Geography: Master of Arts (MA) is a master's degree in Geography programme taught at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Canada. The programme runs for 6 semesters, delivered on campus. Teaching is in English. Tuition for international students is CAD 2,193 per semester (CAD 2,193 per semester for local students).
At a glance
Degree:Master's Degree
Field:Geography
Duration: 6 semesters
Delivery: On Campus
Language: English
Local tuition: CAD 2,193 / semester
International tuition: CAD 2,193 / semester
Information for the 2027/28 academic year · Last reviewed September 2026 ·
Program details
Overview
SFU Geography's MA is the human-geography track of the department's two research master's degrees, sharing an 18-unit thesis and two non-credit orientation courses with the MSc but differing in its coursework core. MA students take a required theory-and-methods course built around human-geography approaches alongside two further courses chosen from geography or an approved related department, for 12 units of coursework on top of the thesis, and students arriving with gaps in their background may be asked to add further preparatory courses. The degree suits students whose research questions sit in conceptual, theory-driven human geography rather than the quantitative and lab-based methods that anchor the department's MSc.
Requirements
Admission Requirements: Program pages for the master's route describe coursework and thesis structure rather than admission criteria, and the department's how-to-apply page likewise states no numeric GPA or minimum test score, requiring only that applicants from countries where English is not the primary language take TOEFL, plus reference letters preferably from an academic source, a curriculum vitae, transcripts, and a research statement of up to 500 words explaining the applicant's reasons for pursuing graduate work. As with the PhD, a faculty member must commit to supervising the applicant's research before the application can succeed. Applicants should expect SFU's general graduate standard to apply in practice: an IELTS Academic overall band of 6.5, minimum 6.0 per section, or a TOEFL iBT overall score of 90, minimum 20 per section, for applicants whose first language is not English.
Application Details
Application Deadline:Domestic applicants apply through EducationPlannerBC, with one set of dates per applicant type rather than by citizenship. Fall 2027 entry: high-school-route applications open 1 October 2026 and close 31 January 2027, while transfer applications open 1 March 2027 and close 15 April 2027 (Education and Contemporary Arts transfer applicants may apply from 1 October 2026). Spring 2027 entry runs 1 July to 15 September 2026, and Summer 2027 entry runs 1 December 2026 to 15 January 2027. Admission documents are generally due 28 February 2027 (Fall) and offers must be accepted by 1 May. International applicants use the same EducationPlannerBC dates and portal; SFU publishes no separate international deadline. These are institution-wide dates; this programme publishes no deadline of its own.
