Colby-Sawyer College Online Master of Science in Exercise Science (M.S.E.S.)

Colby-Sawyer's online M.S. in Exercise Science is one of the few programs here that pairs an asynchronous master's with an optional fellowship at a college team, a cancer center or a health system. It's 32 credits at $685 per credit plus a $15 per-credit technology fee, and you choose between an applied exercise science track and a strength and conditioning track.

The pages disagree on how the fellowship and the field experience courses fit together, so get that in writing first.

Colby-Sawyer College is a small private college in New London, New Hampshire, accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. This master's runs through its graduate and professional studies division. Coursework is online and asynchronous, no thesis is required, and Colby-Sawyer says a bachelor's degree in any field is considered for admission.

You'll need a 2.75 undergraduate GPA, official transcripts, a resume or CV and Human Anatomy and Physiology I and II, each with a lab and a C or higher. Starts are in January or September, and Colby-Sawyer's page says it's accepting applications for all terms. Colby-Sawyer undergraduates can enter through a 4+1 option.

Coursework is asynchronous, and Colby-Sawyer describes the program as online with flexible scheduling. Semesters are fall and spring. Full-time is 16 credits each semester, and the track pages call that a 9-month program with four courses each term, though the plan of study lists five items each term, including a 2-credit field experience.

The optional fellowship is a year-long experience of 15 to 20 hours a week that runs alongside a full-time schedule. Colby-Sawyer's program page calls it 9 months, and the fellowship page calls it a one-year experience. The fellowship page says positions exist within the Colby-Sawyer and Dartmouth Health system and at outside organizations across the country.

Who It Fits

• Future strength and conditioning coaches. The strength and conditioning track adds MSES 500 Advanced Strength and Conditioning, which prepares you for the NSCA CSCS exam, and MSES 560, a practicum where you screen, test and prescribe exercise for the general population and student athletes. Fellowship sites include Boston College, Dartmouth College, Phillips Exeter Academy and Quinnipiac University.
• Career changers with a bachelor's in another field. The degree accepts any major. You just need the two anatomy and physiology courses with labs first.
• Working adults who want a slow pace. The part-time path is 16 credits a year, and the catalog gives you seven years to finish. Colby-Sawyer also participates in the Yellow Ribbon program and certifies several GI Bill chapters.

Who Should Skip It

• Anyone who needs a CAAHEP-accredited master's for the ACSM clinical exercise physiologist exam. Colby-Sawyer lists none, so start with our online clinical exercise physiology master's.
• Students who don't have anatomy and physiology with labs. Both courses are admission requirements, so budget time and money to take them elsewhere first.
• Anyone who wants a fellowship but lives far from New England. Many listed sites are New England schools and Dartmouth Health programs, though staff say they'll work with you to find one near you.

Both tracks share MSES 520 Advanced Exercise Physiology, MSES 530 Advanced Sport and Behavioral Psychology, MSES 540 Exercise Prescription for Healthy, Chronic Disease and Vulnerable Populations, MSES 550 Advanced Sport and Exercise Nutrition, MSES 580 Current Topics in Exercise Science, the two Field Experience courses and MSES 590 Comprehensive Assessment Project.

The applied track adds MSES 510 Clinical Exercise and Metabolism, on cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome, and MSES 570 Behavioral Change and Health Coaching. The strength and conditioning track swaps in MSES 500 and MSES 560.

MSES 590 is a seminar where you share your capstone work with classmates for feedback. Field Experience I ends in a portfolio proposal, and Field Experience II ends in a completed portfolio.

Courses the School Names

• Advanced Strength and Conditioning
• Clinical Exercise & Metabolism
• Advanced Exercise Physiology
• Advanced Sport & Behavioral Psychology
• Exercise Prescription for Healthy, Chronic Disease, and Vulnerable Populations
• Advanced Sport & Exercise Nutrition
• Practicum in Strength & Conditioning
• Behavioral Change & Health Coaching
• Current Topics in Exercise Science
• Comprehensive Assessment Project

Standout Features

• Optional 9-month fellowship with an in-house fellowship coordinator; fellows work with teams and athletes
• Two tracks (Applied Exercise Science and Strength and Conditioning) inside one 32-credit degree
• Bachelor's in any field considered; 4+1 option for Colby-Sawyer undergraduates
• Part-time path of 16 credits per year; seven years to finish

Colby-Sawyer's 2026-27 rate is $685 per credit for non-affiliates, so 32 credits is $21,920. A $15 per-credit technology fee adds $480, for $22,400. All new students who start in Fall 2026 or Spring 2027 get a $750 scholarship, which brings the total to $21,650.

The tuition page lists $635 per credit for alumni and $660 for Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health employees, and the Dartmouth-Hitchcock line reads "employees or alumni." Up to nine graduate credits may transfer. If you bring in all nine, 23 credits at $685 plus the $15 fee is $16,100. The deposit is $200, and it goes toward your first course.

32 credits at $685 a credit comes to $21,920 in tuition, before fees.

The college is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. The program lists no CAAHEP accreditation and doesn't appear on the CAAHEP list we pulled on September 29, 2026.

From August 15, 2027, ACSM-EP and ACSM-CEP candidates must graduate from a CAAHEP-accredited program or one that has started the process. The NSCA rule that starts January 1, 2030 applies to the bachelor's degree behind your CSCS, not this master's.

MSES 500 prepares you for the CSCS exam, and the college says the degree readies you for national certification exams. It doesn't award those credentials, and the CSCS is an NSCA exam you register for on its own. MSES 500 sits in the strength and conditioning track only.

Where this degree can lead: Exercise Science Jobs.

The full rubric is on the methodology page. A factor marked Peer Median had no published input, so it counts at half weight.

• The pages disagree on the fellowship. The fellowship is optional, but MSES 587 and 588 Field Experience appear in every plan of study, and the program page calls it 9 months while the fellowship page calls it one year.
• The pace descriptions differ. The track pages say two courses per semester for two years part-time, and the catalog says 16 credits a year and up to seven years.
• The $685 rate doesn't include the technology fee, and the tuition page's alumni and Dartmouth-Hitchcock lines overlap.
• The program lists no programmatic accreditation, so the ACSM path after August 15, 2027 depends on facts Colby-Sawyer hasn't published.
• MSES 560 describes screening and prescribing for student athletes for a semester, and the pages don't say how online students do that.

• If I skip the fellowship, do I still take MSES 587 and 588, and what do those two courses require?
• Is the fellowship 9 months or one year, and how many hours a week should I plan for?
• How does an online student complete the MSES 560 practicum with student athletes?
• Which rate applies to me, and does the $750 scholarship apply after transfer credit?
• How many of the nine transfer credits have been accepted from students with my background?
• Are any fellowship sites near me, and can I propose my own?
• Has the program started CAAHEP accreditation, and how do graduates use it for ACSM eligibility?

Small private college in New London, New Hampshire. Its Graduate & Professional Studies division runs online programs in nursing, business, social work and exercise science; the online M.S. in Exercise Science offers an optional 9-month fellowship with athletic teams.

• Best Online Exercise Science Degrees Rank 45 of 99, master's
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• Best Online Strength and Conditioning Degrees Rank 27 of 39, master's
• Accelerated Online Programs Rank 3 of 46, master's
• Best for Military Students Rank 33 of 35, master's
• Best for Working Adults Rank 26 of 50, master's
• Best for Career Changers Rank 15 of 24, master's
• Best for Parents Rank 10 of 14, master's
• Best Part-Time Programs Rank 12 of 23, master's
• Best 100% Online Programs Rank 36 of 78, master's

• University of Wisconsin-River Falls

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