Admission Information
General Information
The successful applicant to the M.A. program is typically an undergraduate English major with at least a 3.0 in all courses -- but especially in English courses -- and competitive GRE scores. However, promising students from other undergraduate disciplines are encouraged to apply. Indeed, some excellent graduate students have entered the program with degrees in areas such as Political Science, Accounting, Psychology, Philosophy, and Art History. Typically, there are around 80 M.A. students in the program.
Am I Qualified?
Those most likely to be accepted will have a minimum overall undergraduate GPA (grade point average) of 3.0. If your GPA is below 3.0, you may only be admitted if the Graduate Director indicates to the Graduate School that there are significant compensating factors indicating that your chance of success will be good. These can include: a higher GPA in the major; a higher GPA in your final 2 years of undergraduate work.
In most cases, those with a GPA under 3.0 are only granted provisional admission. In all cases Provisional Admits are not eligible for the Teaching Assistantship in English, our department's primary form of financial assistance to graduate students. Anyone admitted as Provisional must earn a 3.0 or higher in the first 9 graded credit hours taken in order to be promoted from Provisional to Full status. In most cases, those with a GPA less than 2.7 will be denied and the candidate may be counseled to pursue the Post-Baccalaureate Status option through the Office of Continuing Education.
Applying to the Program
School-level Materials
NC State University accepts only online applications. To apply, you must have a valid e-mail address. These are available for free at a number of websites, such as Hotmail, Yahoo, Lycos, Excite, and Google. The cost to apply is $65. The online application form is available here through the Graduate School's Apply Yourself service. This form will also ask if you are applying for admission only, or for admission and aid (e.g. assistantships). If you are applying for aid, for first choice click "Teaching Assistantship." The department offers no Research Assistantships, and any Fellowships received are added to the stipends that teaching assistants receive.
The Personal Statement is a part of the online application process, submitted with your application form. A good statement will have something to say about these topics: why you want to earn a graduate degree in English; what your intellectual interests are; what your research interests are; whether you have any teaching experience and interest in teaching; whether there are particular faculty here with whom you would like to study. Explain your interest in the M.A. program and what special skills or experiences you may bring to it. If you have been working and wish to send a résumé please do so.
Please note: the online application service allows you to submit your letters of recommendation directly to the graduate school via the Apply Yourself service.
All of the pages of the online application will go straight to the Graduate School, and they in turn will send the forms to the English department, or make the files available to us online.
GRE Scores
GRE scores are sent directly by ETS (the Educational Testing Service) to the Graduate School. You will need to take the Graduate Record Exam general test unless you've taken it within the past 5 years. For more information about the 3 parts (Verbal, Quantitative, Analytic Writing) see the ETS website at: http://www.gre.org. There are no absolute minimum cutoff scores, but our recent average for the GRE Verbal is approximately 600, with 5.0 in analytical writing.
The test can be taken once in any calendar month. It can be retaken as well on the same schedule. We will keep your highest scores, and scores remain valid for 5 years. Indicate that your scores should be sent to NC State University by indicating institution code 5496. (Department code is not necessary.) We do not require the Subject test in English.
Scores for the Verbal and Quantitative sections are machine scored and typically reach NC State within 2 weeks of your taking the test; however, the Analytical Writing portion of the test takes longer. Consequently, do not assume that your complete GRE scores can reach us in less than a month.
Departmental Requirements (sent by Applicant)
Applicants may submit the following directly to:
Graduate Director, English Department
Box 8105
NC State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-8105.
Letters of Recommendation: Via the same application website, download and print out the cover sheets for the letters of recommendation, or direct your recommenders to the instructions in ApplyYourself for submitting a recommendation letter fully online. The interface allows recommenders to either write directly online, or to upload a text file (we recommend the latter for the letter portion of the recommendation).
Select three qualified recommenders, preferably people able to speak to your reading, interpreting, and writing talents, as well as your general academic aptitude. Ask that they submit a letter along with the cover sheet, since those sheets have scoring grids but very little room for the more helpful extended comments about candidates. At least two of the three letters should be from academic professionals. Ask your recommenders to sign across the sealed envelope and mail them directly to the Graduate Director rather than returning them to you to via mail.
One Copy of Official Transcripts: Notify any undergraduate and graduate institutions you have attended (whether or not you graduated from them) to have ONE official copy of your transcripts sent to the Graduate Director's address above. Applicants still pursuing an undergraduate degree first send the pre-degree transcript and then, if admitted, are notified to send the post-degree version of the same transcript. If you are an NC State undergraduate or other student, you do not have to order official transcripts since we can retrieve them from Registration and Records. You may send transcripts directly to the Graduate School, because they will then send a copy to the English department; however, the quickest way to get them filed with your complete application is to send them directly to the Graduate Director.
Writing Sample: Your sample is a critical part of the application. Take time and care with it to be sure that it represents your best work. Sloppy proofreading and formatting will hurt your chances. Frequently our applicants submit college-level academic papers, but that is not the only option. What we need to see is in this sample includes facility with reading and writing about literature, care with language, ability in interpretation, and clarity in exposition and argument. If you know your planned concentration area, you should submit something directly relevant to that concentration.
Once the Graduate School receives materials sent directly to them, they compile them and send them to the English Department. Consequently, if you send the sample, goals, and letters to the Graduate School they will eventually get to the department, but not as quickly as when those materials are sent to the English Graduate Director directly.
Admissions Protocol: As soon as an application is complete it is scheduled to be read by the Graduate Director. After that first reading, the application is usually sent to at least one other faculty reader. The Director and readers consult to determine whether to recommend admission. Only after the Department's recommendation is reviewed and approved by the Graduate School is a candidate officially notified of the decision.
Decision Types: Your first official notification of the decision comes on a one-page letter from the Dean of the Graduate School. After receiving this you will be sent information from the English Graduate Director about Assistantships, and then registration for your first classes in the English Department.
- Full Admission with Aid: student enters as a Teaching Assistant
- Full Admission without Aid: student enters without an assistantship, but is eligible for one should one become available after the student has enrolled
- Provisional Admission: student is allowed to take courses but must earn at least a 3.0 GPA in the first 9 letter-graded hours of graduate coursework
- Deny: student may not enroll
Admission Deadlines
Fall Semester Enrollment: Feb. 1 with aid, June 15 without.
Spring Semester Enrollment: Nov. 1 with or without aid.
Deferred Enrollment: Should you be accepted, but unable to enroll in the term to which you were officially admitted, you may defer your enrollment by up to one year. To do so you must email or write the Graduate Director explaining why you need to defer. The Graduate Director then sends the request to the Graduate School. Such requests typically are granted.
