How to Apply to the MFA
Start with the official application form. This two-page form can be found online by clicking on "Apply Now" at the N.C. State Graduate School site. The cost to apply is $65. Once you submit this form you are considered an official applicant, but it is only part of the complete application.
If for some reason you do not have access to an online computer, request a paper application by calling the NC State Graduate School at (919) 515-2872, or write to:
The Dean of the Graduate School
Box 7102
NC State University
Raleigh NC 27695-7102
- On the first page put MFA Creative Writing in the box that asks for the degree or program.
- Indicate whether you are applying for admission only, or admission with financial aid. Please note: The deadline for applying for admission and financial aid for 2012-13 is
February 1, 2012
All application materials (GRE scores, transcripts, letters of recommendation, writing samples, etc.) must be received by that date.
- If you are applying for aid, under your first preference check "Teaching Assistantship." The English Department offers no Research Assistantships, and any Fellowships are added to the stipends Teaching Assistants receive.
- On the second page of the online form, the personal statement, explain your interest in our MFA program. As part of this online statement, you may include a statement of goals.
- If you have been working and wish to send a hard copy résumé or curriculum vitae please do so and mail it to the Graduate Programs Director in the English Department.
All of the pages of the online application will go straight to the Graduate School. When the application is complete, we will download this material in the English department.
GRE Scores
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 web site.
There are no absolute minimum cutoff scores, but our recent average for the GRE Verbal is 640 for accepted MFA applicants. (Bear in mind that your writing sample will likely figure most prominently in the faculty's decision to accept for the MFA.) The test is now managed online and can be taken once in any calendar month. It can be retaken as well on the same schedule. We will keep your highest scores.
Designate 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.
Departmental Requirements (to be uploaded with online application)
Whenever possible, the application materials listed below should be uploaded with your online application. If you have trouble completing your online application, please contact our Graduate Services Coordinator, Erin Wilson (erin_wilson@ncsu.edu or 919-515-4109).
Letters of Recommendation: At 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, analytical, 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. At least two of the three letters should be from academic professionals. If your recommenders choose to submit hardcopy letters, ask them to sign across the sealed envelope and mail it directly to the English department Graduate Director.
One Copy of Transcript(s): UNOFFICIAL transcripts from any undergraduate or graduate institution you have attended should be uploaded with your application. If the department recommends that you be admitted, you will then be asked to submit official transcripts to the Graduate School. Only upon receipt of official transcripts will your admission be confirmed.
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. MFA applicants need to submit both a creative and a critical writing sample as follows:
- Creative Sample--two stories or novel chapters totaling 25-40 pages; for poetry applicants, 10-12 poems.
- Critical Sample--No more than 15 pages of writing demonstrating your ability to succeed in graduate-level literature classes, a required part of the MFA curriculum.
If your writing samples are too large to be uploaded to the application system, please send hard copies to:
Graduate Programs Director
Department of English
Box 8105
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-8105
Admissions Protocol
As soon as an application is complete, it is scheduled to be reviewed by the MFA Director and MFA Faculty. If you are pushing the deadline, your application may be competing with as many as 50 others for when it will be read. It would be helpful--particularly if you hope for a teaching assistantship--to apply earlier than the last possible moment (February 1 for an assistantship). All applications will be vetted by all the relevant MFA faculty members. Then, only after the Department's recommendation is reviewed and approved by the Graduate School, is a candidate officially notified of the decision.
Admission Types
Your first official notification of the decision comes from the Dean of the Graduate School and will be available online. If you are accepted, you will then receive information from the English Graduate Director about Assistantships, and then information about registration for your first classes.
- 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 enters but is not granted full graduate standing until earning, in the first 9 letter-graded hours of graduate coursework, a 3.0 GPA or better
Deferred Enrollment
Should you be accepted, but unable to enroll in the term to which you were officially admitted, you can sometimes 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. There is a chance (particularly if others have deferred before you and the candidate ranks have swelled beyond twelve) that you may possibly be told the year you are accepted is the only year you may enroll. Finally, while enrollment can be deferred, a Teaching Assistantship cannot be deferred.
Although it is technically possible for your enrollment to begin in the spring semester, typically we admit a full complement of graduate students each fall and therefore do not have open space available in the MFA program until the following fall.
Contacts:
The English Department Graduate Programs Director or the Graduate Services Coordinator [(919) 515-4109; erin_wilson@ncsu.edu] are the best people to contact for application questions. But if you have questions about the MFA program itself (curriculum, courses, etc.), you can contact:
Prof. John Balaban
Director, MFA Program
Department of English, Box 8105
NC State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-8105
phone: (919) 515-4147
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