Temple University came about due to the hard work of Russell Conwell. Conwell was a veteran who later went to college and became a minister. After moving to Pennsylvania, he found himself in the position of helping adult students with their educational needs. After conducting church services, he would often hold tutoring sessions and help parishioners at night. As more parishioners joined, he began offering more classes and eventually decided to open his own school. Temple University still uses the owl as its mascot because his early students, who met at night, called themselves night owls. Though enrollment at the college grew to more than 1,000 students, it wasn't until 1907 and nearly 20 years after it opened that it earned the right to grant college degrees to its graduates.
Fourteen of the departments and colleges at Temple University have a national ranking, including its departments dedicated to criminology, business, health care management, psychology and English. Though U.S. News and World Report and ARWU ranked the university within the nation's top 120 schools, Forbes placed it at number 396 on its own list. Temple also ranks on a global scale on lists released by ARWU, QS and Times. The university offers students the chance to study abroad on its campuses in Japan and Rome or through the programs it offers in Spain, the United Kingdom and other countries.
Temple University Accreditation Details
If you studied at another graduate school and want to transfer some of the credits you earned, you must attend a college with regional accreditation. When you choose Temple, you'll like knowing that the university has regional accreditation from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE). MSCHE accreditation is also great because it lets you seek federal financial aid and helps you develop the skills you'll need in a doctoral program. Many students will also find that the programs they want to enroll in have accreditation as well. The Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications gave its journalism program accreditation. Those who want to study school psychology or clinical psychology will find that those programs and the internships available within those programs have accreditation from the American Psychological Association. Some of the other Temple degree programs with accreditation include its MBA, landscape architecture, music, dance, theater, education and law programs.
Related Resource: What are the Different College Accreditation Agencies?
Temple University Application Requirements
Temple University requires that all graduate school applicants have an undergraduate grade point average of 3.0 or higher. You can show the GPA you earned with an official college transcript. Though the university looks at various factors when deciding who to admit to its graduate programs, it will not make a final decision regarding your own application until you submit all required documents. The first of those required documents is the application.
This application is available via a PDF download or as an online application. It asks you about any research you did, professional jobs you had within your field and a list of your future goals. You'll need to explain what made you study your subject of interest, what experience you have in that subject and what you'll do once you finish your graduate degree. You must also pay a $60 application fee. Those applying for one of the hospitality or business programs will need to complete a separate application on those departmental websites. Some programs require the submission of a portfolio that shows some of the work you did in the past or a copy of your resume. Most programs also ask for a minimum of two letters of recommendation.
Tuition and Fees
Though Temple University charges a lower tuition rate for Pennsylvania residents, its out of state tuition rate is still fairly low. It has a reputation for being one of the most affordable colleges for graduate students in the state. Tuition rates for Pennsylvania residents start at around $690 per credit, and the tuition rate for out of state students starts at around $960 per credit. Some of the programs that charge more for tuition include its programs in hospitality, management, business and medicine. Make sure you check the departmental website of the program you want to study to see how much the program charges.
The financial aid available to you depends on whether you take classes online or on campus. Those taking classes on the Temple University campus can apply for one of the assistant jobs and work as a research assistant, teaching assistant or resident adviser/assistant. Online students can fill out the FAFSA. If they take a full course load, they will usually qualify for unsubsidized student loans and can borrow up the maximum allowed. All students can apply for grants and scholarships as well. Part time online grad students won't qualify for government loans but may qualify for alternative loans.
Online Degrees Available
The same qualified and dependable professors teaching classes on the Temple University campus are the same ones teaching classes online. Those professors put the same level of care into their online classes as they do their offline classes to provide you with the strong foundation that you need. The university offers 10 graduate and doctoral level programs through its online system. One of those programs is the Masters of Music Education, which lets students get certified to teach music classes in just two years. This is a 32 credit hour program that includes 18 credits of electives and 14 credits of required courses in music education research, learning theory in music, psychology of behavior and other teaching topics. Two of the credits students earn come from their thesis.
Temple also offers an online MBA program, which U.S. News and World Report called the best online MBA program in the country in 2016. After starting the program, you can graduate with an MBA in just 20 months. You spend two months taking classes on leadership, statistics and accounting before spending 16 months taking other required business courses. Temple requires that you take one class on campus, which fulfills your residency requirement. You will then spend the last two months in the program working on a capstone project, which serves as your thesis. Temple University lets MBA students study newer topics like social networking for businesses, product and project management and digital marketing.