A Student’s Guide to the Cultural Sociology MA: Insights and Advice
Tiffany T Fite, Student Ambassador – Cultural Sociology
February 2025
As I begin my last semester of the Cultural Sociology program and write my thesis, I am reflecting on the academics of the program. I would like to share with you some information on my experience with the program.
The program requires 120 ECTS credits – 90 ECTS are in required coursework and 30 ECTS credits in selective courses. Some courses are only offered in certain semesters, so it is important to ensure you take required courses when offered, or know it is offered in another semester available to you.
Looking at the program overall, I reflect on how I spread my courses through the first three semesters. I took many ECTS credits worth of courses in each semester because I felt I could. I recommend finding what works best for you. My first semester I took 44 ECTS credits worth of courses, second semester was 50, and third semester was 36 ECTS credits worth of courses. Fourth semester I am only enrolled in 20 ECTS credits – the Thesis Writing Seminar.
I will complete the program with more overall ECTS credits than required, which was a personal preference to explore interests. For example, in the second semester, an opportunity to participate in a research project was offered to Sociology students. The course offered six ECTS credits and excellent practical application of concepts through the research design, collaboration with students, and interviewing of research participants. In the third semester, I earned two ECTS credits outside of my program, as an English Teaching Assistant in the Masaryk Faculty of Law. This was a rewarding extracurricular experience I enjoyed.
The Cultural Sociology program requires a lot of reading and writing, and the course lectures reinforce the concepts. The required course I enjoyed the most is called Advanced Methods of Interpretation in Cultural Sociology. There are two sections of the course – a lecture and seminar taken in the same semester. I especially enjoyed the seminar as colleagues collaborated on Cultural Sociological interpretations of text. One session was spent at Moravská Galerie – an art gallery nearby the faculty – interpreting meaning in an art piece. The most valuable course I completed was Writing Sociology. This course prepared me well for the rigors of thesis writing. I highly recommend taking the course.
For selective courses, I enjoyed courses related to Migration studies, which included the research project. We are lucky to have Migration scholar, Prof. Bernadette Nadya Jaworsky, Ph D, leading Cultural Sociology studies at Masaryk. Her knowledge and passion for Migration studies is deep.
The Cultural Sociology program is unique in that you take a 12 ECTS credit course – Thesis Project - in the third semester. This course is a precursor to the fourth semester, 20 ECTS credit course – Thesis Writing Seminar. The third semester self-study course is intended to prepare us for the thesis writing process through exploring topics, finding a thesis supervisor and writing a thesis proposal. I am so thankful to have spent this time during the third semester preparing. It is not quite as stressful going into the fourth semester knowing I have planned much of the writing and structure and received feedback through consultation with my thesis supervisor.
Now, as I write my thesis, I aim to pull my learning opportunities and experiences together. I believe the three semesters of reading and writing have prepared me successfully write and defend a thesis!