What is Final Examination

There has been a considerable amount of interest in graduation rates of baccalaureate degree programs in the educational literature. There has also been some attention given to graduation from doctoral programs and from associate degree programs. However, there is almost no literature on the graduation rates for Master’s degree programs. This report uses a method of analysis known as survival analysis or event history analysis to examine the time to event for two different events leading to completion of a Master’s degree. One event is the time to preliminary examination, and the other event is the time to final thesis defense or final examination. The data compare three different Master’s programs in a psychology department of one of the largest campuses of one of the largest public university systems in the United States.