The Student Experience: The Master of Arts Program Master's Thesis

"For the master's thesis, something I tell my students is: this should be the best story you've ever done.  You rarely will be in a position to have this much time, these kinds of resources, and the support needed to do something of great ambition. A lot of our students have been working as journalists, but they've been limited by the space limitations of the publication they work for, by constant deadlines, or whatever it might be.  This is the opportunity to do something of real ambition with the time to do it." 
- Alexander Stille, San Paolo Professor of International Journalism 

At Columbia Journalism School, all students in the Master of Arts Program - which offers experienced journalists the opportunity to gain expert training in Arts and Culture, Business and Economics, Politics, or Science reporting - will undertake a significant reporting project that results in a piece of longform journalism known as the master's thesis. The master's thesis gives our students the opportunity to travel around the United States or the globe to explore a topic in depth and to work closely with an adviser to synthesize what they learn in a sophisticated and compelling manner. M.A. Program graduates have published or aired their theses in top‐tier outlets such as Harper's, The New York Times, This American Life, The New Yorker and The Guardian.  Please read below to see examples of recent master's theses from graduates of each of the four M.A. concentrations: 


Mohammad Ali, a 2019 graduate of the Master of Arts Program's Politics Concentration, published his master' s thesis as the WIRED story "The Rise of a Hindu Vigilante in the Age of WhatsApp and Modi," about how India, the world's largest democracy, has also become the world's largest experiment in social-media-fueled terror.



Meredith Lawrence, a 2019 graduate of the Master of Arts Program's Arts and Culture Concentration, published her master's thesis as the Alta Journal story "Cowboy Poets of the New West," about the cowboy poets who ride tradition and verse to the stage each year in Elko, Nevada, debunking myths about the Old West—and creating new ones. Her story won the 2020 Folio: Eddie Award for Long-Form Feature (City & Regional). 


Larry Madowo, a 2020 graduate of the Master of Arts Program's Business and Economics Concentration and the Knight-Bagehot Fellowship, published an excerpt of his master's thesis as the BBC World story "Jumia: The E-commerce Start-up that Fell from Grace," about how a start-up dubbed as "the Amazon of Africa" is still struggling to deliver on that promise. Madowo's master's thesis on Jumia received Columbia's 2020 Philip Greer Award for Financial Writing.


Ellie Shechet, a 2020 graduate of the Master of Arts Program's Science Concentration, published her master's thesis as the VICE  story "A Plague on Ibiza," about how snakes rode into Ibiza on a wave of expensive olive trees and created a twisty ecological problem.

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Please click here to begin an application to Columbia for the 2022-23 academic year. Master of Arts Program applications are due on January 6, 2022. 

As you consider the possibility of furthering your career as a journalist at Columbia, please explore our website to learn more about Columbia Journalism School's faculty members, course offerings, and career development services.

At Columbia, a top-tier journalism education can be within financial reach.  Please visit our website to learn about our scholarship opportunities.  

If you would like to make an appointment to speak with an admissions counselor, please email us at apply.journalism@columbia.edu.