MA / PhD计划的MA部分（也称为MA Plan I）在重点和意图上与终端硕士学位课程（称为MA Plan II）有所不同。I计划MA是专门为在UCSB取得博士学位而准备和准备的（这就是为什么我们不接受MA计划I作为最终学位目标的申请），计划II是最终学位。也就是说，计划I MA适用于那些最终目标是在大学环境中教授或进行研究的人，计划II MA适用于那些考虑到其他职业目标或不打算教书的人超过大专水平 但是，经过深思熟虑的计划和建议，MA Plan II学位可以利用该课程教师的理论丰富性和深厚的专业知识
The Department of Religious Studies is nationally and internationally recognized as one of the world's leading centers for the analytic study of religion and is renowned for its cross-cultural and multidisciplinary approach to the study of religions. The department offers training in the religious dimensions of the human experience in diverse cultures and traditions around the world and through the course of history. We embrace both humanistic and scientific approaches to the study of religions and emphasize the importance of advanced study of relevant languages. Our faculty members employ a diverse array of methods in their research and draw from a broad range of theoretical perspectives. Indeed, a rigorous multidisciplinary and analytic approach to the study of religions, often involving comparative perspectives across traditions, has been one of the enduring hallmarks of UCSB's Department of Religious Studies since its founding more than fifty years ago, in contrast with our peer institutions whose programs have been founded on a seminary model rooted in ministry.