University of Virginia Library

XXV. Academic Degrees—Master and Doctor

The degree of master of arts belonged to the department
of graduate studies. Its evolution differed little
from that of the degree of bachelor of arts. In 1904–
05, it was conferred on the student who, after winning
the baccalaureate degree, had successfully traversed the
courses in four electives chosen among those assigned
to the graduate department. Three of these electives
had to bear such a near relation to each other as to form
a cognate group. The schools from which the four
might be selected had for their subjects the ancient languages,
the German and Italian tongues, English literature
history, philosophy, education, mathematics,
astronomy, mechanics, physics, electricity, industrial
chemistry, analytical chemistry, geology, biology, plant
morphology, and animal morphology. It was from
this series of studies that the candidate for the preliminary

degree of bachelor of arts had been permitted to
choose his three electives at large,—which represented
the advanced work required of him for the attainment
of that degree.

By a rule adopted in 1907, the candidate for the
master's degree was authorized to limit his electives to
three subjects instead of as formerly to four. This
provision was adopted for the benefit of students who
wished to cover an advanced second year's graduate
course in one of three subjects, in preference to covering
a less advanced course in a fourth subject.

The committee on academic degrees was very strict
in inquiring into the preparation of every candidate for
the master's degree who had obtained his baccalaureate
degree in another institution of learning. He was first
directed to return to the registrar an application in
writing drafted partly by himself and partly by the
President of the college or university which had conferred
the preliminary degree; and when this had been
examined, it was sent to the academic faculty, either
with the committee's unreserved approval, or with the
recommendation that the candidate should be required
to join on to his graduate electives the undergraduate
courses which led up to those electives. The general
rule followed by the faculty was that the ground gone
over elsewhere by the candidate for the degree of master
of arts must conform with reasonable closeness to the
ground prescribed for the baccalaureate degree of the
University of Virginia.

In spite of all these precautions, there was a popular
impression that the new degree of master of arts did
not necessarily signify the possession of the same high
scholarship as the old degree always indicated. This
critical attitude found expression in the following communication

to one of the Richmond journals: "Before
the present regulation was adopted, did any man ever
make the degree of master of arts at the University
of Virginia in the short time it is now done? Would
it have been in the bounds of reasonable possibility for
anyone to have done so? If this is answered in the
negative, we submit that the standard of scholarship
required by the University for the degree of master of
arts has been lowered. Of course, a holder of the new
master's degree may be a brilliant scholar, profoundly
versed in ancient and modern languages, in history and
literature, in the arts and sciences, and mathematics.
So, for that matter, may be the holder of an honorary
degree. It is not a question of what the master's attainments
may be, but what those attainments must be.
That determines the value of the degree."

These comments were only pertinent to the case in
which the preliminary baccalaureate degree had been
conferred by some obscure college which could not
be expected to give the same thorough drilling as the
undergraduate department of the University of Virginia;
and safeguards were supposed to have been raised
against the deficiencies of such inferior institutions by
compelling their graduates to traverse certain courses
in the University's collegiate schools. In June, 1910,
the committee on rules and studies recommended that
the only foreign baccalaureate degree that should exempt
its holder from this provision should be one that had
been received from a member of the Association of
American Universities, or the National Association of
State Universities, or from any other university or college
of high reputation whose requirements for admission,
or for the attainment of the baccalaureate degree,
were commensurate with those of the University of

Virginia. The Faculty afterwards broadened this recommendation
by adding the following clause: "No
candidate for an advanced degree who has obtained a
baccalaureate degree from an institution having the
standard prescribed by the Board of Education of Virginia,
in February, 1911, in its definition of a college
or university, will be expected to do any undergraduate
work except such as the committee on rules and courses,
and the professors in charge, would consider necessary
for the successful prosecution of the graduate courses
elected for the advanced degree."

In a general way, it may be stated that the University
of Virginia accepted as substantially equivalent to its
own baccalaureate degree the like degree of any institution
which (1) had a faculty of at least six professors,
who gave up their whole time to undergraduate or
graduate work; which (2) had adopted entrance requirements
equal to those of the University of Virginia;
and which (3) offered a baccalaureate course of four
years in liberal arts and sciences.

When the degree of bachelor of science was established
in the college department, the degree of master
of science was established in the department of graduate
studies. This new degree was based either on the cultural
degree of bachelor of science or on the vocational
degree: and in neither instance was Latin or Greek included
among its electives. The graduate courses pursued
by the holder of the vocational degree were always
chiefly those in continuation of the principal subject of
his study for the baccalaureate degree.

The requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy
in 1904–05, and afterwards, did not differ substantially
from those in force for the same degree during
the years which antedated that session. The candidate

was still under the necessity of studying what
were known as the major course and the minor course;
and he must also have won the bachelor's or the master's
diploma, either at the University of Virginia, or at some
chartered institution of equally high standing. The
only exception to this rule was allowed in the case of
one who could prove, by actual examination, that he
had obtained somewhere an education on a par, in extent
and quality, with that which was indicated by the possession
of either of the two preliminary degrees. The
subjects to be chosen by him were to be three in number;
were to be selected from at least two schools; and were
to be cognate in character. The major subject must
have received the approval of the academic faculty.
The period of study was to be spread over at least three
years; and throughout this interval, there was to be
no intermission in the pursuit of this major subject.
The candidate must also show, in reply to searching
questions, that he possessed a reading knowledge of the
French and German languages, and sufficient information
about any other subject considered to be equally essential
for the mastery of his course; but he was not compelled
to submit to the first test if he had graduated in those
languages in winning his baccalaureate degree. Advanced
standing for graduate work done in another institution
of repute was allowed, if that work was shown
to be equivalent to the work of the same character called
for in the University of Virginia. The graduate study
of the last year of candidacy was always required to be
done in the latter institution unless exemption from the
rule had been granted by the academic faculty. Every
aspirant for this degree who succeeded in obtaining it was
expected to submit a dissertation which should indicate
original research in the province of his major subjects.

What proportion of the students succeeded in acquiring
the degrees of bachelor, master, and doctor? In
the interval between June, 1904 and June, 1915,—a
single decade roughly speaking,—two hundred and
ninety won the degree of bachelor of arts, and between
1908–09 and 1916–17, eighty the degree of bachelor of
science. Between June, 1904, and June, 1915, the degree
of master of arts was won by one hundred and
fifty-eight; the degree of doctor of philosophy, by thirty-one.
The largest number of candidates who succeeded in
any one year in acquiring the baccalaureate degree was
in 1912–13, when thirty-three received the diploma. In
this session also, twenty-three candidates for the master's
degree were successful. This broke the record for that
degree during the Ninth Period up to that date.

It had been sanguinely expected that the introduction
of the degree of bachelor of arts in the college department
would tend to influence the undergraduates to remain
for a longer period at the University; but it was
not until 1910–11 that the ratio of loss for the first time
showed a falling off. In the meanwhile, the cultural
and vocational degrees of bachelor of science had been
established; and it was, perhaps, due to these degrees
that the slight arrest in the decline took place. Nevertheless,
the number of candidates for all these degrees
continued curiously small to a point in time as late as
1916–17, in spite of the increase in the general attendance.
There were only fifty-two candidates in 1913–
14, and in 1914–15, only thirty. In 1916–17, the
percentage was nine as against twenty at Harvard University.
Many of the undergraduates made no pretense
to being candidates for any of the baccalaureate
degrees, either because they did not possess the time or
the money to return a second year, or because they were

indifferent to the acquisition of a liberal education. In
one session alone, 1907–09, at least ninety disclaimed
all aspiration for the undergraduate degrees.

The thirty-eight candidates for these degrees in 1909–
10 who either failed to return, or to reenter the academic
schools, in 1910–11, when requested to give the reason
for their action, replied respectively as follows: fifteen
had been hopelessly unsuccessful with their work; nine
had registered with the department of law; one was too
poor to matriculate; one was in such bad health as to
forbid further study; five had gone to other institutions;
two had died; and one had no reason to give. The
following was the proportion of holders of degrees
among the undergraduates who had previously studied
elsewhere: in 1909–10, it was six per cent; in 1910–11,
slightly in excess of three; in 1911–12, nearly one and a
half; and in 1912–13, two and a half. The percentage
in the department of graduate studies was naturally very
much higher.