts & Science Foundation Requirements
- Basic Skills
- Breadth of Study
- Depth of Study
- 15 credit hours of sociology core courses;
- 18 credit hours in elective courses.
Transfer students
The number of credits you need to take will depend on the type of previous credit earned and the institutions' accreditation and transfer equivalencies. The admissions office will determine your transfer credit once they receive your official transcripts and application. Visit the University of Missouri Course Equivalency site to determine credit equivalencies from courses taken at other Missouri institutions.
Course planner
See a sample sociology BA “Semester Plan” of study. Personal degree plans will be developed with your academic advisor.
The chart below shows when core courses are traditionally offered. Courses are 3 credit hours each, unless otherwise noted. The University reserves the right to change or cancel courses as needed.
Culmination
This program culminates with a capstone course: Sociology 4500, the Sociology of Social Policy. This experience will involve intensive case studies where students will synthesize and apply their course work in the online major to pressing issues facing contemporary society. Topics may include: housing availability and the quality of community life in neighborhoods; the availability of childcare and family services; the social and institutional causes and consequences of individual debt and inequality; workplace safety, health and social justice; and health care access, disparities, and policy. Students will be required to pursue these themes in a series or research papers that will enable them to participate as citizens, professionals, advocates, and experts in discussions on contemporary issues.
Course spotlight
SOCIOL 3430: The Sociology of Sport
Instructor: Rotating
Explore the role of sport in modern society. Includes violence in sport; politics and economics of sport; male, female and racial inequalities; and international comparisons of sport structures.
State authorization
States require that the University of Missouri be authorized to deliver university-level distance/online education to their residents. Each state handles this process differently.
Please see our state authorization page for more information.